You might picture the type of self-aware robotic intelligence you see in science fiction films when you think of the term artificial intelligence (AI), but the technology is decades away from that stage. We’re currently at the Limited Memory phase, where AI learns and reacts from experience and training. Industries such as agriculture, management, automotive, health care, and retail all benefit from AI’s current capabilities to perform tasks, learn, and make decisions in a human-like manner.
Interestingly, the real estate industry has resisted adopting modern technology despite sitting on an enormous level of data. “For so long, the real estate industry has been in the dark ages,” Regan McGee, the CEO of real estate marketplace Nobul, told Digital Connect Mag.
“But finally we’re stepping into the light and seeing that business can be conducted much faster and better using these digital tools and techniques that are commonplace in other industries.”
Story Stages
Rental Properties
The software propelling the real estate industry called PropTech (property technology) has been deeply impacted by AI and its subset Machine Learning (ML). In a nutshell, ML allows computers to learn and make predictions from large data sets through sophisticated techniques and algorithms but without explicit instructions.
Real estate software that utilizes ML can accurately forecast changes in rent with a startling 90 percent accuracy, allowing investors targeting rental properties like apartment buildings and condos to make smarter business choices. Similarly, homebuyers interested in converting parts of their properties into apartments to diversify their income streams or supplement their mortgage payments can also use ML to find neighborhoods with low vacancy rates.
AI-powered analysis is also assisting rental property managers by predicting renter behavior. In some software, ML examines big data to predict how many tenants will renew their lease to help rental property owners avoid vacancies.
AI also saves investors hefty repair bills by predicting the ideal time to perform essential maintenance. Self-learning AI is also controlling equipment to enhance longevity. For example, intelligent controls can automatically shut off a boiler or turn off lightbulbs when a tenant is away, or a property is unoccupied.
Investment Properties
AI and ML accurately analyze market futures after crunching data based on a property and the market’s previous performance. Buyers looking for investment properties use these predictions to understand how potential markets will grow to make short-term or long-term investments.
Research
Investors looking for property values, title documents, mortgage liens, land records, tax records and other information would have to visit various offices to collect data in the past. Nowadays, AI-powered technology can instantly find relevant information by pulling up and examining millions of records.
Some real estate companies use AI to help investors find niche properties with precise values. For example, investors looking for one-bedroom properties with particular amenities near the financial district in order to target traveling business people interested in short-term rentals, can cut research time to minutes with AI-powered searches.
In a crowded market that can change rapidly, AI gives investors a significant advantage over the competition by allowing them to make quick and informed decisions. It’s no wonder that the real estate industry is finally embracing the technology so wholeheartedly.
