Should you use AI-generated real estate copy?

Right now, AI – Artificial Intelligence – is all the rage.

Business people – such as real estate professionals – are seeing a way to have their marketing materials written at no cost. High school students are seeing a way to avoid writing their own term papers. College students are seeing a way to avoid paying someone to write them. I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that teachers, including professors, were using it to write their lesson plans – or even their lectures.

Is there anything wrong with all that?

That all depends upon you and your situation. I think there is plenty wrong with students using it. They’re depriving themselves of the education they’d receive while researching and writing their own papers. Then their teachers are depriving the students of any knowledge they’ve acquired that might make their lectures a bit more interesting.

What about using AI-generated real estate marketing copy?

You can do that, but do it with caution.

The first caution is to be careful of plagiarism.

AI is well known for pulling whole sentences and paragraphs out of the documents it searches. So find a plagiarism checker and take the time to use it.

Next, remember that AI fails to answer the question: “Who says?”

If the copy it writes for you states facts or figures they may be correct or they may not.

Since AI doesn’t say where they got the information, how would you know?

It could have come from a well-documented, factual article. Or – it could be from some writer’s personal opinion. So take the time to research and document facts and figures.

The third caution: recognize that AI-generated real estate copy isn’t timely.

Perhaps it depends upon which program you’re using; my experience was with Chat GPT. I asked a question about something in 2023 and got back an “I don’t know” response. It said it had information only up to January of 2022.

So – if you’re writing about how to buy or sell a house in the current market, you aren’t going to get relevant information. This also relates back to the facts and figures – they won’t be current. You’ll need to take time to research current issues and solutions.

AI doesn’t promise to be accurate.

In fact, it cautions you to check for yourself. Here’s the last line of the response to an inquiry I made recently: “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Consider checking important information.”

AI sometimes uses words or phrases that are a bit too sophisticated.

Sometimes AI forgets that marketing copy needs to be written to a 7^th grade reading level.  You’re writing to communicate and persuade, not to impress anyone with your vocabulary. So check your AI-written copy and replace words that are too sophisticated.

And finally, AI-generated real estate copy lacks EI.

What does that mean? It means that artificial intelligence is lacking emotional intelligence. And when you’re writing to real estate clients, you need to use emotional intelligence.

If you’ve studied marketing, you’ve heard it over and over: we humans make decisions based on emotions. Then we justify those decisions with logic.

If all you offer us in your marketing materials is logic – you’ll end up sorry.

And when your AI “writer” has no emotions to draw on…

…then it’s likely that the copy it writes will be devoid of emotion.

Think about it. Your AI writer has never bought a house or sold a house. It hasn’t even helped someone else buy or sell a house.

AI has no idea how morning sun streaming in a kitchen window might cause someone to fall in love with a house – or why a huge yard with a 6’ chain link fence could cause a dog lover to buy a house that they might otherwise pass by.

Similarly, it has no idea what it feels like to be behind on a payment or to need to sell the home of a loved one who has passed on.

AI doesn’t know fear, anxiety, love, excitement, anticipation, eagerness, impatience, or any of the other emotions that might come into play in the course of buying or selling a house. It “knows” that they exist, because human writers talk about them on the internet. But it cannot empathize.

What’s the solution?

Take time to edit your AI copy and add some feeling. If you’re writing a property description, put the reader in the house with words like “Picture yourself…” or “imagine…”  If it’s a prospecting letter, add words that show you understand the situation and the emotions involved – whatever they might be. If it’s your own bio, show yourself as a caring person – not merely an efficient robot.

If you have the time, you might love using AI.

I don’t have the time, and I don’t like re-writing things – even things I wrote! I also wouldn’t enjoy having to verify the information or try to find the sources.

Besides, I’m a writer because I love to write. So why would I ask a machine to do it for me?

Do I use AI at all?

Yes, but not to do my writing. I use it as a good source of ideas.

For instance, I could ask it to tell me twenty reasons why someone would want to sell a house if they were divorcing. Some of the reasons will be either obvious or goofy, but there might be something I hadn’t thought about. Then I could ask it why they would want to keep the house – and that would give me a list of objections to be countered.

In many ways, having AI at your fingertips can be like having another person or two to brainstorm with. Perhaps it’s better, since AI looks at millions of articles and blog posts to come up with suggestions. And the bonus is that it won’t be insulted if you reject the ideas!

If you don’t want to write it yourself or edit after AI writes…. get in touch!

I love to write, and I’d love to write the words that help you gain more clients and close more sales. You can call on me to write your bio, your prospecting letters, your property descriptions, and your community pages. And if you’re in a hurry to get prospecting, go here to choose from more than 50 sets of pre-written prospecting letters.