If you haven’t met OJO yet, it’s time. OJO, launched three years ago and now partnering with Realogy since 2017, is a real estate AI assistant for both consumers and agents.
On the consumer side, OJO supplies
- Accurate information about properties 24/7 (how close is 247 Monroe Place to a market? OJO tells you.)
- Customizes area searches by learning about buyer preferences (do you like the kitchen sink in this photo or that one? you tell OJO.)
- Makes suggestions about neighborhoods that would complement your and/or your family’s schedules, interests, life style needs.
- Makes suggestions about property listings based upon your preferences and/or needs.
- Provides mortgage assistance (OJO just hooked up with LoanDepot.)
On the agent side, OJO
- Helps agents grow their businesses without having to increase overhead or learn new software.
- Is available 24/7 to give your clients information about properties in your own personalized way.
- Can be streamed live on Facebook.
- Navigates the early processes of buying and selling real estate.
- Scales your business from perhaps 30-40 transactions a year to perhaps 300-400?
BUT… OJO is NOT…a HUMAN BEING. And human beings are NEEDED in real estate. Human beings have Emotional Intelligence. OJO has Artificial Intelligence.
How do real estate agents thrive in a world of AI? Agents at an event sponsored by the California REALTORS® Association suggested…
- Become a tester of AI tools. Does the tool make your work easier or faster or more efficient? Does the tool make sense to you?
- Make sure that wherever you send your data, that company is looking to accelerate your work as an agent, not replace or displace you as an agent. Find out if the tech company you intend to use is your partner or if that tech company is using you. Find out if that tech company’s performance is correlated to your success.
- Make sure that you AND your broker know and clearly understand what happens to your data when you send your data to that tech company.
- Choose tech partners that can use and combine your data with broader data sets to provide you, the agent, with additional benefits.
- Always keep learning. Always be a student. Learn from your mistakes so you can use tech to create new ways to compete and pivot.
- Know that the future is ALWAYS unpredictable so ALWAYS focus on providing service.
Of course there’s room for BOTH AI and agents. Real estate agents put people into houses. Real estate agents change people’s lives. AI and tech companies merely help real estate agents put people into houses and change people’s lives more quickly and more easily.
