HGAR, OneKet MLS and TitleVest host virtual panel discussing artificial intelligence

The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors Inc. (HGAR), OneKey MLS and TitleVest hosted a virtual panel recently featuring several prominent New York real estate leaders discussing the impacts of artificial intelligence, or AI, on the industry.

In an extension of HGAR and OneKey MLS’ “Be Your Best” education and professional development series, the panel explored how cutting-edge AI tools can be leveraged to draft property descriptions, create 3D virtual tours, streamline processes, and speed up the time it takes for agents to complete deals.

Richard Haggerty, CEO of OneKey MLS – the comprehensive multiple listing service for the New York region – hosted the June 8 event and Brian Tormey, NTP, president of TitleVest, a leading NYC-based provider of title insurance and related real estate services, served as program moderator. Kael Goodman, president and CEO of Marketproof Inc., Melissa King, COO of OneKey MLS, and Eric Uzzo, NY and CT area sales manager of VHT Studios, also opined on leading AI real estate trends as part of the expert panel.

“Real estate professionals undoubtedly will fall in love with these quickly evolving technologies as soon as they realize how valuable and time-saving they can be,” said Haggerty. “Data and technology are key resources at our fingertips, and when leveraged effectively, they can have monumental impacts on our success as real estate leaders.”

The panel noted the role and utility of AI in real estate is constantly changing, and some professionals are diving in and finding tremendous benefits, while others are taking a more wait-and-see approach. Panelists agreed it’s critical to understand what AI offers the industry, and what its pitfalls may be.

“At OneKey, we are cognizant of the benefits and risks that new real estate technologies bring to our subscribers,” said King. “This is particularly important when considering use and ownership of content created by AI tools, such as those products that create marketing content like property descriptions.”

King said caution should be exercised. “AI tools like Chat GPT present many advantages to subscribers, but raise questions about licensing, ownership and copyright issues.”

Goodman noted some of the many uses of AI because of its capability “of learning and acting on its own,” and its segue into the real estate industry.

“AI has so many different branches we’re already seeing, between self-driving cars, robots, in the medical space drug discovery, and now AI is beginning to shape the real estate industry,” said Goodman. “ChatGPT combined AI with a chatbot and really took off. My company, Marketproof, like many others, is exploring ways to use this technology. We created an AI Assistant for agents – and will be doing lots more with AI as we go forward.”

“There are so many things that AI is touching, and at Matterport we have Cortex, our machine learning technology which is improving every property tour that we upload,” said Uzzo. “We’re doing so much of this crunching data, we're able to then supply it to our partners so that they can utilize it to make their tours more effective for themselves to be able to get more in-depth in selling residential real estate.”

“In discussing AI’s remarkable abilities to create 3D property maps,” Uzzo continued, “being able to almost physically be in that space and practically touch the appliances, finishes, and see the viewpoints from a property window is astounding.”

“Now a big chunk of work that you previously had to do is reduced by as much as 60% to 90%,” said Goodman. "AI isn’t necessarily coming for people’s jobs, but it’s well understood that people who get good at these tools will elevate themselves ahead of others in their field. It frees up your time. That means you can be more productive at the things that real estate agents need to be productive at.”