You're a Real Estate Agent. Here's What You Should Actually Be Doing With ChatGPT.
If you're a real estate agent wondering what you should actually do with ChatGPT, I'd start with five things.
Use it to organize your CRM, prepare better lead follow-up, create content from real client questions, explain market data, and build repeatable systems for your business.
That's it. Those are five places where AI can be genuinely useful.
But here's what I see happening.
An agent has 2,000 contacts in their CRM. They haven't talked to half of them in a year. They're spending money on advertising, struggling to keep up with follow-up, and trying to figure out what to post.
Then they open ChatGPT and ask it to write a motivational Monday caption.
Come on.
I'm not saying social media doesn't matter. I'm saying we're thinking way too small about what this technology can help us do.
And there's another problem.
Most agents don't know how to give ChatGPT good instructions.
So before we get into the five workflows, I want to show you something I teach in our AI workshops.
Meet CRAFTY
CRAFTY is a simple framework for giving AI better instructions.
- C — Context: What's happening?
- R — Role: Who should ChatGPT act as?
- A — Action: What do you want it to accomplish?
- F — Format: What should the result look like?
- T—Tone: How should it sound?
- Y — Why: What's the actual goal?
You don't need to memorize 500 prompts.
You need to understand how to communicate what you're trying to accomplish.
Here's an example.
Instead of typing, "Write a follow-up email," try this:
Context: I'm following up with a buyer who stopped looking four months ago because of affordability concerns.
Role: Act as my real estate follow-up coach.
Action: Give me three ways to restart the conversation.
Format: Short text messages under 50 words.
Tone: Personal, natural, and not salesy.
Why: I want to understand whether their situation has changed, not pressure them into buying.
That's a much better starting point.
Now let's put it to work.
1. Your CRM: Figure Out Who Needs Your Attention
Before you buy another lead, look at the people you already know.
Ask ChatGPT to help you create categories for past clients, active buyers, potential sellers, and long-term prospects.
Have it recommend what a reasonable follow-up schedule might look like.
Then build those categories into your CRM.
You don't need to upload everyone's personal information. Start by designing the system with fictional examples.
The point is to stop opening your CRM and wondering who you're supposed to call.
2. Your Follow-Up: Stop Sending the Same Message to Everyone
A buyer who's concerned about affordability needs a different conversation than a seller who's trying to figure out where they'll move next.
Give ChatGPT the situation, the relevant history, and the outcome you're hoping for.
Ask it for a few different approaches.
Then choose the one that sounds like you.
You're still the one building the relationship. AI is helping you prepare.
3. Your Content: Start With What People Actually Ask You
Someone asks why homes are sitting longer.
Someone asks whether they should renovate before selling.
Someone asks what happens if an appraisal comes in low.
There's your content.
Take one of those questions and ask ChatGPT to turn it into a video script, an email, and a five-slide carousel.
Add your own examples and verified local information.
Now you're creating something people might actually care about instead of publishing the same generic buyer tips as everyone else.
4. Your Market: Explain the Numbers
Take your verified MLS statistics and ask ChatGPT to help explain them to a homeowner.
What's changing? What might matter? What conclusions would be premature?
Review the output and add your local perspective.
You can turn that explanation into an email, video, or blog article.
The important part is that you supply the facts. Don't ask AI to invent market statistics.
5. Your Operations: Stop Rebuilding Everything
Every new listing involves a lot of the same work.
Photography. Marketing. Seller updates. Checklists. Coordination.
Ask ChatGPT to help organize your listing-launch process.
Review it, make sure it meets your brokerage requirements, and save the approved version.
Do the same for buyer consultations and post-closing follow-up.
Now you're using AI to build systems, not just documents.
Questions Agents Ask Me About Getting Started
What should I do the very first time I open ChatGPT?
Tell it what you do, what you're struggling with, and what you'd like to improve. Then use CRAFTY to work through one real task. I'd start with something you do every week.
Do I need to pay for ChatGPT?
Not to get started. Try the free version, understand what you actually need, and then evaluate whether paid features justify the expense.
What if everything it writes sounds robotic?
Give it examples of how you communicate. Tell it what phrases you don't like. Ask it to make the writing shorter and more natural. And don't publish the first draft without reviewing it.
Is it safe to put client information into ChatGPT?
Don't assume it is. Check your brokerage policies, client permissions, and the AI service's data controls before sharing sensitive information. Fictional or anonymized examples are a safer starting point.
How do I know whether I'm using AI correctly?
Look at what changes in your business. Are you following up more consistently? Producing better content? Spending less time on repetitive work? That's more useful than counting how many prompts you've written.
Here's What I'd Do Today
Pick one thing in your business that keeps getting pushed to tomorrow.
Open ChatGPT.
Use CRAFTY to explain the problem.
Work through the answer until you have something useful.
Then actually use it.
That's the part I care about.
Tristan Ahumada, Mark Rader, and I host four live AI workshops every month at A Brilliant Tribe. We focus on learning the tools and applying them to real estate businesses.
It's $25/month. Cancel anytime.
If you're tired of collecting prompts and want to start building things, come join us at https://abrillianttribe.com/coaches/
