“I call it instant admin,” says Humphrys. “There were two people in my previous organisation who organised [a residential agent appointment] form and it could take four hours – now it takes 30 seconds.”
Humphrys uses Autopilot, a technology exclusive to clients of URBAN X, which empowers agents with the tools to launch and grow their own real estate business. It takes the hassle out of running the business, leaving them to focus on selling homes.
The technology, progressively rolled out over the past four years, enables agents to complete the entire sales administrative process from listing to settlement on their mobile devices.
Real estate has shifted its focus from people and property to technology and automation. iStock
Tech ‘transforming the business of real estate’
Humphrys cites one situation in which he completed the whole sales process in a couple of hours, including signing up a vendor and negotiating with a buyer, thanks to the ability for Autopilot to source information from titles offices and the like.
If he had to wait for admin employees to draft documents, he likely would have lost out to another agency, he says.
Bayside Property Agents co-founder Luke Humphrys.
“I am able to do everything instantly and there’s never a mistake,” he says. “It makes us look better; it makes our life easier.
“It’s made a half a million dollars GCI [gross commission income] per year for us alone.”
Recent research conducted by Morgan Stanley suggests AI can automate 37 per cent of real estate tasks, potentially creating $US34 billion in operating efficiencies in the US alone by 2030. The research nominated management, sales, office and administrative support as the top three areas in which agencies are most likely to benefit from AI.
It also found companies that use AI to reduce on-site staffing report higher satisfaction from clients as well as their own teams.
“While it may be too soon to say exactly how AI will affect demand for real estate, what we can say is that it is transforming the business of real estate, namely by making operations more efficient,” noted Ronald Kamdem, head of US Real Estate Investment Trusts and Commercial Real Estate Research at Morgan Stanley.
“If you’re a customer dealing with a real estate company, you can now expect to interact with virtual leasing assistants; and when it comes to drafting your … documents, AI can help you do this in minutes rather than hours – or even days.”
URBAN X chief executive and co-founder Dan Argent says the company’s Autopilot technology takes care of up to 145 steps of agency workflow.
“What a lot of people don’t realise is how much behind-the-scenes administration is involved between listing a property for sale all the way through until it sells,” he says.
“In the financial year that just ended, we managed 7000 listings and $5.1 billion worth of sales – so 145 manual steps [for each] becomes pretty arduous.
“So far, we’ve automated 40 per cent of the work and by the end of this financial year, we’ll have automated 80 per cent of that work.”
Argent, whose hobby is to fly a plane, devised the idea for the app while in the air.
He realised if a plane could be flown on autopilot, automation should be able to streamline the administrative tasks of real estate.
AI saves time – and money
URBAN X’s Autopilot not only completes the paperwork but accurately draws information from required online sources, which also helps agents avoid penalties from inadvertent mistakes.
“It’s been a complete game changer for our business, not just taking administration out of our clients’ hands but it allows them to win more deals,” Argent says.
“[For example], when real estate agents meet someone on a Saturday afternoon at an open home, they get talking to that person and turns out that person has something to sell.
“That agent is able to get in that person’s house that afternoon and they win the business – no longer are they waiting until Monday for an administration person to prepare the paperwork.”
Argent says Autopilot also helps real estate agents keep more of their income, with the traditional real estate model increasingly eating into their revenue.
The 2024 Macquarie Bank Real Estate Benchmarking Report reveals while revenues are up, profit margins are down for businesses across the real estate industry.
In the five years to 2023-24, gross agency revenue grew by an average of 11 per cent.
For the same period, net profit margin fell from 19 per cent to 12.8 per cent, with staff salaries and super, advertising and franchise fees among the rapidly increasing expenses.
“It’s a well-known fact in the industry that you can be making $1 million a year and struggling to pay your mortgage,” Argent says.
“Under the traditional model, franchise [fees] take money off the top, then there’s the office and assistants, tax; so, all of a sudden, it’s gone.”
Argent says agencies that partner with URBAN X grow on average 30 per cent in the first year, 40 per cent in the second, and 70 per cent in the third.
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