AI plays important role in securing better outcomes in an uncertain market | Rochester Realty Review

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It was November 1992 and, while driving along in my silver Nissan Maxima listening to WPXY, I heard the words, “If I should stay, I would only be in your way…” sung a cappella by Whitney Houston. Three minutes later, I was destroyed. “I Will Always Love You” was, perhaps, the most beautiful song I had ever heard recorded. A short while later, I heard it again. The next day, again. And again. And again. An eternity later, what had seemed a fresh, novel take on the power ballad had become both trite and torturous. It was, literally, time to turn the station.

Likewise, the news on the local real estate front. By now, we all know that Rochester tops many “best of” lists in terms of days on market, the number of properties sold in bidding wars, over asking price. We know that local inventory is constrained and mortgage rates are volatile as a result of the war in Iran. Nothing feels different. However, if you’re close enough to it and paying attention, there is definitely an undercurrent of change and AI is playing a role.

Rochester’s lack of inventory has altered how both buyers and sellers behave. As fewer properties are sold and the number of reliable data points have decreased, certainty declines and pricing becomes less exact — emotion fills the gap. Rather than relying on logic, buyers resort to behavioral economics.

Frustration, anxiety, anger, and desperation — not the house, itself — often become the factors that drive prices higher. Successful realtors have understood that if emotion is driving price, structure can capture it. Methodical practitioners take it a step further, harnessing AI to sharpen execution. We’re frequently seeing outcomes improve by $25,000-$30,000.

Case in point: Last month, I listed a beautiful home on a cul-de-sac in Perinton appropriately priced at $499,000. We combined traditional marketing — photos, video, aerials — with tightly timed, platform-specific messaging informed by performance data. We drove close to 50 buyers to the house over a long weekend. The result? We received 12 offers — four of them in excess of $600,000. The difference wasn’t the house; it was how demand was structured and amplified.

So, in today’s tech-enhanced world, what distinguishes a neophyte agent’s performance from that of a superstar?

Many realtors have become complacent, allowing the strength and momentum of the market to drive sales. They list a property in the MLS, place a sign in the front yard and host an open house. Bingo! An offer or two materializes! Market watchers understand that a successfully consummated purchase offer doesn’t mean that a seller secured top dollar. Meanwhile, an increasing number of realtors are turning to AI to write property descriptions and emails — surface level marketing. Better agents are creating property-specific collateral using image-generating processes available in most major AI platforms.

The most successful agents — the ones who consistently extract materially higher outcomes, often approaching 10% in bidding wars — will engage a social media team to deploy increasingly thoughtful AI-generated graphics and videos through a strategic understanding of the medium. AI-parsed data, interpreted by experienced agents, is beginning to inform what types of marketing perform best, where they should be deployed, and when they gain the most traction.

The more targeted and effective the marketing, the greater the number of showings. Increased exposure leads to more competition and more offers. The greater the number of offers, the higher the sales price. In other words, AI becomes an emotional amplifier lifting sales prices and profit ever higher. Nothing represents the bifurcation taking place among the ranks of local realtors — and the widening performance gap — more than this type of outcome.

We’re at a juncture and the world of real estate is changing. Two years ago, there were 3,600 agents. Today, there are closer to 3,000. As weaker performers fall away, the job of choosing the right agent should become easier. But over the next 12-24 months, consumers will still need to ask a few simple questions: is your agent using AI? And if so, how? Are they streamlining their own workflow or are they improving your outcome?

It’s the answer to that question that separates KE$HA from Whitney. Both will get the job done but, in the end, one consistently delivers at a higher level than the other.

Mark Siwiec is the CEO of Elysian Homes and co-host of the Rochester Living podcast. He can be reached at 585-330-8750.