Agent-built AI chatbot serves up real advice with a sense of humor 

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If you've ever found yourself dreading a client text, you're not alone. Maybe it's the fifth inspection ask in 48 hours, or the existential spiral after a lowball offer.

As someone who's been around this industry for decades, I've seen firsthand how much emotional labor real estate agents shoulder. We're not just negotiators, marketers and transaction managers — we're therapists. Except we're not trained for that part, and it wears on you.

So I built "The Real Estate Therapist," a custom GPT that exists for one reason: to help agents navigate the mental, emotional and interpersonal minefields of this job.

From burnout to bot: Why I built it

Real estate is full of tech tools that help you do the work — CRMs, CMAs, transaction management platforms — but where's the support for how you feel while doing it?

I wanted to create a tool that wasn't aimed at lead gen or listing syndication, but that could:

• Talk an agent off the ledge after a blown deal

• Help write a firm-but-kind message to a boundary-pushing client

• Offer scripts for emotional conversations

• Inject a little humor into a very serious job

The idea started somewhat as a joke. Then it became a weekend project. Then it turned into a full-blown GPT.

How I built it (and you can too)

OpenAI makes it surprisingly easy to build your own GPT. I started with their Custom GPT builder, defined the assistant's personality (empathetic, witty, grounded), and fed it dozens of examples: scripts, agent dilemmas, email templates and yes, a few Zillow haikus.

The secret sauce? Clear instructions and tone guidance. I told it to be a mix of:

• A seasoned agent who's seen it all

• A coach who doesn't sugarcoat but who does care

• A therapist who knows when to say, "Breathe — you've got this"

Then I stress-tested it with real-life scenarios from friends and colleagues. Every eyeroll-worthy client text we'd ever shared became fair game for fine-tuning.

How it can help you in your day-to-day

Some of my favorite features:

• Emotional scripting: It helps you say what you want to say in a way that won't torpedo the deal

• Burnout coaching: Pep talks, perspective and permission to set boundaries

• Snark with heart: Because sometimes, you just need a bit of levity

Use cases range from daily mindset support to handling complex client dramas with a little more grace (and a lot less stress).

One agent told me they loved the humor — and the practical stuff: "It also provides REALLY useful information and great messaging I can send clients. Both the sane and crazy ones!"

What your own personalized GPT can do for you

Custom GPTs are a great tool to help agents, teams or brokerages simplify operations, boost productivity and reduce stress. Here are a few ways they can be put to work:

• Script libraries on demand: Whether it's a tough client conversation, a listing presentation or a price reduction ask, GPTs can generate and refine talking points in seconds.

• Content creation: Blogs, newsletters, listing descriptions, social posts — a custom GPT trained on your voice and brand tone can knock out drafts while you sip your coffee. Emphasis on drafts — don't publish anything before editing and fact-checking everything.

• Client response templates: Build a GPT that knows your style and FAQs so you can generate thoughtful replies to buyer jitters or seller stubbornness without reinventing the wheel.

• Onboarding & training: Turn your processes, checklists and culture docs into a smart assistant that helps new agents ramp up quickly and consistently.

• Lead nurturing: Use a GPT to help you craft drip campaign emails, follow-ups and personalized touches that don't sound like a robot wrote them.

• Internal ops support: Create a GPT for transaction coordination help, task checklists or team reminders — all customized to how you run your business.

With the right setup, a custom GPT becomes less like a chatbot and more like the most well-read assistant you've ever had.

Tips for getting started

The beauty of building your own custom GPT is that no coding skills are required, and everything is in plain English. Here's what I learned along the way:

• Start with a mission: What problem are you solving?

• Be specific with tone and personality: GPTs are good mimics. Give them a strong voice.

• Feed it real-life examples: The more context, the better the responses.

• Keep testing: Try weird prompts. See how it reacts. Adjust.

• Make it useful, not perfect: The goal is support, not surgical precision.

• Not required, but helpful: Point a domain to your GPT instead of using a long ChatGPT link.

If you already have relevant content, uploading it to train your GPT makes it smarter, more human-sounding and far more useful than starting from scratch.

The future: Human + AI = saner real estate

I don't believe AI will ever replace the agent. But I do think it can help us show up better — for our clients, our teams and ourselves.

Because at the end of the day, being an agent is personal. Emotional. Messy. Having a little backup from a Real Estate Therapist? That might just be the edge we didn't know we needed.

You can try it for yourself at RealEstateTherapist.net. All you need is a ChatGPT account (free or paid).

Jay Thompson is a former real estate agent, broker-owner and industry outreach director. He is currently an industry consultant and sits on several boards. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the author.