Like many real estate entrepreneurs, Lauren Lucas and Shoney Ivens felt like they were on a hamster wheel of tasks. Now, the KW®-affilated agents automate much of the busywork — and it frees up 10-20 hours of their week. 

"It's very easy to get burned out," said Lucas, co-owner of LKW Home Team in Columbus, Ohio. "The majority of agents get into real estate for freedom but are chained to their phone or laptop all day."

Here's how Lucas and Ivens use artificial intelligence to not only break free, but stay ahead.

1. Automate client notes and emails

For Ivens, who leads 300 agents at KW® Westfield in Orem, Utah, AI is best used for the kinds of small tasks that add up, and take away precious time with clients. One of the biggest time sucks is email.

"The typical agent spends 12-15 hours a week in their inbox," he explained. 

Ivens uses Superhuman AI to autodraft emails. He also uses Otter.ai to email meeting recaps to participants.

With AI, Ivens said he can "do more while doing less."

Just ask his team: Since introducing AI strategies two years ago, his top 101 agents closed more deals and raised their median income to $183,000. 

2. Train bots on social media and marketing

AI may be the new normal in real estate, but Lucas says many agents underestimate how powerful it can be. It doesn't just write lists, descriptions, or emails — it can work for you, like an employee. 

Lucas would know. From 2019 to 2023, LKW Home Team shrank from seven agents to just three. Going into 2024, the firm still had three agents, but its gross commission income (GCI) had increased by 35.8%. 

One of Lucas' biggest AI plays is training ChatGPT to research, create, and post social media content across multiple platforms based on topics on a Google spreadsheet. 

"Many people believe it's going to make them sound robotic," Lucas said. "But you can train AI to write and talk like you."

Ivens uses AI to repurpose content from seminars into social media posts. When preparing for an event, he uses virtual assistants from Notion and other software he's trained to "search the company brain" and create marketing copy.

Lucas' tip: Give ChatGPT a role (think marketing or brand strategist) and upload social media and other links that show your brand voice and audience. From there, assign tasks as you would to an employee. 

3. Responding to inbound calls and scheduling

Lucas' automated "ecosystem," as she fondly calls it, tackles another gamechanger: inbound calls and scheduling. A voice-generated AI agent has not only answered more than 900 inbound calls but has taken over 400 next-step actions from those calls, she said. 

When a potential buyer calls LKW Home Team, an AI assistant gets their name, phone number, email, ideal neighborhood, and price range in less than two minutes. The bot asks where the caller is at in their home search and if they have been pre-approved. It also offers to send listings and connect them with a trusted lender. 

The system is trained on "everything you want it to know," Lucas said, including SOP, school and safety ratings, compliance regulations, and market updates. If the bot doesn't have at least 95% confidence when answering a question or taking next steps, it is trained to transfer the call to a human.

4. Boost lead gen and follow-up with AI assistants, digital forms

It's easy for leads to fall through the cracks when relying on manual approaches, like paper and pen at an open house. That's a crucial loss, Lucas said, since it typically takes seven to 10 contact points to reach a new client. At open houses, she uses a QR code form that automatically prompts a follow-up email or call and obtains consent.

And when a potential client sends a completed electronic form to LKW Home Team, the firm's  AI assistant creates a digital contact, tags it in the CRM, and prompts a booking via a voice note. Once the person books, human agents step in — with all the knowledge they would have previously gathered during a consultation.

"We don't have to ask questions and get back to them," Lucas said. "We show up with solutions."

Though Ivens is hesitant to fully automate lead generation and follow-up, he uses AI to speed up the process. A bot can help him find information in long contracts and other forms. He redacts sensitive information before uploading to "keep it safe."

Agents who use AI will adapt and evolve 

Lucas predicts that real estate's "hustle culture" will only intensify over the coming years. Those who use AI will not only keep up but will scale their businesses at higher levels while preserving precious downtime with family and friends.

"The people who are not adapting and evolving will be left behind without realizing it," she said.

Ivens agrees and says AI helps to better serve clients. Those who don't keep up will have a large gap in skill set and timeliness — and clients will notice.

"AI is the solution to getting your time back," he said, "so you can spend it on what matters most."