Welcome to the Center for REALTOR® Development podcast from the National Association of REALTORS®. I’m Monica Neubauer, your host.

 

Before we start today, I have a favor to ask. We so appreciate you, our faithful listeners, and we are so glad that you’re coming and learning with all of our amazing guests. However, when I travel, I find lots of folks who could benefit from what we are sharing here for free every month. So, please share this podcast with friends and other agents in your brokerage firm. Let’s help everybody be more educated. Thanks for doing that!

 

Today is everyone’s favorite topic; it’s AI. We had a great conversation recently with Dan Weisman, you can go back and listen to, as well. He’s NAR staff. My guests today both make AI work for them in practical ways, every day. I love practical application. You all have heard me talk about it; just good tools to help me be more efficient. Sometimes I like these new tools because they help me stop putting off things that I put off because they felt too big, and now I have this friend who will help me do it. My guests will give us some tips on some of the software. I now tackle some of these things with my GPT friend.

 

Matthew Rathbun is the Broker and Executive VP of a Northern Virginia Coldwell Banker office. He’s the President of the Real Estate Business Institute and an international speaker in the real estate industry. He helps tech make sense, and he has a balance in his communication style of being straightforward, telling it like it is, and also, really encouraging to help us to actually do it.

Craig Grant is the CEO of RETI.us, the real estate industry’s online home for technology education. He’s been a national technology speaker, educating us through many tech changes. He’s a tremendous mentor for speakers and educators. This passion has led him to offer a Train the Trainer program and co-found the BEATS Alliance, promoting education for both the educator and education directors at associations.

 

We are releasing this interview in two episodes. This is Part 1.

 

Important: Be mindful of the limitations and risks of using generative artificial intelligence and protect personal, financial and confidential information from being shared with an AI platform. Keep in mind that content produced by generative AI tools is not always correct. Avoid using AI for legal advice and engaging in the unauthorized practice of law; always seek appropriate advice from actual professionals. Do not use AI to create content you wish to copyright, as AI-generated works are not protectable under U.S. copyright law.

 

[2:30 ] Matthew Rathbun helps tech make sense, and he has a balance in his communication style of being straightforward, telling it like it is, and also, really encouraging to help us do it. Welcome, Matthew! Matthew says it’s great to be part of this episode.

[3:04 ] Craig Grant’s passion has led him to offer a Train the Trainer program and co-found the BEATS Alliance, promoting education for both the educator and education directors at associations. Welcome, Craig! Craig thanks Monica for having him on this episode.

[3:20 ] We’re going to share some specific wisdom for the brokers in our first episode. While everyone’s going to benefit from this conversation, Matthew’s going to share some specifics because he’s a broker.

[3:33 ] We’re going to have Craig in the second episode be the lead for some more tools for everyone. Both episodes are going to be great for everyone.

[3:50 ] Craig shares the tech we will be discussing: ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, Claude, DeepSeek, and others. Craig recommends using the big platforms, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and OpenAI ChatGPT, versus others that don’t have the legal and financial standing.

[4:41 ] Craig says the two main ones to use are ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Other options might do things just as well, but Craig falls back on the legal protection side. Craig notes that there is a huge difference between the free versions and the paid models.

[5:17 ] Matthew agrees with Craig on limiting the tools. He sticks primarily to ChatGPT because when doing demos for agents or creating content, doing it on various platforms can be confusing and overwhelming.

[5:36 ] Matthew explains that each of the platforms Craig mentioned may do a certain type of task. Claude may be better for legal experts, programmers, and coders by about 10%. For Matthew, as a broker, it’s not worth an extra 10% benefit to switch platforms, although he may want to use those tools.

[6:04 ] Matthew settled on ChatGPT largely because they’ve got more finances for the legal fight that will inevitably come down the pike. They are also trying a little harder to put up relatively good safeguards.

[6:17 ] Matthew says, as a broker, if I’m deploying a product, I want to make sure that it isn’t going to be harmful. ChatGPT has put up guardrails against adult content, violence, and duplicating material from a living author, celebrity, or artist, so Matthew feels better deploying it in his brokerage.

[6:46 ] Matthew used it before coming to this podcast recording. He had a 90-minute segment with his agents on using AI for marketing.

[7:11 ] Matthew says we have to face the realities, or we can’t get where we need to go. If you’re a broker, you have an obligation to lead. Leaders create a practice that is to be emulated. AI is world-changing already. It has advanced us in so many areas.

[7:32 ] Not utilizing AI as a broker means that you are being outpaced by every broker who is, but you’re also not demonstrating the value to your agents when they could not be more confused, frustrated, and overwhelmed.

[7:45 ] AI, although it has a learning curve, brings clarity and specificity to tasks. Matthew believes that agents with AI will significantly outpace agents without it. As a leader, you need to create tools and resources to help your agents be better at their jobs and reduce some of the anxiety out there.

[8:15 ] Craig says we’re about to enter a new generation, not based on age but AI competency; just agents and brokers who are way more efficient and better at doing their jobs because they’re leveraging AI, versus the other ones who are going to get left in the dust because they’re not using this technology.

[8:35 ] Matthew’s advice for brokers is to bring your creativity and your humanity. Show agents what could occur in the betterment of their careers if they use these tools. Then use your creativity to create tools. Matthew believes AIs enhance the work.

[9:20 ] Matthew has about 300 agents. For years, he has had agents who need an assistant but are not successful enough to afford one. Now they have one in their pocket with a PhD-level brain about marketing, productivity, our contract, and the law. It still takes us to give that information a brand voice.

[9:50 ] For Matthew, being an AI-forward leader means creating content to show his agents what they can do with it. Within a month of ChatGPT rolling out, Matthew was doing classes on it. Agents started by uploading a PDF of their contract into it and asking it questions for clarity on things they didn’t know.

[10:48 ] The next thing they did was create custom GPTs. There are libraries of GPTs available, but it’s easy to create your own.

[11:19 ] Matthew has GPT tutorials just for brokers. He recommends that association leaders also create them for their members.

[11:35 ] Click on your ChatGPT profile and go to Custom GPTs. The AI tool has the world’s knowledge that’s publicly available. It understands marketing concepts and the law. There may be things that you create in your company that you want to be in a place where your agents can grab them.

[12:09 ] Matthew uploaded transcripts of his contract training videos into the GPT. That’s content that the world doesn’t have. It influences how the GPT answers agent contract questions.

[12:35 ] The next step Matthew took was to upload all of his teaching about marketing and his favorite literature about marketing, like Storybrand, by Donald Miller, into the GPT.
[12:44 ] Monica asks Matthew to pause and go back to the contracts. She asks Matthew’s thoughts about using General ChatGPT to get tips to solve issues. Matthew speaks of the importance of having an AI use policy for the brokerage. There are many templates out there.

[14:00 ] You can ask ChatGPT for an AI use policy for a real estate brokerage. Matthew wrote his brokerage policy and then realized how much time he could have saved by having ChatGPT do it. He put a sticky note on his PC asking, “How can AI help me do this?”

[14:42 ] For 30 days, every time Matthew sat at the computer, he looked at the sticky note and asked how AI could help him do the job of being a broker, or an educator, or an agent, better. It was amazing what he started applying it to that he had never conceptualized before.

[14:56 ] Matthew encourages agents to use General ChatGPT while reminding them of the company policy, “You are still liable for whatever you do, based on the advice of AI. You can never go back and say AI told you to do these three steps or interpret this paragraph.”

[15:12 ] Matthew