My AI and Your AI, Sitting By the Fire

There has been some good discussion on here regarding the role of AI in the real estate market. So I thought I’d share my recent first-hand experience with it. Both buyer and seller were using AI heavily to make their decisions. Seller asked AI about list price, how to prepare the property etc. All things selling were run through AI before making any decisions. The buyer did the same. Every piece of advice they received from humans was scrutinized heavily through their AI. The deal went about as you would expect it would. Rather horribly for everyone involved. Here’s one example: during inspection objections, the buyers AI somehow came up with the number of $60-80k that they should get back in seller concessions for various miscellaneous inspection items despite having very little ammunition to negotiate with in reality (the house was in great condition, the appraisal came back $20k over asking price, and the seller had a cash, as-is backup offer that was higher than the contract amount). Basically, the buyers AI was on crack. The sellers AI of course recommended taking the higher backup offer. Needless to say, the (human) agents on both sides had to work overtime to bring some logic back into focus. AI can be helpful as a super-powered internet search, but ultimately there is a human on the other side of the deal. These days, a human and their AI, apparently. Buyers and sellers still need to use their brain, basic logic, and empathy. We ended up making it to closing, somehow.