DANIEL CARR, Partner, Alpaca Real Estate

Can you tell me how you’ve been using AI technology in your operations?
Alpaca Real Estate has integrated AI into our investment process with our AI pipeline management tool. We collaborated with two existing technology partners to create our own bespoke data lake to track all of our existing and past deals. The system can scan various deal offering documents to create about 250 unique datapoints per deal and automatically input these directly into our data lake, saving hours of tedious work for our analysts. With this data, we can quickly and efficiently understand the relative value of new opportunities against existing data points that can easily be filtered by asset type, market, or any other number of categories.

What were some of the key tasks you successfully executed to go from planning to pilot to integration?
The first step was finding the right technology partner that could help us build this new system from scratch. We evaluated a number of potential platforms with help from our Alpaca VC team to understand the technologies that are out there and which ones were best suited to build our vision. We decided on two different partners that had complementary capabilities that have seamlessly integrated into one system. The process required a high degree of collaboration between all three groups and many iterations to fully develop the platform into a useful tool. One essential task was organizing and cleaning our own dataset from the outset so that the data could help guide us through different stages of building the platform.

What is the one piece of advice you can give to first-time AI users?
AI has incredible capabilities and we feel that we have only begun to scratch the surface on utilizing AI in our business. As a reflection of our experience, first-time AI users should focus on having the most robust yet clean dataset possible. AI is only as useful as the data you feed it, so it’s important to know what is going into the system so that you can be confident in the results that come out of it.

How have you been balancing the human element?
We have adopted a system of verifying the data after it has been uploaded into our data lake so that we can be sure the AI is working as anticipated. Overall, this function of AI has allowed us to enhance the human element of our investment process, which is using these conclusions to develop institutional knowledge that inform our investment decisions. If we spend more time analyzing data instead of aggregating data, we feel that we will have an advantage in the depth and conviction of our investment strategies as well as being able
to recognize emerging trends more quickly.

 

AUNDRE OLDACRE, Managing Partner, AoRa Development

Can you tell me how you’ve been using AI technology in your operations?
At AoRa Development, we're using and evaluating AI technology across our entire value chain. In the planning and design phase, we are looking at AI-powered BIM to optimize floor plans, MEP/HVAC system designs, and architectural elements. This allows us to create highly efficient and sustainable buildings while minimizing waste and costs. We also use AI for market analysis, underwriting, and cost estimation, which helps us make data-driven decisions and secure the most attractive investment opportunities. During construction, AI-enabled autonomous equipment and modular construction techniques to reduce emissions and improve efficiency. Post-occupancy, we leverage AI for predictive maintenance, energy optimization, and tenant experience enhancement.

What were some of the key tasks you successfully executed to go from planning to pilot to integration?
To successfully implement AI, we first identified the key areas where the technology could have the greatest impact on our sustainability goals and bottom line. We are working on pilot projects to test and refine our AI models, ensuring they are delivering the expected results. Collaboration was critical throughout the process - we worked closely with our technology partners, construction teams, and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth integration. We also invested heavily in training our staff to work alongside AI systems and
understand how to leverage the insights generated. Finally, we established clear metrics to measure the success of our AI initiatives and continuously iterate based on the results.

What is the one piece of advice you can give to first-time AI users?
My advice to first-time AI users in real estate is to start small and focused. Identify a specific challenge or opportunity where AI can make a meaningful difference, and begin with a pilot project. This allows you to gain hands-on experience, demonstrate value, and secure buy-in from your organization. It's also essential to invest in data quality and governance from the outset, as AI is only as good as the data it's trained on. Double check all information as hallucinations are getting better but still common.

How have you been balancing the human element?
Balancing the human element is crucial when implementing AI. At AoRa Development, we view AI as a tool to augment and empower our people, not replace them. We want a lean but highly productive team to be able to handle multiple disciplines with the help of AI. We focus on using AI to automate repetitive tasks and provide insights that help our team make better decisions. However, we also recognize the importance of human judgment, creativity, and relationship-building in real estate. We make sure to keep our people at
the center of our AI strategy, involving them in the design and implementation process and ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to work effectively with the technology.

How has AI changed your tenant’s experience?
AI has the power to transform our tenants' experience in several ways. We are evaluating AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants to provide 24/7 support and answer common queries, improving responsiveness and convenience. We also employ AI to optimize building operations, such as adjusting lighting and temperature based on occupancy patterns, which enhances comfort and energy efficiency. Overall, AI allows us to deliver a more seamless, efficient, and engaging experience for our tenants.

What movie/TV show/Concert are you looking forward to?
I'm looking forward to watching the Tom Brady roast on Netflix.

 

JOANNA ZABRISKIE, President, BH Management, LLC

 

How have you been balancing the human element?

- We’ve shifted from the Information Age – one dominated by access to information anytime, anywhere, in the palm of your hand – to the Intelligence Age – one defined not just by access to information, but the speed and intuitiveness by which it is available.
- Today, the online shopping experience is customer-centric, meaning the experience is all about the customer making choices and personalization. Prospects aren’t interested in us telling them why we’re so great, they want high-quality, accurate information. Most importantly, they want the shopping experience to offer personalized options and the ability to choose.
The trick to high-quality content and personalization is that they rely heavily on human creativity. But we’re in the Age of Intelligence, doesn’t that mean we can get an AI to do that for us? Without a doubt, in the Age of Intelligence, AI will continue to take over some important tasks in the workplace, making us more productive, more accurate, and more efficient. However, artificial intelligence is not a stand-in for human intelligence, the beautiful, complex thinking that helps us connect with each other.

As a company, BH has been embracing this new era by rethinking our operations model, specializing teams to support a more customer-centric experience, and leveraging AI and automation to relieve the burden of task driven work. We’re striking the balance between technology and humans to deliver those wildly awesome experiences for our residents and future-residents. The take-away? AI can’t replace the power of human creativity and relationships. Ultimately, our prospects and residents might expect technology to better inform their decision to lease, but the real impact comes from the interactions with our communities and teams that matters.

 

EDWARD M. HINCHEY, Vice President, Head of Technology, Fisher Brothers

Can you tell me how you’ve been using AI technology in your operations?
I feel that we’ve been using AI for way longer than people realize. Amazon has been making recommendations to operations staff for 2 decades now. Our partners have always baked technology into our DNA, and AI is no different.

What were some of the key tasks you successfully executed to go from planning to pilot to integration?
Creating change in an organization can only happen when you get the support of the end users of the function you’re creating. This can be tenants, accountants, security guards, PM staff, or senior leadership. Find a pain point, create a plan with those who are affected, use their input in creating the platform, success!

What is the one piece of advice you can give to first-time AI users?
Don’t be afraid to jump in because you don’t know where to start. Find something small and build on the experience. A failure is never a failure if you’ve learned something.

How have you been balancing the human element?
It can be scary to forecast what the future looks like, and I feel that a lot of people don’t know how to define AI. If you educate and break down some of the terminology, it can make it a lot less scary. Breaking down the concepts like LLMs are a type of ML and ML is a type of AI can make something that looked like magic into something real and tangible.

How has AI changed your tenant’s experience?
Yes. AI is allowing us to deliver a better product. AI-assisted building programming, air filtering, security, and work orders create a cleaner, healthier built environment.

What movie/TV show/Concert are you looking forward to?
Season 3 of Welcome to Wrexham!

 

ALEX KIM, Co-Founder, Homebase

Can you tell me how you’ve been using AI technology in your operations?
With current AI solutions, we're able to provide AI-driven chatbots to both help sponsor partners onboard to our platform and also provide contextual answers to investors in lieu of them spending time digging through documents.

What were some of the key tasks you successfully executed to go from planning to pilot to integration?
To go from planning to pilot to integration, it was key to understand customer needs and the quality of data we had on hand. Planning is one thing, but really finding strengths in our data and opportunities to add more information set our confidence to allow users to test and interact with our tools.

What is the one piece of advice you can give to first-time AI users?
They're not one size fits all. Understand that the outputs of a LLM will only be as good as the inputs and the training, a lot like nutrition and routine for sports. Understand these for any large language model, and you'll know which is better for what.

How have you been balancing the human element?
In interactions with other humans, I tend to still write the emails myself and finalize copy myself. However, for behind the scenes work and initial copy, AI is such a hack!

What movie/TV show/Concert are you looking forward to?
House of the Dragon Season 2. Can't believe it's been over a year and a half since the first season!

 

VIRGINIA SULIMAN, Chief Technology and Digital Officer, Invitation Homes

Can you tell me how you’ve been using AI technology in your operations?
Artificial Intelligence covers a lot of ground and is quite broad, as such it has been imbedded into many areas of our technology. From OCR to review HOA violations, to machine learning that assists with fraud identification, and now with generative AI assisting in development activities and customer interactions like leasing.

What is the one piece of advice you can give to first-time AI users?
I believe it is key to take time to do brief research on the fullness of AI to understand natural language processing, machine learning, and generative opportunities. Next follow a core technology tenet to identify the simplest solution, but no simpler. This will help ensure you avoid over-implementing a hyped solution vs. the right solution for the problem you seek to resolve.

How have you been balancing the human element?
Meeting customers and residents where they are is paramount to exceptional engagement. This means allowing an ‘escape route’ for customers who are engaging with technology, including AI assisted technology. A human-to-human experience should be an available route in any instance, however, we want to ensure the technology experience is exceptional to capture 100% of the customers who prefer to self-serve.

What movie/TV show/Concert are you looking forward to?
I am aiming to get to Colorado this summer to see Nas with the Colorado Symphony at Red Rocks. The
whole thing is a vibe!

 

KEITH ROBINSON, Chief Strategic Officer, NextHome, Inc.

Can you tell me how you’ve been using AI technology in your operations?
We've built an AI Flip Finder bot that is in beta. It basically ingests the MLS data, does a text and email outreach to real estate agents asking for permission to write an "investor offer". It's still early but the start of the conversation has real value and the consistency is key. The bot wakes up every day and just does the work and agitates deals to the surface.

What were some of the key tasks you successfully executed to go from planning to pilot to integration?
Being willing to go fast. Make mistakes. Hold a clear vision for what you're building and why. And be willing to look stuipid. In the Alpha of the flip finder bot some really dumb texts went out... but you have to go through that to get what we have built today.

What is the one piece of advice you can give to first-time AI users?
Find someone who knows the space cold. Be willing to make mistakes. Go fast but start small. Once you get it mostly/semi functional then look to scale.

How have you been balancing the human element?

I think the key is to start with human oversight and then slowly let the reins out. Think of it like any new hire... in the beginning you keep an eye on everything and
eventually, as trust is earned you give them (it) more freedom to just operate.

How has AI changed your tenant’s experience?
Not applicable to what we're building today.

What movie/TV show/Concert are you looking forward to?
Phew... tough call. I've got two girls age 12 and 6 so I guess I get to say Taylor Swift since they'll kill me if they don't get to go.

 

KALA HALBERT. Director of Marketing, Prophia

What is the one piece of advice you can give to first-time AI users?
One piece of advice for first-time AI users is to focus on solving a specific, well-defined problem. This allows users to understand the capabilities of AI technology and gradually expand its implementation as they gain confidence and experience.

How have you been balancing the human element?
Balancing the human element in AI implementation involves recognizing that while AI can automate tasks and processes, human oversight and intervention are still crucial. It's essential to maintain a human-centric approach, ensuring that AI enhances human capabilities rather than replacing them entirely.

What movie/TV show/Concert are you looking forward to?
I'm most looking forward to seeing Lake Street Dive perform at Point of the Bluff Vineyards this summer. Great band at a great venue!

 

REED GOOSSENS, Founder, RSN Property Group

Can you tell me how you’ve been using AI technology in your operations?
Leasing and collections - also HelloData.ai is a new tool for underwriting deals and finding opportunities.

What were some of the key tasks you successfully executed to go from planning to pilot to integration?
Hellodata.ai - market data

 

What is the one piece of advice you can give to first-time AI users?
We are all still seeing how much of an impact it has on getting real estate deals done. The CRE industry has historically been slow to the game for technology. The human element will still need to be in place to buy, sell and operate deals in today's market.

How have you been balancing the human element?
There will always need to be some human element involved particularly when it comes to leasing, operations and renovations. AI will not be able to replace these key roles when pulling a deal together.

How has AI changed your tenant’s experience?
Depending on the class of tenants. Class A tenants have been more seamless however workforce housing has been more challenging.

What movie/TV show/Concert are you looking forward to?
Better question, what overseas trip am I most looking forward to? Lol.... any destination where I can surf.

 

GAVIN CAMPBELL, Founder, Managing Partner, Steelbridge Capital LLC

Can you tell me how you’ve been using AI technology in your operations?
We use natural language processors and machine learning augmented by LLM’s to source, curate, arb and buy private real estate.

What were some of the key tasks you successfully executed to go from planning to pilot to integration?
Designing the algorithm with the right people.

What is the one piece of advice you can give to first-time AI users?
Understand the “why” of your AI upgrade. Make sure it is a real solution to a real problem.

How have you been balancing the human element?
Our software---as good as it is---will always be secondary to the investment acumen and hard work of our people. It empowers them, but can’t replace them.

How has AI changed your tenant’s experience?
Not using in tenant interfaces at least yet. We use it instead to help us find, buy and manage our real estate better.

What movie/TV show/Concert are you looking forward to?
Stones “Final” Tour this summer.

 

Register for IMN's AI in Real Estate Forum, June 11 in New YorK City: events.imn.org/AIRE