AI Has Entered the Chat and It's Wrecking Deals

Four times in the past two weeks, I heard stories directly from agents like you who had AI sabotage (or almost sabotage) a sale.

You may have heard the Ryan Serhant story, which made the rounds a week or so ago. If you missed it, watch these two short videos:

• Video 1: ChatGPT just blew up his $50M deal​

• A day later: He thinks he saved it via a hard talk with both sides​

When I say "four times" above, that doesn't include this from an agent in my mastermind community about clients using AI:

It's also really failing buyers when it comes to determining an offer price. Sometimes suggesting way too low and sometimes higher than the activity supports, and this scares them off. Basically I'm spending more time validating their efforts (to be polite) but needing to correct assumptions and ideas they have about how to successfully transact.

You and I both know where this is going right? It's like people treating their Zestimate as gospel truth...only much, much worse. The Zestimate doesn't ruin a deal, it just makes you work a little harder to teach homeowners what their home is worth.

But AI is starting to ruin deals, like the story below about a homeowner who rejected a full-price offer because ChatGPT said the buyer was being "passive aggressive" by including a deadline in their offer. Let's take a closer look...

Story 1: "They gave so much more weight to the AI opinion than mine"

This is from a private Facebook group I'm in. The agent calls it a positive, but only because her seller eventually agreed with her price recommendation.

Story #2: "They were being coached by an AI that instructed them to break the agreement"

Here's another one from Facebook, I think this is from one of the mega groups (maybe LCA or Pivot).

Story #3: "My client declined it due to ChatGPT"

This is also from one of the big Facebook groups. In this one, ChatGPT's advice ruined what sounds like it should've been a slam dunk.

AI's "confirmation bias" problem

By now, everyone knows AI gets things wrong. So what's going on?

1. AI tells us what we want to hear. Judging from the stories above, a lot of people have no idea this is how AI works.

2. We all get trapped by confirmation bias. It's a cognitive bias that says we're pre-disposed to agree with information that supports our beliefs.

That's a dangerous combination.

I'm 100% certain these stories are just the tip of the iceberg. Stuff like this has probably happened dozens or hundreds more times already, and it's only going to get worse in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

I agree with the agent in story three -- we have to get ahead of this.

To that end, you're welcome to R&D (ripoff and duplicate) this page that Cari and I are adding to her buyer and seller marketing materials. This one is written specifically for Cari's seller listing presentation, but with a few small changes, it'll fit perfectly in a buyer consultation, too. We'll also put something like this on Cari's website, too, and her social media.

Share it* with the agents in your office or friends in other parts of the country.

Thanks to the 1000WATT membership program for inspiration on the text and image above.

Your Takeaways

The writing is on the wall. Buyers and sellers are using AI in all kinds of ways, some of which replace you and your knowledge, judgment, and experience.

The time is now to educate, educate, and educate some more on the downfalls of relying on AI when they should rely on you. Feel free to use our listing presentation page above, customize it in your voice, and make sure your clients understand how and how not to use AI during a transaction.

Good luck. And stay tuned...I have a feeling this won't be the last time we talk about this.

(*If you do share that image with other agents, please let them know you got it from me/SEO Savvy Agent. 🥰)

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