Brad Inman: ‘AI will be god-like,’ and other real estate predictions
The Inman founder recently shared why he’s excited about the future of AI — and talked about what he sees coming next for real estate.
Brad Inman is a believer.
More specifically, the Inman News founder is a big believer in artificial intelligence and gets a thrill thinking about the technology’s future. He even recently bought a home with his wife, Yaz, in San Francisco to be at the epicenter of AI’s growth, Inman told RealScout cofounder and CEO Andrew Flachner during a new episode of Flachner’s Playmakers podcast.
“AI is so transformative, it will be God-like,” Inman asserted to the CEO.
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Filming of the podcast episode took place while the pair were at Inman Connect San Diego, where Inman also offered bold predictions about AI and the future of real estate while on stage.
During the new podcast episode, Inman acknowledged to Flachner that many everyday Realtors were struggling with the shift in the market after the pandemic boom. But he also asserted that there was much to look forward to with how AI is already transforming the industry — and that it’s unclear just how many jobs the still-developing tool might actually replace.
“I don’t think we know what all this is yet,” Inman said, telling Flachner that he likes to avoid dwelling on the potential what-ifs and hysteria over how many human jobs AI might replace. “What I focus on is what is clearly a big opportunity, a transformative moment in the history of human kind, accelerated at a speed that is beyond anyone’s imagination.”
Inman instead focused on what he sees as the highlights of AI to come including solutions to affordable housing and housing discrimination.
“I think it’s going to be the end of NIMBYs as we know them, which has been the bane of affordable housing,” Inman speculated. “I think it’s the end of housing discrimination, I think it’s the end of redlining because we’re going to reallocate capital so that anyone anywhere can get a loan. Housing discrimination will make no sense because to the AI machinery, they’ll be able to reconfigure how and where people will live, so I think a lot of big real estate problems will be solved.”
Flachner called those predictions “visionary,” given how most people just view AI as a productivity tool today.
AI will eventually help create a truly seamless integrated transaction, Inman asserted, something real estate professionals have wanted for years but have not yet achieved.
After their discussion on AI, Flachner transitioned the conversation to ask Inman how he was inspired to create Inman News.
Inman said it came about by accident when he wanted to write a story about controversy at the National Association of Realtors, but his editors at the traditional newspaper he worked for said no member of the public knew what NAR was or cared what they were doing. So instead, Inman published the story on his blog and received positive feedback from the agent community. It was then that he realized there was an opportunity for an industry-facing publication.
“It turns out there were agents, RE/MAX [agents] primarily, they were the most sophisticated agents back then, and buyers’ agents, who were a little wonky and a weird group of people who were tech savvy,” Inman said. “And they were on the internet and they read it and they [sent] me emails and they were thanking me for telling the truth that their own trade group didn’t. And that was an ‘aha moment’ when I realized ‘Oh wow, I can build a business on the internet.’”
Inman News scaled over the course of several years, Inman explained, just by sticking to tenets of old-school journalism. He advised other agents looking to grow their businesses to remain transparent and independent.
“Try to be credible and be independent and don’t spoil it by being conflicted, as best you can,” Inman said. “I always tell people who go on the Inman stage, if you deliver a great speech, that’s your best ad. Don’t get up on stage and promote your own product. If you’re credible, your client will listen to you.”
For those agents struggling with the market right now, Inman also advised that they try everything and find a happy medium between tightening their belts and investing. Of course, an investment doesn’t necessarily have to be a financial one, he added, but could be a time investment in learning something new.
Flachner then concluded the episode with rapid-fire questions about the future of the real estate industry. Inman was somewhat reluctant to make predictions, but ultimately shared what he thinks the industry will look like:
- In five years, the number of Realtors will drop from 1.46 million to 1 million.
- A compromise will be found on the private listings/full transparency debate, where both can coexist.
- NAR will survive and continue to evolve as new leadership finds its footing. “It seems like they’re headed in the right direction,” Inman said.
- The average real estate transaction will be faster, smoother, easier. “It’s going to be joyful.”
- Commission compression will happen, but Inman avoided specifying by how much.
- An optimistic Inman News headline in five years? “The world’s getting much, much better.”
