Rechat CEO Shayan Hamidi recently joined the new Inman Advisory Council and sat down with us to talk about where he sees real estate headed in advance of multiple speaking slots at Inman Connect San Diego.
His point is that this industry doesn’t have a software problem. There is a workforce problem caused by artificial intelligence. He says real estate agents already have too many disconnected tools with too many features to be very effective. He calls this the “genius of amnesia.”
He argues that the winners over the next few years will be those who stop buying more software and instead start building a connected AI workforce.
Below, Hamidi speaks with Inman about agentic AI, the death of the “co-pilot” model, the best advice he’s ever gotten about starting a company, and what the industry actually needs from trade media right now.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Inman: A few years from now, what do you think the average real estate agent’s day-to-day will look like due to changes in technology, such as AI and the platforms they use?
Shayan Hamidi: First of all, I would like to say that I absolutely think there is a role for agents in a four- or five-year timeline. Many believe that AI will completely replace agents. I don’t think that’s the case.
The first thing you’ll notice is that much of the heavy lifting and tedious work will be handled by AI, allowing you to expand the number of relationships agents can handle. So now you have more control.
I think the big vision for agents and brokers has always been the same as for stockbrokers. The industry has moved from simply selling stocks to wealth advisors that work with clients over the long term and help them manage their assets in line with their goals. We’ve always wanted that in the real estate industry, but it’s always been a transaction, you make the transaction, the agent moves on.
These are the words that every sales trainer hears a lot. Stay in touch, remember anniversaries and birthdays, send relevant data. But the math doesn’t work. If you try to do that for 500 relationships, you’ll never sleep and you’ll probably need help from 3 other people. So people didn’t do it as much as they wanted.
Now, AI handles all of that. Agent is promoted. They are more on the relational side and can serve larger groups. It’s a transition.
Another thing I predict is that agents will manage more than just transactions. They’re going to be kind of a homeownership advisor or a lifestyle advisor. We don’t just sell homes, we help clients relocate to the neighborhood and beyond.
So, what will your daily life be like? This will be similar to the daily life of a solid agent on a team with many dedicated support staff. Its team model is industry proven. You can manage a lot more if someone can focus purely on the relationship side while others handle marketing and operations. AI basically makes it free.
Not every agent will be able to hire a team, but AI that does marketing, AI that creates listings, specific AI agents will be able to do the work. We’re moving away from the “co-pilot” concept of one assistant helping you get the job done.
Instead, marketers, list creators, all these functions are handled by AI, allowing agents to get back to basics. That means meeting people and having coffee. This one-on-one relationship work will never be replaced by AI. But now there is more support, and support is provided on a different scale.
I think they are paying attention to AI and technology in general, not just proptech. What are you really interested in right now in the world of AI and technology other than real estate?
I think there is a general theme of what is possible today. We’ve seen the rise of agent AI (AI that can perform numerous tasks, make decisions, and execute sophisticated workflows) impact all kinds of industries.
One of the big things we’re seeing is that agent AI and connected data layers are actually allowing AI to get the job done. This applies not only to real estate but also to other industries. There is an infinite amount of software in the world. Few industries require more software than this.
We need AI to get the job done. This transformation of “AI as a workforce” is being seen everywhere. On the sales side, we have people in charge of AI business development. In health sciences and other fields, a workforce is emerging where jobs are no longer performed by humans but by AI.
What’s interesting is that our industry has been through some difficult times over the past few years, and operators have become more astute because of that. They’re wondering, “Why should I pay for this just because it looks cool?” They are conscious of their margins and moving to a results-based mindset. This aligns very well with the idea that an AI workforce will actually deliver results.
We see this in every part of our own company. We are actively hiring AI talent in every department, from human resources to sales, customer support, product development, design, and marketing. Each department has an AI plan and is employing AI to do more work, thereby improving human teams.
I think earlier this year, companies were talking about using AI to reduce costs. Is the power of AI comparable to, or close to, the cost of human labor?
The cost savings from AI are very real. For most things today, AI simply costs less to get the job done. But what’s interesting is that it started as a cost-cutting discussion and now it’s changed to look at all the things that can be done that we couldn’t do before, and the capabilities that we didn’t have before. The opportunity is much greater than in terms of cost reduction.
Companies and contractors can now think bigger. They can offer more services and do things they couldn’t do before. It’s turning out to be a much bigger story than just efficiency.
For example, it would be very expensive to have a lawyer review all the contracts that go through your company, so companies typically only send you important contracts and sign the rest. AI can now review everything and provide feedback. Many things are simply not affordable or possible with the resources a company previously had.
What advice did you receive early in your career that you found most valuable in building your company?
One of the key concepts is that building a real company and a real product takes time. Success doesn’t happen overnight. You need to think long-term. It means going back to the core, to the basics of first principles: what is important to people.
There’s a great story about Jeff Bezos. When someone once asked him what Amazon was building 10 or 15 years from now, he said he didn’t know the answer, but he did know one thing. That means customers will never ask you to delay delivery, make your product more expensive, or say it’s “a little too cheap.”
Customers always want faster, better and cheaper. So thinking about the first principles of what you’re building, along with your long-term vision, is really important in practice.
That’s something that’s always stuck with me, especially since so many good ideas and trends are emerging every day. Nowadays, everything is “AI this, AI that” and it’s easy to get drawn into chasing anything AI related, just like when the internet first came out. But it’s important to go back to first principles and evaluate from there.
So it seems like there’s no need to chase every trend that comes along.
That’s exactly right, and it’s very tough. You can tell what’s trending, what’s real, and what’s going to have a fundamental impact and change things.
Even within AI, there are many things that are simply trending. Let’s take a look at the biggest AI companies. The fancy things that AI can do, like generating images, emojis, and videos, are the most sought after. Humanity (Claude) was obsessed with one thing: writing code using AI, but it turned out to be a trillion dollar idea, much bigger than anything else.
The real skill is figuring out what is a real, fundamental change, or something that just sounds exciting now and will go away. If we can reduce the cost of building software to zero, the world will change. We’re seeing it happen in real time.
I also wanted to hear about the upcoming Inman Connect San Diego conference. I know you are busy, but I will talk to you several times. What are you most looking forward to and what do you plan to talk about?
I’ll be talking about a few AI-related topics. The theme is the AI workforce and the industry has enough software. What we need is more AI talent.
There is one important point. When you have 15 or 18 different products to get the job done (as is often the case in the real estate industry), you end up with a ton of AI assistants in different silos. Essentially, you have an “amnestic genius.” Because they don’t have access to anything else. That’s why having a connected data layer is so important. If the industry doesn’t invest in it now, it won’t be able to take advantage of what’s next in AI.
More broadly, I think our industry is going through its biggest transformation yet, perhaps even bigger than the internet, including how people get information. There are no shortage of headlines in this industry. What you really need is a map.
We hope Inman can play a role in the industry as agents and brokers navigate this change. It’s exciting for me to be a part of that conversation rather than just commenting from the sidelines, and now is the perfect time to do it.
What advice would you give to someone who is attending Inman Connect for the first time and wants to get the most out of it?
Please do your homework in advance. There are two takeaways from these events. Networking and content. Get your content from the comfort of your couch with an Inman subscription. But participating directly means recognizing that everyone else has the same investment and that this is a people-to-people industry.
I highly recommend doing your homework on who will be there and who you should talk to. That way you can network after you’re actually there. Receptions and other events are often held after the conference plenary session, so we recommend that you attend. The conversations that take place in those rooms are invaluable. Not found online.
Content is also important. Inman is strong in this regard, and this is a special time in the industry, so it’s worth keeping an eye on. Get the agenda in advance, see who’s speaking on what topics, and bookmark sessions in the app or add them to your calendar so you don’t miss anything.
Booking meetings in advance is also a great idea, as people are very busy. As long as you book in advance and mark it on your calendar, you’re in the clear.
You recently joined the Inman Advisory Council. The goal is to get opinions from experts like you on how to transform Inman into a dynamic media, membership, and community platform. What do you think the real estate industry needs most from the industry media right now?
I touched on it a little earlier. I don’t think the industry needs any more headlines. I need a map. My hope is that Inman will be the place to help agents and brokers navigate the changes that are underway, whether it’s AI or industry consolidation. Don’t just report it and add to the noise, clarify what to actually do about it.
In a time of so much change, I think storytellers are just as important as stories. That’s why I joined this advisory group, and that’s what I hope to contribute.
The timing was no coincidence. The next three years will determine who succeeds in this industry for the next 30 years. And the conversation needs to include the voices of the people who are actually building the technology, not just commenting on it.
I think that’s great [Inman CEO] tom [Bohn] You will enter your new role with a fresh perspective on how media can contribute to the industry. The timing couldn’t have been better. This is the biggest change since the internet. Maybe even bigger.
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