Every agent has heard the pitch by now. Some of it is real and some of it is noise. This guide covers what good AI does for an Australian real estate agent, what it leaves to you, and how to tell a useful tool from a gimmick. It also covers three risks that are easy to miss: protecting your clients’ personal information, where that information is stored, and keeping up as AI changes. Near the end, we show how Propic and Claire handle them.
1. Answer every enquiry, fast
A buyer who enquires at 11pm is still deciding where to look. The agency that replies first, with a real answer, is the one they speak to next. Good AI replies in seconds, any time of day, using your listing details and the documents you have supplied, such as the price guide or contract. It then passes the enquiry to the right agent with a summary of what the person asked and how ready they seem.
2. Follow up every contact, not just the memorable ones
Open-home attendees, past enquirers and old appraisal requests all go quiet when the office is busy. Good AI follows up each of them on timing you set, with messages that sound like your agency. Agents then spend their time on the people who reply.
3. Write the first draft of the ad
A listing description or social post takes time, and it is easy to run out of it. Good AI drafts copy from the photos and floor plan, in your brand voice, so you start from a draft instead of a blank page. A person still reviews it before anything goes live.
4. Show who is likely to sell
Most agents hold more potential sellers than they could ever call. Good AI reads market and property data to rank the owners most likely to list, so your calls go where they count. The best tools also say why, so your agent has something useful to say when the owner answers.
5. Match buyers to listings by what they want, not just bedrooms and suburb
Most CRMs can already match a new listing to buyers on suburb, price, bedrooms and bathrooms. Good AI goes further. It reads what buyers have said and done, such as past conversations, enquiries and inspections, and matches on what they are really looking for. It then writes each buyer a personal email that says why this home suits them, such as a short walk to the primary school, a train line nearby, or no renovation needed. It can even pick up that someone works on Saturday mornings, so the afternoon open home is the one to suggest.
6. Work in the languages your buyers speak
Australian buyers speak many languages, and an enquiry in someone's own language is more likely to turn into an inspection. Good AI answers in the language it was asked in, and still gives your agent a summary they can read.
Protect your clients’ personal information
Your CRM holds names, phone numbers, emails and addresses for thousands of people. When staff paste those details into a public AI tool, or your CRM is connected to an AI provider, that information leaves your systems. The provider’s terms decide whether it is kept, who can see it and whether it is used to improve their models. The agency stays responsible for that information under the Privacy Act, even when a provider mishandles it.
Good AI for agents is built around this. It uses only the information it needs, controls who can see what, and respects each person’s contact preferences and unsubscribes.
Know where the data lives
Data sovereignty means knowing which country your clients’ information is stored in, and under whose laws. Many AI tools process what you type on servers overseas. Ask where your data is stored and processed, whether it is used to train the provider’s AI, and what happens to it if you stop using the tool.
Keep up as AI changes
AI changes every month. Providers release new models, retire old ones and change their prices and terms, and instructions that worked last month can give different answers after an update. Privacy and marketing rules change too. Someone has to watch all of this and test after every change. With a tool you built yourself, that someone is you. With a good vendor, it is part of the service.
What AI should leave to you
Relationships. A good tool does the legwork and hands the agent the part only they can do: the conversation. It should not negotiate, give advice it cannot stand behind, or hide what it said from you. Your agents should be able to read everything the customer was told, and you should be able to set rules for topics such as price.
The test: after the tool has done its work, is your agent calling a better-prepared person, or is the tool trying to be the agent?
What a good AI tool should do
- Use your own listings, documents and data to answer, not guesses.
- Keep clients’ personal information under the agency’s control, with clear answers on where it is stored.
- Keep up with changes in AI and the law, so your team does not have to.
- Work with the CRM you already have, reading from it and writing back to it.
- Show agents every conversation and pass each lead on with a summary.
- Let you set the rules: tone, timing and topics to avoid.
- Be set up in your brand, so customers hear from your agency.
- Be live in weeks, without asking your agents to change how they work.
More than a chatbot
A chatbot answers questions on a web page. That is useful, but it is one small part of the job. A more complete tool follows the customer across email, portals, SMS and your website, and carries on after the chat ends.
- Where does it work? A chatbot: on your website. More than a chatbot: email, portals, SMS and your website.
- What does it know? A chatbot: a fixed set of answers. More than a chatbot: your listings, your documents and property data.
- What happens after the chat? A chatbot: nothing. More than a chatbot: a summary to the agent and a note in your CRM.
- Does it follow up? A chatbot: no. More than a chatbot: yes, on timing you set.
How Propic helps
Claire, Propic's AI for real estate, is built for Australian agencies and covers the whole journey, from the first photo to the twelfth month. She is more than a chatbot, and she is not a CRM: she reads from your CRM and writes back to it.
On enquiries, Claire answers across realestate.com.au, Domain, Allhomes, email, SMS and your website, including at 11pm. She speaks 58 languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Punjabi, Greek, Italian, Hindi, Korean, Spanish and Filipino. Every enquiry goes to the right agent with a summary of what the person asked and how ready they seem. You choose the rules, such as whether she talks about price.
After the enquiry, Claire follows up every open-home attendee and nurtures each contact from their CRM status. Listing Ready drafts the ad from your photos and floor plans in your brand voice, for you to review before it goes live.
AI Buyer Match goes beyond the suburb, bedroom and bathroom matching already in your CRM. It draws on past conversations with each buyer, matches on what they are really looking for, and sends a personal email introducing the property and why it is a good fit for them, such as the school, the transport or no renovation needed. It can even notice that a buyer works on Saturday mornings, and suggest the afternoon open home.
Vendor Predictions show which owners are most likely to list next. They come from Propic's own property data, which covers about 11.5 million Australian properties, and models that make about 4.2 billion predictions a year. Claire's answers draw on that same data, your listing data and your documents.
Claire is built to protect your clients’ information. The agency owns the lead and owns its data, and CRM contact records remain the property of each agency. Propic holds that information on the agency’s behalf, under strict security controls, and stores data in Australia only. Claire keeps the conversation on your own site and in your own brand, and she writes what she learns back into your own systems. You can access your Claire data, such as listings, enquiries and conversations, through an API for your own reporting. Permissions decide who can see which office’s data, the website chat is locked to your own domains, CRM lookups on enquiries can be turned off, and contact preferences and unsubscribes are respected.
Propic has specialised in AI for seven years, and it keeps up with changes in AI, so your team does not have to.
Your agents do not need to change how they work. Propic connects your CRM and website, sets Claire up in your brand, trains your team, and then she goes live. Most customers are live within two weeks or less, followed by a 90-day account management plan with reviews with the principal at one, two and three months. Networks are scoped before anyone signs.
Your agents sell. Claire does the rest. See how Enquiry Response works.
Discover how Propic can help leasing teams.
Claire is not only for sales. The same AI works on the rental side, with its own settings for leasing, so your property managers spend less time on repetitive admin.
- AI enquiry response for property managers answers every rental enquiry straight away, in your brand, around the clock.
- AI rental ad copy is written from the property’s details, ready for your team to review.
- AI Tenant Match sends each new rental to renters who have already enquired or attended an inspection.
- Landlord and investor leads alert your team to active investors in their area.
- Rental market intelligence gives your team suburb rents, yields and how long a lease takes to sign.
