I have become an avid user of ChatGPT in both my personal and business life. This year one of our goals at Progressive Real Estate Partners has been to share with each other various ways to utilize ChatGPT in our business and our lives. We believe in “Getting Better Together” and that applies both internally and externally.
The below list is far from comprehensive but it is designed to show the diversity of ways we are using ChatGPT. I am not typically an early adapter, but in terms of ChatGPT, I think I am ahead of the pack. In terms of overall education, I believe I’m at least at a high school level. I know there are many ways to go deeper, and I plan to do so, but for now the following are some of the ways that our team has been using this valuable tool.
FYI, I utilize the $20/month 4.0 version. This version allows you to upload documents. If you are only using the free version you may not be able to do some of the items I mention below.
1. Lease Negotiation Comparisons
The days of creating excel spreadsheets to compare the economics of two lease proposals may be over. For example, try typing the following into ChatGPT and see the results that it provides.
PROMPT: I am comparing 2 lease proposals for a 5,000 SF space. I represent the landlord. They are each 10 years with any free rent being in addition to the 10-year term. The first proposal has an annual rent of $18/SF with 6 months free and a $20/SF tenant improvement allowance and the second is at $16/SF with no tenant improvement allowance, but 12 months of free rent. I have an 8% cost of capital. From a present value perspective which yields a higher present value for my client? Please show me the math.
For the Excel gurus among us, they will likely keep using Excel. But for those less comfortable with their Excel skills and their ability to intuitively check whether their Excel calculations are correct, ChatGPT is a great option.
2. Creating Tenant Email Submittals
For those brokers that write customized emails when submitting a site, ChatGPT can make the process easier. Here is an example of a prompt we put into ChatGPT. As a part of this process, we also upload our leasing brochure. The better the initial leasing brochure, the better the results.
PROMPT: I want to write an email to (Name the Corporate or Type of Tenant) encouraging them to ground lease the location where we currently have a bank building in this shopping center. Create an email to their real estate director that highlights the information in the attached marketing brochure that would be most relevant to them and include the addresses for their 2 closest locations and how far they are to this shopping center?
If the property is on the going to work side of the street, I would tell ChatGPT to include this information as well as the traffic counts to ensure that they make it into the email.
3. Understanding Industry Terminology
We recently had a reason to get multiple roofing bids. Each vendor was provided a roofing report and unfortunately the roofing companies ignored what was being asked of them and instead bid how they wanted to bid. One bid an acrylic material, one used a silicone material, and the other a TPO. I am not a roofing expert so I asked ChatGPT to explain under what circumstances one would use each of these materials, the differences between the materials, and why a property owner would select one vs. the other.
I wouldn’t base my entire decision on the ChatGPT results, but it certainly allowed me to have a better discussion with the property manager relative to these different types of roofs and what may be the best option.
I am highly encouraging our team to use it for understanding terminology that may be new to them. It is not unusual for someone on our team to ask me to explain a term and I ask “what did ChatGPT tell you?” I would rather they obtain their initial understanding from ChatGPT and then we can start the dialog relative to the particular case with them having at least an initial understanding.
4. Improving our Excel, Word, and Outlook Use (Really any App)
Microsoft is a significant investor in OpenAI the organization behind ChatGPT. As a result, they have clearly put substantial effort into educating ChatGPT on how to utilize their software. Most of us likely use about 10% to 20% of the capabilities of these programs. I am sure that like me, there are times where you think you must be able to do something with the technology but you have no idea how.
An example of this is I have always been frustrated when one of our brokers redlines a document and then when I go to review it, I can’t edit it without Word putting my redlines in a different color than the brokers redline. As a result, for years I have been marking it up by hand or sending an email with my changes to the broker so they can make the changes in an effort that when we give it back to the other party, they will see all of our client’s changes in one color. Otherwise, the document just becomes even more confusing.
PROMPT: Is there is way to make my redline changes to a document match the color of someone else who redlined the document. If so, how do I do it? The detailed instructions that it provided allowed me to figure this out in minutes. AND there is no way I would have figured this out on my own.
5. Performing Calculations
This one is so simple, but I did not think of it. I must credit Roxy Klein in our office who recently gave a presentation to our team on ways she is using ChatGPT. How many times have you prepared an LOI or Lease documents and wanted to include a rental schedule for the next 10 years. You put in year 1, then the rent per square foot, then multiply it by the square footage, then multiply the rent per square foot by 1.03%, etc. Type the following into ChatGPT and see the results.
PROMPT: Please provide me with a table using Times New Roman font that shows the rental increases over 10 years when the square footage is 3,000 SF, the rent per square foot in year 1 is $2.50/SF/month, and the rent increases by 3% per year. Column 1 should be the year, column 2 the rent per square foot per month, column 3 the rent per month, and column 4 the rent per year.
I did not entirely like the initial results, so I gave it the following additional instructions.
PROMPT: Include the $ sign where appropriate and only go out two digits past the decimal. Also, format so I can easily copy into Microsoft Word.
Try it.
6. Social Media Posts
Creating social media posts is very similar to email submittals. Upload the leasing or investment sales brochure and ask ChatGPT to create a LinkedIn or Instagram post that would grab the attention of those that you think will be most interested in the post. Interestingly, ChatGPT adjusts the tone from being more professional on LinkedIn to more casual on Instagram.
7. Site Tour Optimization
You are going to look at a series of properties and you want to optimize the route including directions. If you type the list of sites into ChatGPT (or if you have them on another document, you can upload this document), and ChatGPT will tell you the best route to take. You can further give it instructions such as only taking local roads between certain sites and even ask it to account for how long it will take to get between sites based upon time of day. Here is a recent example. I just uploaded the brochures.
PROMPT: I need to visit the attached 5 properties. Once I get to the first property, I only want to take local roads to get to the others. Please provide the optimal route for me and tell me how long it will likely take between locations. And if I am starting from my current location and I expect to spend 10 minutes at each site, how much time should I allocate for this property tour. I plan to start my drive at 10AM on Friday.
8. Research
Google is so passe. For example, the other day I wanted to know the top 20 private home builders in Southern California. In the past, I would have typed this question into Google and Google likely would have given me access to a bunch of sites that may or may not have had the answer. Regardless, I would have had to open each one, read a bit to see if it had the desired information and keep searching. Instead, I wrote this prompt and within seconds I had a detailed list.
PROMPT: Can you give me a list of the top 20 private residential developers in Southern California?
Conclusion
As many of know, the CRE industry tends to be late to the game when it comes to technology. There is no reason for this to be the case when it comes to AI tools such as ChatGPT. Let’s get better together. I would love to hear how you are using ChatGPT to enhance your CRE experience. Email me at brad@progressiverep.com.
And if you need a retail building leased or sold, or if you have land, gas stations or car washes that you want to sell in the Inland Empire, Coachella Valley, San Gabriel Valley or north Orange County, please reach out to me at 909-816-4884 and let’s discuss how one of the Progressive Real Estate Partners team members can help you achieve your goals.