GROW WITH LIBERTAS & EXP REALTY
By Tim & Julie Harris
Brenda runs a small team in Tulsa. She got AI to write her transaction updates, listing descriptions and follow-up texts, and to analyze and enhance her CMAs. When she added it up, it was saving her about nine hours a week. She was thrilled.
On her next coaching call, we asked her where those nine hours went. Long pause. "Honestly? I don't know. I've been trying new apps. I'm posting more. My inbox is cleaner." Her sales were flat. Her referrals hadn't moved.
We see this all the time. Agents save the time, and then little stuff eats it up. Here's how Brenda and a few other agents got theirs back and turned it into deals.
Key takeaways
About half of Realtors use AI every day or every week, but 75% of them mostly use it for listing descriptions (NAR 2026 Technology Report).
Track one real week and sort it into machine work and people work.
Hand off your two biggest time-wasters first, usually CMAs and deadline tracking.
Saved time only matters if you put it on the calendar with people.
Reaching a new lead within an hour makes you about 7 times more likely to land them (Harvard Business Review).
How are real estate agents using AI?
According to NAR's 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report, about half of Realtors use AI daily or weekly. But the number one use is listing descriptions, cited by 75% of them. That saves maybe twenty minutes. When AI also tracks your deadlines, drafts client updates and preps your appointments, you get back most of a day each week.
Track one real week
Renee was a second-year agent in Overland Park, working at her kitchen table until eleven every night. We had her write down everything she did for one week in fifteen-minute chunks, with no cleaning it up afterward.
She spent 31 hours on paperwork and 6 hours talking with clients and prospects. Every one of those paperwork hours came from deals she'd already won. "So the paperwork didn't build my business," she said. "My business built the paperwork."
Sort your week into two piles:
Machine work: pulling comps, data entry, deadlines, status emails.
People work: prospecting, the price conversation, calming a client down, the calls nobody else will make.
What should agents hand off to AI first?
Don't try to automate everything at once. Pick the two things that eat the most time and give clients the least of you. For most agents, that's CMAs and transaction deadlines.
Renee handed off deadline tracking, CMA prep and the first draft of every seller update. She checked everything before it went out. She got back 12 hours a week and put 8 of them on the phone. She went from on pace for 22 closings to 25, and she was home by six four nights a week.
Your Sunday-night CMA goes from three hours to a twenty-minute review. Use the extra time to drive the comps.
Speed matters. AI can answer every inquiry in two minutes, day or night, and send the real ones to you.
Anything AI sends goes out with your name on it. Read it first.
Put the hours on your calendar, face to face
Most people fill saved time with busywork. Brenda fixed that. Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9 to 11:30 became her time with people: coffees with past clients, lunches with her sphere and the listing appointments she used to squeeze in at 7 p.m.
On her third Tuesday, she met a woman she'd helped buy a house nine years earlier. The woman's husband had died that spring. "I was going to call you next month. I just didn't know where to start." That listing closed in the fall. Brenda's past-client referral closings went from five to nine that year.
For every 10 hours AI saves you:
4 hours meeting people in person
2 hours with active clients, especially the tough conversations
2 hours at FSBO and expired doors
1 hour checking and improving your AI setup
1 hour back for you and your family
Grow your sphere on purpose
According to NAR, 43% of buyers found their agent through a friend, neighbor or relative. Every week, ask yourself how many new people found out you sell real estate.
Marcus in Indianapolis tracked a week and found more than half his hours were machine work. He handed it off and went from 4 calls a day to 15, turning many into coffees. That month he booked four listing appointments, double his usual. "The machine wants the part of the job I hate," he said. "It can have it."
Join one group where you'll see the same people every week: a rec league, a chamber group, a volunteer crew or a church committee.
End every past-client coffee with one question: "Who do you know that I should meet?"
Knock on the doors other agents skip
Only 5% of homes sold by owner last year, a record low, so the FSBO down the street will probably hire somebody. Stop by and bring something useful.
Script: "I'm not here to talk you out of selling it yourself. I work this neighborhood and wanted to drop off the recent sales, so you know what buyers are comparing you to. If you ever get stuck, I'm right around the corner."
With expireds, have AI pull the price history and showing activity before you go, then ask why it didn't sell. Some sellers need a better price, some need a better agent and some need to wait. Before you knock, make sure the listing wasn't relisted, and follow local rules on door-to-door solicitation.
Your action plan
Track every activity for five days in fifteen-minute chunks and sort it into machine work and people work.
Hand your two biggest time-wasters to AI, and check everything before it goes out.
Block two mornings a week for face-to-face time, and book three coffees with past clients you haven't seen in a year.
Visit two FSBOs and two expireds. Bring something useful, not a pitch.
Join one group that meets every week, and show up.
Check how fast you answered your last ten leads. If it's over five minutes, set up an AI auto-reply that gets the hot ones to you within the hour.
Frequently asked questions
How much time can AI save a real estate agent?
In our coaching, agents who hand AI their CMAs, deadline tracking and first-draft client updates have gotten back 9 to 12 hours a week, while still reviewing everything before it goes out.
What do most Realtors use AI for?
Listing descriptions are the most common use, cited by 75% of Realtors who use AI in NAR's 2026 Technology Report.
How fast should agents respond to new leads?
Within an hour at most. Harvard Business Review research found responding within an hour makes you about 7 times more likely to qualify the lead.
What should agents do with time saved by AI?
Put it on the calendar with people: past-client coffees, sphere events, FSBO and expired visits, and the hard conversations with active clients.
Hear the full episode
Listen to the full conversation on Real Estate Coaching Radio: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-for-real-estate-agents-where-did-your-nine-hours-go/id849772346?i=1000792185861
About the authors
Tim and Julie Harris are America's most recognized real estate coaches, bestselling authors, and the voices behind Real Estate Coaching Radio, the nation's #1 daily podcast for real estate professionals. With decades of hands-on experience and a track record of helping thousands of agents achieve breakthrough success, Tim and Julie deliver real-world strategies that actually work. Whether you're looking to scale your business, sharpen your skills, or simply stay ahead of the market, their insights are your competitive edge.
Sources
NAR 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report
Harvard Business Review, "The Short Life of Online Sales Leads"
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— Tim & Julie Harris
Founders of Tim & Julie Harris Real Estate Coaching | Publishers of Harris Real Estate Daily | Hosts of PowerHouseTalk | eXp Realty Sponsors at Libertas
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