An artificial intelligence (AI) platform created by Oakville, Ont.-based Mod Realty is designed to provide guidance for real estate agents and micro-coaching for self-discovery, addressing both the professional and the personal aspects of the business.

For a monthly subscription fee, users can ask a voiced digital coach named Rudy on Mod Mentor Ai for tips such as how to convert a lead, or receive wellness advice with a motivational, positive tone.

Mark Jensen, the CEO and founder of Mod Realty and a real estate coach, fed an existing AI platform his training materials as a knowledge base.

Provided to his company’s agents and dozens of other users in Canada and the U.S., Rudy is being crafted to dispense real estate advice and serve as a mental health aid in what Jensen said can be a lonely, stressful industry.

“Most realtors are working on their own and isolated, and because of technology there’s a ton of Realtors that never even leave their house. So they’re just not having that interaction,” he told RENX Homes.

Rudy can be the virtual mentor accessible any time, he said, lending a friendly voice to break the periods of solitude and job strain.

Advice to you, the user

Jensen, who founded boutique brokerage Mod Realty just over two years ago, created the AI-powered assistant for two reasons.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his wife have been embracing technology and exploring how it can change the real estate industry. Mod Realty agents are already given access to AI-powered technologies, including one that summarizes agents' phone calls.

Second, he realized his traditional coaching program makes him a “finite resource”, unable to always be available at the client’s convenience. Jensen has taught the AI platform to be his digital substitute - available at all hours.

He purchased an AI platform and trained it over eight months to advise on the industry — marketing, lead generation and conversion, and how to work with a database, for example — while avoiding legal issues which can vary by jurisdiction.

He named the chatbot Rudy after a song by The Specials, a British ska band that followed the mod subculture. The “Mod” in Mod Realty, Jensen explained, is a play on “modern” and the Jensens' shared fondness for mod music.

To demonstrate the AI service, Jensen told Rudy he was having a "great day" from an available selection of five moods. Rudy then asked, in a slightly robotic voice, how it could help and served up an article about ideas and innovation.

Jensen then typed in, “Today I would really like to spend some time focusing on objection handling, I’m having a difficult time with one of my clients who doesn’t want to list until spring”. Rudy suggested telling the client about the immediate benefits of listing now, including better potential buyer interest or referencing market trends.

More than just a chatbot, Rudy will form a profile of the user and will adapt its coaching around what it has learned, Jensen said. “The more you use it, the more it knows you and the better it gets.”

Micro-coaching for professionals

But equally as important is the emphasis on health and psychological wellness. A survey by Zolo Realty identified time management and work-life balance as top concerns among real estate professionals.

Opening Rudy can lead to reflection on what a successful career entails. As the day ends, Rudy prompts a meditation on whether the user met the day’s goals. All the interactions end on an upbeat, positive note, with Rudy constantly asking about the user's emotional state.

Jensen said Rudy is built to instill a problem-solving mindset by asking questions rather than spoon-feeding answers, so the user is led to the right path on their own.

“It will keep you on task and get you to your goals,” he said.

Mod Mentor Ai is made to be a resource for both newcomers and veterans, covering the basics of real estate but also leadership advice. The micro-coaching is so broad Jensen said it has also been used as a career and mindset guidance platform for professionals outside of real estate.

Conversations with Rudy are kept private and out of reach from Mod Realty’s employees. Jensen said he does not have access to chat logs, but will have a window into the topics that were being discussed and track how often a person has “talked” to Rudy so he can be aware of the issues in a coaching session.

Affordable real estate coaching

Available on iOS and Android smartphones, Rudy is meant to be an affordable, accessible option. Real estate coaching is a pricey proposition, Jensen said, costing $1,000 per month on average. By contrast, the Mod Mentor Ai app is US$39.50 per month.

Having been live for four months, approximately 40 real estate agents have subscribed to Mod Mentor Ai. Users are located from Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia in Canada to Maine, Florida, Illinois and California in the U.S.

Jensen said the AI service can be sold to other brokerages or real estate coaches, who have the option of changing the name and branding and customizing their coaching advice.

To enhance Mod Mentor Ai, Jensen is looking into adding a personality quiz.

He also plans to continue tweaking Rudy to surface more relevant articles and videos. He pointed this out as an area for improvement during the demo when Rudy proposed an article about direct marketing in response to a query about objection handling.

Even the robotic voice could get an adjustment to sound more human-like, and Jensen is looking to add a video component that would offer a virtual person reading the text.