I am penning this column from Austin, Texas.
My company, Lee & Associates, descended on the annual ATX event for our own event, Lee University. The two-day event is one of intensive learning for associates with fewer than five years in the business. Think: bright minds, hungry professionals, the future of our industry.
I had the privilege of teaching The SEQUENCE, the framework I use to manage every transaction. Source. Evaluate. Qualify. Under Control. Execute. Negotiate and Close. Commission. Expand.
Today’s focus is artificial intelligence and its impact on commercial real estate.
As I sat in that room, one thought kept surfacing.
Where are our competitors headed with AI?
Because they are headed somewhere.
AI will not replace brokers. It cannot build trust. It cannot sit across from a nervous seller and create calm. It cannot read emotion or sense hesitation.
But it can analyze data in seconds. It can draft marketing copy in minutes. It can summarize leases instantly. It can identify ownership patterns. It can model scenarios. It can compress hours of research into moments.
And in brokerage, time is leverage.
The broker who learns to use AI effectively will not necessarily work longer hours. He will extract more productivity from every hour he works.
That matters.
Commercial real estate is not known for early adoption. We are relationship-driven and precedent-oriented. Yet history tells a clear story. The brokers who adopted email early gained speed. The brokers who embraced customer relationship management systems built deeper databases. The brokers who leaned into social media built brand authority.
AI will follow the same path.
Right now, many are experimenting. A few are integrating. Very few are systemizing.
That gap is where separation will occur.
The risk is not that AI becomes too powerful. The risk is that your competitor becomes too efficient.
Imagine two brokers pitching the same assignment. One assembles materials manually and relies on past knowledge. The other uses AI to analyze absorption trends, identify off-market prospects, refine pricing strategy and deliver a sharper narrative because more time was spent thinking strategically instead of gathering data.
Who appears more prepared?
Who wins?
Technology has always widened the gap between those who lean in and those who resist. AI will do the same.
Here is what I believe. AI will elevate the organized, the curious, the disciplined, the systems-driven broker.
It will not create work ethic. It will not replace judgment. If anything, it will make experience more valuable because when information becomes commoditized, interpretation becomes premium.
As I looked out at that room in Austin, I did not feel threatened by AI. I felt energized.
The next generation will not view this as disruption. It will see it as normal.
Pair relationship mastery with structured process. Add negotiation skill and market knowledge. Layer in intelligent AI usage.
That combination will not just survive the shift. It will lead it.
AI is not coming. It is here.
The question is simple: Will you use it to multiply your effectiveness? Or will you compete against someone who does?
From Austin, Texas, I suggest leaning in.
The separation has already begun.
Allen C. Buchanan is a principal with Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services in Orange. He can be reached at abuchanan@lee-associates.com or 714-564-7104.
