Today’s real estate consumer can learn a lot before ever calling a REALTOR®.

They can search homes, research neighborhoods, estimate a property’s value, calculate a mortgage payment, look at market trends and compare properties—all from the palm of their hand. Now, artificial intelligence is accelerating that access even more.

A buyer or seller can ask a question and get an answer in seconds. They don’t necessarily have to search through five websites or wait until the next morning to begin researching something that’s on their mind tonight.

That’s a significant change for consumers, and it’s also an opportunity for our profession.

The question isn’t whether REALTORS® can compete with technology. I don’t believe that’s the right question at all. The better question is: What does a consumer need from us when information is already at their fingertips?

There was a time when access to real estate information was one of the biggest advantages a real estate professional brought to the table, but technology changed that long before artificial intelligence arrived.

Consumers gained access to property listings online, smartphones put that information in their pockets, automated valuations gave homeowners an estimate of what their property might be worth, and mortgage calculators allowed buyers to begin exploring affordability on their own.

Artificial intelligence is simply moving that evolution forward, faster.

Consumers will continue to have more information, not less. They’ll have better tools, faster answers and more ways to research a property or a market before ever contacting a REALTOR®.

Suppose a homeowner searches online and finds an estimated value for their house. That’s information, but it’s our job to bring context to it. Does that estimate account for the completely remodeled kitchen? Does it recognize the difference between two sections of the same neighborhood? Does it know that one comparable has a mountain view while another backs up to a busy road?

Maybe. Maybe not.

That’s where local knowledge matters.

The same is true for buyers. An online calculator can produce an estimated mortgage payment in seconds, but the numbers are only the beginning of the conversation about what a buyer can comfortably afford and what options may be available to them.

Artificial intelligence can organize enormous amounts of information and identify patterns remarkably quickly, but information still has to be interpreted. Increasingly, that’s where the value of a knowledgeable real estate professional lies.

Faster information also means higher expectations, and that’s another side of this change that REALTORS® shouldn’t overlook.

Consumers aren’t only getting information faster; they’re becoming accustomed to getting answers faster.

Think about how much our expectations have changed in just a few years. We can order dinner, check a bank balance, book a flight, track a package or research a home without making a phone call. Real estate isn’t isolated from those expectations.

That doesn’t mean a REALTOR® should be available every minute of every day. It does mean communication, responsiveness and setting clear expectations are more important than ever.

Sometimes silence creates more uncertainty than the answer itself. A quick acknowledgement that says, “I received your question. Let me look into that and get you an accurate answer,” can be far more valuable than rushing to provide information that hasn’t been verified.

One of the interesting things about the amount of information available today is that it can sometimes make a decision more complicated rather than less complicated.

One source says prices are going up while another says they’re falling. One headline says buyers are returning while another says the market is slowing. One automated estimate says a property is worth one amount, while another gives a very different number.

Which one is right?

The answer depends on many factors that’s why local knowledge may actually become more valuable as technology improves.

A REALTOR® who understands Northeast Tennessee doesn’t simply know what homes have sold. They can help explain why one property may have sold quickly while another didn’t, why buyers may respond differently to two seemingly similar homes, and how broader market trends are, or aren’t, showing up locally.

We shouldn’t be afraid of an informed consumer. We should strive to be the person who can help that consumer understand what all that information means and, more importantly, what it means for them.

Technology can’t make every decision because real estate isn’t only about numbers. People buy and sell homes because life changes.

A first-time buyer is trying to decide whether they’re ready to take that next step. A growing family needs more room. Someone receives a job opportunity in another city. Parents decide it’s time to downsize. Adult children begin helping aging parents make decisions about where they’ll live next.

Sometimes the question isn’t simply, “What is my house worth?” It’s, “What should I do?”

Technology can provide information that helps answer that question, but some decisions require listening, understanding priorities, weighing options and sometimes recognizing that the best advice isn’t necessarily the answer someone expected.

That’s the human side of real estate.

Artificial intelligence isn’t going away, and neither are automated valuations, online property searches, digital transactions or whatever technology comes next. We shouldn’t want them to.

As REALTORS®, we should be learning these tools and finding responsible ways to use them. Technology can make us faster and more efficient, and it can help us analyze information and serve our clients better.

But it also raises the bar.

When basic information is available almost instantly, our value has to come from more than simply possessing it. It comes from experience, judgment, local knowledge, negotiation and communication, and from understanding that behind every search, every estimate and every data point is a person trying to make a decision about something much bigger than a house.

The consumer has changed, and technology will continue to change. Our opportunity as REALTORS® is to change with both, without losing the human expertise and relationships that make all that information useful in the first place.