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Using ChatGPT as a Real Estate Analyst to Create a Lease Abstract

As you may know, we here at A.CRE have been exploring various use cases for AI in commercial real estate. When ChatGPT plugins were released in May 2023, the tool gained an ability to act like a young real estate analyst; namely to source and organize information. The first such use case showed how connecting the AI to a database of properties allowed ChatGPT to find rent comps and organize them into a table for a property tax appeal. In today’s video, I’ll show you how ChatGPT acts like an analyst to read a commercial real estate lease and then create a lease abstract of that lease.

As with the property tax appeal example, I think this is a glimpse into the future of real estate analysis. While human intuition isn’t going away anytime soon, the real estate analyst role is going to change dramatically as the speed to gather and assess information is improved by AI tools like this.

Partial output after ChatGPT was fed a commercial lease in pdf format.

What is GPT, ChatGPT, OpenAI, ChatGPT Plugins, Google Bard, etc?

Given that we’ve now shared numerous posts in this series, I assume you’re well aware of what ChatGPT and natural language models are. I also assume you’re familiar with its creator, OpenAI and the significant advances in artificial intelligence (including advances in artificial intelligence in real estate) that are currently underway.

I also assume you’re aware of comparable tools that have been developed (e.g. Google Bard, ChatSonic, Perplexity AI, etc) and the way teams are integrating those natural language models with other tools to expand their functionality (e.g. ChatGPT plugins).

Therefore, I won’t rehash those concepts here. However, if any of this is new (or you’re looking to learn more) you might check out our Using ChatGPT in Real Estate guide or our list of AI resources for real estate professionals.

Using ChatGPT as a Real Estate Analyst to Create a Basic Lease Abstract

So, how might natural language models such as ChatGPT (or Google Bard) be used as a real estate analyst? In the following video, I use a ChatGPT plugin called AskYourPDF to give ChatGPT access to a commercial real estate lease. I then prompt the AI to read the lease and extract the key points from the lease (i.e. create a basic lease abstract).

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the traditional role of a real estate analyst is to source information (e.g. find and read commercial leases), organize that information per the instructions of their superior, and then assist the firm in making some real estate decision. I would estimate that at least 75% of an analyst’s time is spent sourcing information, and entering/organizing that information into some format and medium (e.g. an Excel file or Word Doc) so that a more seasoned professional can digest it.

In the following video, you’ll see ChatGPT perform that exact role: read a commercial real estate lease, find the points that are most important, and then organize those points in a way for others to review.

A few points of caution however before you continue: 1) uploading confidential information to a third party may break confidentiality agreements you may have signed. Proceed with caution before uploading confidential information to OpenAI or AskYourPDF and 2) the tool is very much in its infancy. It occasionally hallucinates (i.e. creates fake information), so don’t rely 100% on ChatGPT for your lease abstracts!

Enjoy the video and I hope you too feel like this is a glimpse into the future of real estate analysis.

  • Click here to read the entire ChatGPT conversation from the video.

About the Author: Born and raised in the Northwest United States, Spencer Burton has over 20 years of residential and commercial real estate experience. Over his career, he has underwritten $30+ billion of commercial real estate at some of the largest institutional real estate firms in the world. He is currently President and member of the founding team at Stablewood. Spencer holds a BS in International Affairs from Florida State University and a Masters in Real Estate Finance from Cornell University.