🏠 ChatGPT for real estate & an $18 million desert dwelling

Rumblings of ChatGPT have been shaking every industry — including real estate.

But what even is ChatGPT? It's a fancy word for artificial intelligence (AI) that's capable of forming coherent sentences. For example, this newsletter was written using ChatGPT. KIDDING. No robot could possibly be this clever. Right? 😅 

How will ChatGPT be used in real estate? Here are a few possibilities:

• Real estate or Airbnb listings.

• Airbnb property naming.

• Lease agreements and contracts.

• Social media captions.

• Content scripts for videos on YouTube, Reels, TikTok, etc.

• Templated responses for Airbnb guest communications.

• Emails & newsletters

Whatever you use ChatGPT to write, just make sure you're editing the copy. While ChatGPT can help you generate ideas, it's known to take some editorial risks and creative liberties, at times pumping out false claims and inaccuracies.   

SPILLING THE (REAL)TEA

New fear unlocked: Strangers attempting to get inside your home because they booked a stay on Airbnb — only you didn't list it. That's exactly what happened to a woman in Philadelphia who found a family on her front step who'd fallen for an Airbnb scam.

Office buildings across the globe are sitting vacant, yet Apple is building massive office campuses in Austin, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. 🤔

A gas vs. electric debate is heating up! The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission cooked up some controversy this week when they suggested the government ban gas stoves to help with indoor air quality.

NYC's Midtown may be getting a casino-apartment-ferris-wheel-hotel. Would this grown-ups play place be a fun escape or a total eyesore for the city? Check out the rendering: 

TIP OF THE WEEK

Sure, estate planning sounds morbid. BUT, in the event your assets need to be distributed, who would you rather make those decisions — you, or the government? Without an estate plan, it's up to the court to decide who inherits what.

Here are five tips for estate planning:  

1. Set objectives. Do you want to support charities, minimize taxes, keep family from fighting?

2. Take inventory. Account for homes, cars/boats, investment pieces like art or collectibles, savings, investments, and life insurance.

3. List beneficiaries. Brainstorm the people you want to name as beneficiaries.

4. Plan inheritances. Designate specific assets to those beneficiaries on your list.

5. Make updates as needed. Especially during life events like a wedding, divorce, birth of a child, or acquisition of assets, make sure to review and update your estate plan accordingly.

WHAT'S BREWING

📚 What we're reading: We're taking the long weekend to dive into "Spare," Prince Harry's memoir which became the fastest-selling non-fiction book ever.

🎧 What we're listening to:  Real Estate Rookie podcast's "Simple Steps to Start, Scale, and Grow a Real Estate Business in 2023" episode. 

👀 What we're watching:  Jennifer Coolidge's acceptance speech when she won Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globe Awards for "The White Lotus."

🛒 What we're adding to our shopping cart:  We're getting organized in 2023 with these: 

Honeycomb drawer organizer 3-section wicker basketsGlass food storage containersSpice drawer organizerPlastic refrigerator organizer bins

SANDY SANCTUARY FOR SALE 

A desert dwelling in Joshua Tree, California, just listed for $18 million. The barely there abode is almost invisible thanks to its mirrored facade and has hosted guests like Diplo and Demi Lovato. 

WOMEN OF THE HOUSE

Tax season will be here before we know it. We tapped real estate CPA Ana Karina Klein for her tips on how investors should prepare. 

Assemble a good team from the beginning. “Beginner investors are so used to doing their taxes themselves and paying $100 online, and then they go talk to a good CPA and it could cost 10 times what they were paying,” Ana says. However, what a lot of investors don’t factor in is how much they could be overpaying in taxes without a CPA’s help. Ana also says it’s crucial to find an accountant who knows the real estate industry well, so you can take advantage of the laws and loopholes designed for investors. 

Do your research and ask questions. If you’ve done your due diligence of finding a CPA who is versed in real estate, make sure to ask questions about how you can take advantage of different real estate investor tax deductions. For example, there are benefits to explore if you’re married or if you have kids. “Right now, the short term rental loopholes are huge; there's so much knowledge out there,” Ana says. “I just always tell everyone: Make sure you talk to a CPA who knows what they're talking about—[don’t just watch a] TikTok.” 

Keep your records organized. Ana suggests keeping track of your profits and losses using QuickBooks or Stessa, which is a financial tool specifically designed for rental property businesses. “Make sure that you have really good record keeping,” she says. “That is the No. 1 issue I see year after year with our real estate investors because they get so caught up in whatever they're doing—wholesaling, flipping, BRRRRs—that at the end of the year they're like, ‘Oh my gosh, I made so much money. Why do I owe so much money?’” 

Even if the numbers side of your real estate business isn’t the part you’re most passionate about, just remember that when you make smart financial moves, you free up more resources to invest in your future projects. “You can't think of real estate as a hobby; it's a business, and you have to run it as such,” Ana says.