359: From Google Sheets to AI: Our Honest Real Estate Tech Stack
If you have been wondering how to use AI in real estate without losing your mind or your budget, you are in the right place. In this episode, Katy and Alissa pull back the curtain on the actual tech tools running their real estate businesses right now, from a humble spreadsheet all the way to AI platforms that are genuinely saving them time and money. No hype, no sponsored recommendations, just the real list.
It started with a listener email. She had heard a past episode where Alissa mentioned not having a personal website, and she wanted the full picture. Are they still using just a spreadsheet? What about leads? What about everything everyone else seems to be using? So they answered her, and then they turned that answer into this episode, because the answer is both simpler and more interesting than you might expect.
The Simple Tech Stack That Actually Works
The complete Hustle Humbly tech stack for running a top-producing real estate business: Google Sheets, Trello, Canva, email, Google Drive, and MLS. That is it. No expensive CRM. No lead generation platform. No software subscription eating away at every commission check. The philosophy behind the list is straightforward: the simpler the system, the more consistently you will actually use it. And consistent use of a simple tool beats occasional use of a fancy one every single time.
Both Katy and Alissa also use transaction management tools required by their brokerages, Loop and SkySlope respectively, along with e-sign tools provided through their MLS board memberships. These are not optional choices so much as part of doing business, but the point stands: outside of what their offices require, their personal tech stack is minimal by design.
How to Qualify Your Tech Choices
Before you go adding or subtracting anything from your own setup, Katy makes an important point: your tech choices need to match the type of business you are actually running. If you are on a team that feeds agents cold leads from Zillow or Boomtown, your tech needs look very different. But if you are a solo agent building a repeat and referral business, the most important investment you can make is talking to your database, not paying for more platforms to show up in places your clients are not looking anyway.
Shiny tools feel productive, but they can delay real progress. And a new system is not going to fix a broken habit. If you already have tools you are not using consistently, adding more is not the answer.
SEO, AEO, and GEO: What Real Estate Agents Actually Need to Know
This is where the episode takes a turn, and it is a good one. Katy breaks down three terms that agents are going to keep hearing. SEO (search engine optimization) is probably familiar: it is how your website shows up in a Google search. AEO (answer engine optimization) is what happens when someone asks a voice assistant like Alexa to find them a Realtor in their area. And GEO (generative engine optimization) is the newest and arguably most important one: it is what happens when someone types a conversational question into ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity and asks for an agent recommendation.
Here is the part that matters for how to use AI in real estate: you could work night and day on your website SEO and it may not impact how you show up in an AI search at all. These are different systems with different signals. And for most agents focused on repeat and referral business, the single most important thing you can do to show up well in AI is collect Google reviews consistently and respond to them. When Alissa had someone search her name in ChatGPT, the AI focused almost entirely on her reviews. Not her website, not her social media, her reviews.
How Alissa Is Using AI Right Now
Alissa’s AI use started where most agents start: listing descriptions. But it has grown from there in ways that are genuinely useful. In a recent multiple offer situation, she uploaded all three offers and all three pre-approval letters to ChatGPT and asked it to calculate the net on each one, analyze the pre-approval letters, flag any financing concerns, and give her feedback on the email she was writing to her seller. What took her 45 minutes on her own took closer to 20 with AI helping. Her math was right. The AI confirmed it and added context she found genuinely helpful.
She has also used ChatGPT to virtually stage photos, remove furniture from occupied listings, and show sellers what their home would look like with new paint. One seller could not envision why he needed to make certain changes before photos. Alissa uploaded a photo of the front of his house and asked ChatGPT to repaint it and clean up the landscaping. He said, “I see.” And on photo day, the house looked exactly like the AI rendering.
How Katy Is Using AI Right Now
Katy is further down the AI rabbit hole and is using Claude specifically, which she describes as structured differently from ChatGPT in ways that matter for ongoing business use. She recently went on a listing appointment that doubled as a photo consultation day. The house needed a lot of prep work, and she took photos and made extensive notes. She uploaded everything to Claude and asked it to compile her notes into a checklist for her seller, with checkboxes and the corresponding photo matched to each note. It produced a beautiful PDF document. No tutorial. No tech background required. It just worked.
Inside Claude, Katy has been exploring projects (think folders that give the AI ongoing context for a specific area of your business), skills (reusable instructions built around your specific voice, brand, or workflow), and co-work (the ability to have Claude take action on your behalf, like drafting emails directly into your Gmail drafts). She is at the beginning of her co-work journey but watching where it is headed closely.
The Monthly AI Class Inside the Hustle Humbly Community
Here is the big announcement from this episode: Katy is launching a monthly AI class inside the Hustle Humbly Community. Every month. Because AI is changing fast, and there is far too much ground to cover in a single session. She will start from the very beginning, build skills that community members can plug directly into their own Claude accounts, and walk through how to actually use these tools in a real estate business without the overwhelm.
The class is included in the Hustle Humbly Community membership at $25 per month. Community members already get the monthly live hangout, the referral list, access to all the resources, and more. The AI class is now part of that package. If you have been eyeing community and waiting for the right moment, this might be it.
The Bottom Line on AI and Your Real Estate Business
Nobody needs to panic. Nobody needs to spend thousands of dollars on AI guru courses. And nobody needs to overhaul their entire business overnight. What this episode makes clear is that knowing how to use AI in real estate does not have to be complicated. Start with one thing. Listing descriptions are the gateway for most agents, and that is completely fine. Let it save you time on one task, and then see what else becomes possible from there.
The adoption rate is moving fast. But the goal was never to be first. The goal is to run your business in a way that serves your clients well, protects your time, and keeps you sane. If AI helps you do that, great. And if you want help figuring out where to start, Katy will see you in community.
Here’s what we cover in this episode:
- The listener email that sparked this episode and the full simple tech stack answer
- Why simpler systems get used more consistently and cost less money
- Google Sheets, Trello, Canva, email, Google Drive, MLS, and the tools required by their brokerages
- How to qualify your tech choices based on the type of business you are running
- SEO vs. AEO vs. GEO: what each one means and which one matters for repeat and referral agents
- What AI said when someone searched Alissa’s name (and why reviews are everything)
- How Alissa used ChatGPT to analyze multiple offers and pre-approval letters
- Using AI to virtually stage photos, repaint rooms, and show sellers the vision before photo day
- How Katy used Claude to turn listing appointment notes and photos into a PDF checklist for her seller
- Projects, skills, and co-work inside Claude explained simply
- The tiny recording device that listens to your appointments and summarizes them
- The seller who recorded his agent interviews and fed them into AI to compare
- Why shiny tools do not fix broken habits
- The new monthly AI class inside the Hustle Humbly Community for $25/month
Key Quotes & Takeaways:
- “Shiny objects feel productive, but they can delay real progress.” — Alissa
- “New tools do not fix broken habits. If you have systems in place that you’re not using, a new system is not going to help you.” — Alissa
- “As long as you’re running your business like a business and getting reviews from people, the internet and the AI are going to pick up on that.” — Alissa
- “You cannot ask for more business if you are not taking care of the business you already have.” — Katy
- “Using AI well will probably cut your task in half.” — Katy
Products, People & Previous Episodes Mentioned:
- Episode 8: Tech Tools for Real Estate (hustlehumblypodcast.com/8)
- Google Sheets
- Trello
- Canva
- Google Drive
- ChatGPT (chatgpt.com) — paid plan ~$20/month
- Claude / Claude.ai (claude.ai) — paid plan ~$22/month
- Loop (transaction management)
- SkySlope (transaction management)
- Hustle Humbly Community (hustlehumblypodcast.com/membership)
- Email Templates 101
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Music:
Straight A’s by Connor Price
The Good Life by Summer Kennedy
Be The One by Matrika
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