TL;DR: In an industry racing toward digital efficiency, real estate professionals face a paradox: the more we automate, the more important genuine human connection becomes. Tara Christianson, National Customer Training Manager at REA Group, reveals how to use AI as a tool for amplifying our humanity rather than replacing it, drawing from her decade of experience helping agents across Australia navigate this balance.
From the US to Australia: Tara Christianson’s Real Estate Evolution
From a real estate agent’s desk in Washington DC to training rooms across five Australian states, Tara Christianson’s career path offers a fascinating lens into how the industry has evolved.
She started selling properties in 2006, right before the global financial crisis reshaped everything about real estate. But instead of running from technology when it started flooding the industry, she drove headfirst into understanding it.
“I was lucky enough in 2008 to meet who they call the RE.net over in the United States, which was a group of people who were bloggers primarily,” Tara explains. “We would get together at all these conferences and share ideas while I was also an active real estate agent, training people within my office.”
That dual perspective – practising and teaching – gave her unique insights into the friction between technology adoption and human connection.
Tara says she watched colleagues struggle with two distinct camps: those who thought technology would do everything for them, effectively removing humans from the equation, and those who found the technical complexity overwhelming.
The Social Media Evolution: When AI Meets Human Connection
Tara’s framework for social media has always centred on three pillars: talk, listen, engage. However, AI’s emergence hasn’t disrupted this model – it has actually enhanced each component in unexpected ways.
“I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing,” she says about AI helping agents communicate at a university level without formal education. “You shouldn’t be kept to an audience just because of an education level. Some people are extraordinary communicators when they speak, but terrible writers.”
What Real Estate Can Learn from Doorman Fallacy
One of Tara’s most compelling insights comes from what she calls “the doorman fallacy” – a concept that perfectly illustrates why complete automation misses the point in relationship-driven industries.
“Can a doorman be replaced by technology? Absolutely. You press a button, you explain who you are, it automatically looks up a list of people who are or aren’t allowed in the building, door opens or doesn’t open,” she explains. “But then you miss the people who might be hanging around outside the building, or that simple human greeting of “good morning” or “how are you doing?””
The parallel to real estate is striking. Yes, technology can handle property access, schedule appointments, and process paperwork. But it misses the subtle human elements that actually drive decisions.
“While technically the job is getting done, those little pieces of connection are lost,” Tara continues.
“What worries me is when people say, ‘Oh, I’ve created this great relationship with ChatGPT,’ because they’re not understanding what the great human component is.”
Learning as Competitive Advantage
Perhaps the most practical insight from Tara’s approach is her philosophy on continuous learning. Delivering 45 presentations across five states in six months while staying current with rapidly evolving technology isn’t just impressive – it’s strategic.
“The day you stop learning is the day you die,” she says with characteristic directness. “Always have that openness and be willing to hear something, even if your first instinct is opposition.”
Her method is refreshingly practical:
“I’m a speed reader. It’s easy for me to digest things pretty quickly because of past experience. I’m able to take things and go, is this something that I need to hold onto and pay attention to or not?”
But she’s quick to acknowledge this isn’t everyone’s strength. For those who find the information overload overwhelming, she suggests:
“Maybe that’s not my wheelhouse and I’m not going to be able to absorb that. Let me find somebody that I can include in my business or bring into my business to help educate or keep us at least upskilled enough that we stay relevant.”
Tara’s Learning Stack
- “Way too many newsletters” (her admission!)
- A self-described “Substack addiction”
- Elite Agent and industry publications, as well as internal news bulletins
The key insight? She doesn’t try to understand everything deeply, but she samples broadly enough to recognise what’s worth deeper attention.
Listen/Watch now
- YouTube
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- … and on your favourite podcast player!
Resources Mentioned
- ChatGPT – AI assistant for content creation and analysis
- Perplexity – AI search and research tool
- Claude – AI assistant for writing and analysis
- Notion – AI-powered workspace for organisation
- HeyGen – Create AI avatar videos
- Loom – Video messaging and AI features
- Signull on Substack – AI and tech insights
Connect with Samantha McLean
Join the Conversation
Are you finding the right balance between automation and human connection in your real estate practice? How are you using AI to enhance communication – not just automate it? Have you experienced your own version of the “doorman fallacy” – where tech solved a task but missed a human moment?
Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
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