The conversation around AI in real estate in 2025 has reached fever pitch.
Some agencies have gone all in this year, deploying everything from inspection report generators to tenant communication bots.
Others remain paralysed in a wait-and-see mode, unsure whether artificial intelligence represents an opportunity or an existential threat.
What’s missing from most discussions is the framework that actually predicts success or failure.
The CEO Who’s Been There
Ben White didn’t start his career thinking about artificial intelligence. As CEO of Ailo, one of Australia’s leading property management platforms, he’s spent years watching agencies navigate technology adoption – and learning what separates the winners from the casualties.
This year brought a revelation that changed everything about his approach to AI strategy.
“Unless you’re actually using it yourself, and not just using it as a consumer, but trying to build products yourself, then I don’t think you really understand what it is,” Ben explains.
At Ailo, everyone is now expected to be building, regardless of their role. The democratisation of development means anyone with an idea can bring it to life using nothing but English. That shift in accessibility changes everything businesses should consider about their future.
The insight that crystallised for Ben this year was profound in its simplicity: when building products was hard, AI adoption was a tech problem. Now it’s a cultural problem.
The agencies that struggle most with AI are those that don’t understand how they create value for their customers.
“If you don’t know how you create value for your customers, you cannot answer what AI is going to do to you,” he says. “It’s like trying to solve a simultaneous equation with four unknowns.”
The Two Questions That Predict Everything
Ben’s framework for AI success centres on two fundamental questions. First: Do you think the property manager is the centre of the story, or the landlord? Second: Do you believe the future value to customers will be the same, or different?
The answers create four distinct quadrants, each with different AI outcomes. The most dangerous position is seeing the property manager as central while assuming the job stays the same.
“If you believe nothing’s going to change – property management is collecting rent, fixing things when they break, and doing inspection reports – then you compete with a property manager with an inspection app,” Ben warns.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that’s what will happen if that’s the future.”
The fertile ground lies in the opposite quadrant: putting customers at the centre while recognising that value creation is evolving.
This perspective transforms AI from a threat to an enabler. Consider routine inspections – if you see them as taking photos and writing reports, technology can easily replace you.
But if you understand them as risk management, relationship building, and strategic advice delivery, AI becomes a powerful tool for enhancing your capability.
“I don’t believe that’s the job of property management, to take photos and write a report,” Ben states emphatically.
“I think the future of property management is centred on the idea that property management is the one place where you create and nurture ongoing customer relationships. With everyone in the community.”
The Misalignment Opportunity
In most property management businesses, 80% of revenue comes from collecting rent – a task that requires virtually no time on modern platforms.
“My dad tells his first job in real estate was walking the streets with a bag, knocking on doors and collecting rent. That was the rent roll,” Ben recounts.
“Now, there’s no work to be done. Yet that is still the centre of your revenue stream.”
This misalignment between value creation and revenue capture isn’t a problem – it’s an opportunity. Property managers do enormous amounts of work for customers they don’t charge for and don’t get credit for.
The AI-enabled future means systematising, scaling, and monetising that hidden value.
Sam and Ben demonstrated this principle live during their conversation, “vibe coding” a solar improvement ROI calculator in Google AI Studio. Within minutes, we had a functional tool that property managers could use in landlord presentations.
“All you need is a command of the English language and an idea,” Ben notes.
“You could present this to a landlord and you could put your brand at the top and do anything you want.”
The Optimism Prerequisite
Perhaps Ben’s most counterintuitive insight is about mindset.
“A pre-condition to seeing the future is optimism,” he argues.
The research supports this perspective – studies show people working with AI report significantly more positive emotions, more excitement, and more enthusiasm than those avoiding it.
This runs counter to the narrative that AI makes work feel cold or impersonal. Instead, Ben sees property management as perfectly positioned for an AI-enabled future.
“If I had to choose one industry I’d want to be in post-AI, I’d want to be in an industry where it’s the most important asset people have.
“I’d want to be in the industry that has a lot of human dynamic. I’d want to be in a business that has a lot of emotion.”
The combination of relationship complexity, local knowledge, physical assets, and emotional stakes creates what Ben calls “a nuclear generator” of value creation opportunities.
The agencies that recognise this won’t just survive AI adoption – they’ll use it to build moats their competitors can’t cross.
The choice facing property management businesses isn’t really about AI. It’s about whether they have the cultural courage to evolve their understanding of customer value and embrace the tools that can deliver it.
Those who do will find themselves in the enviable position of using artificial intelligence to build deeper human relationships. Those who don’t will discover their inspection apps have become their replacements.
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