Ethica CEO Judd Hoffman in conversation with real estate leaders, recorded on stage at industry events.
The claim he would not make
At Inman Connect San Diego, Judd Hoffman asked Phil Hawkins, CEO of the California Association of REALTORS®, how Ethica changes an agent's transaction.
Hawkins declined the premise.
"I wouldn't say it completely changes it. What it does, it's your assistant in doing the transaction."
That's a smaller claim than the question offered him, and he's the one person on that stage with no commercial reason to make it. C.A.R. has put member dues behind Ethica, so overselling it would have been the easy move.
He didn't, and the restraint is the point.
A transaction is a legal process. Parties, deadlines, disclosures, forms that have to be right. Software doesn't get to rewrite any of it, and an agent should be suspicious of anything claiming otherwise.
What an assistant changes is narrower, and it's the part you can actually check. A transaction stops waiting on a desk, because the work can move from wherever the agent already is. And there's less to go back and correct, because details get captured once, when they're said, rather than reconstructed later from memory.
Neither of those is a transformation. Both are the kind of claim an agent can test against their own week.
That's the difference between a tool describing something it can do and a tool describing something it can't. Hawkins picked the first one, in front of a room of the members whose dues paid for it.
The full conversation is here.
Quick takes
Does an AI transaction assistant change the transaction?
C.A.R. CEO Phil Hawkins says no. In his words it doesn't completely change it; it's an assistant in doing the transaction. A transaction is a legal process with parties, deadlines and disclosures, and software doesn't change what it is.
What does an AI transaction assistant actually change for an agent?
How the work gets done rather than what the work is. A transaction stops waiting on a desk, because it can move from wherever the agent already is, and there's less to correct later because details are captured when they're said rather than reconstructed from memory.
Why does a smaller claim matter when evaluating real estate software?
Because it's checkable. A tool claiming to transform the transaction is describing something software cannot do. A tool claiming fewer corrections and work that moves without a desk is describing something an agent can test against their own week.
Sources
- Ethica Blog: Judd Hoffman and Phil Hawkins on Stage at Inman: The full twelve-minute conversation this clip is drawn from
- Ethica News: C.A.R. strategic investment in Ethica AI: C.A.R.'s investment of member dues making Ethica a member benefit
Transcript
130 words
JUDD HOFFMAN: How does Ethica change an agent's transaction?
PHIL HAWKINS: You know, I wouldn't say it completely changes it. What it does, it's your assistant in doing the transaction. So I mentioned that this is a mobile product. So we live in a mobile world, and it's another tool to help our agents.
PHIL HAWKINS: And ultimately, I'm hoping it saves the agent more time to allow them to do other things. You know, I talked about the transactions being down. Our members are spending more and more time trying to find transactions now. You know, you have a client, you're doing everything you can with that client, but they are trying to get that next client, and freeing up some of that time is going to help them.
