Taylor Hack was working on an Edmonton River Valley guide, and the research was taking longer than he had expected. Even with AI helping to collect and organise information, he still had to decide which details would matter to the person thinking about living there. That decision was the work. A spreadsheet could hold the numbers, but it could not decide what a buyer should notice without someone supplying the context.
That tension ran through the Oct. 15 episode of The Leads Are Sh*t. Hack and co-host Andrew Fogliato discussed faster content production, a neighbourhood guide and the temptation to keep chasing the next AI tool. The useful question underneath all of it was more demanding: what should an agent keep doing personally, and which repeatable tasks can technology take off their plate?
A faster way to make forgettable content can fill a calendar without creating a reason for anyone to respond. A workflow built around useful local insight has a clearer purpose: help the right person recognise a decision they need to make, then give them an easy next step.
Start with something only you can contribute
Fogliato described an experiment in which an AI assistant interviews him while he walks. The assistant prepares questions, he answers them, and the conversation becomes material for first drafts. The point is not that a walk automatically produces publishable articles. He said he would have been comfortable publishing only one of the three drafts from an early test.
That is a useful boundary. The assistant can help someone get their thinking out of their head and onto a page, but the person still decides what is accurate, appropriate and worth putting their name on. Applied to an agent’s community newsletter, the process starts with local research and then asks the agent to explain what it means. Why did a particular listing stand out? Which trade-off do buyers keep missing? What has changed on the ground that a general market summary would not explain?
The distinction also changes how an agent judges the finished work. Fogliato offered a simple challenge for generic AI output: “Make it unmistakably mine.” If another agent’s face and name could be swapped into an advertisement without changing the message, the piece probably needs more of the original agent’s knowledge. A logo alone will not supply that difference.
Give the information a job
Hack’s River Valley guide makes the idea concrete. He discussed helping buyers compare neighbourhoods through details such as access to the valley, views and the kinds of homes selling in each area. Those are choices a person might genuinely be trying to make. The value comes from organising information around those choices, rather than collecting statistics simply because they are available.
The guide also serves a different moment in the relationship from a listing alert. Hack explained that an insiders list could fit naturally into the team’s existing listing activity, but it tended to speak to people nearer a transaction. A useful area guide could create a reason to connect earlier. Someone does not have to be ready to book a showing to want a better understanding of what living near the valley might involve.
That is where an agent can set a practical test for a content idea. Identify the person, the question they are trying to answer and the next conversation the piece should make possible. Then decide what information belongs in it. AI can help organise the material and prepare variations, while the agent checks whether the result actually answers the question.
Improve one thing at a time
The hosts also explored different cover treatments and headlines for the guide. Would autumn imagery make the information feel timely? Would another image better communicate the lifestyle? Which headline would earn more interest?
The same discussion included a useful limit on generated imagery. A compelling concept can suggest the photograph an agent should commission, but local credibility still depends on whether the place looks authentic. Fogliato suggested using a real photograph from an appropriate vantage point when an opportunity becomes available. For an agent selling local knowledge, a visual that looks plausible to outsiders but wrong to residents can weaken the very advantage the guide is meant to establish.
The practical response is to release a useful first version, watch what happens and improve it deliberately. Change the cover or headline with a clear question in mind. Keep track of which version people saw and whether it led to the response you wanted. Do not turn every available AI feature into another prerequisite for getting the asset into someone’s hands.
Keep the next conversation in view
A longer-term guide does not replace the need to speak with people who may move soon. When the conversation turned to the next quarter, the hosts discussed short reactivation emails and door-knocking with something useful to offer. The common thread was relevance: give someone a reason to engage rather than filling the interaction with more material.
Repeated client questions can help choose that material. Fogliato said that hearing the same unfamiliar question several times is a signal to consider making content about it. That gives an agent a grounded starting point: an actual pattern in conversations, followed by an explanation drawn from their experience.
For an agent deciding what to try this week, the plan can be small. Choose one question you keep hearing. Record a short answer with a local example. Use AI to organise that explanation into one useful piece, check it yourself, and offer a clear next step. Measure the time it took and the response it created before adding more formats or tools. The aim is a workflow that frees the agent to do more of the work that gives the content value in the first place: listen carefully, notice what matters and help someone make a better decision.
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Content by REM Bot has been created with the assistance of AI. Audio and video interviews, conducted by our team with real people, are transcribed and repurposed into text for those who prefer reading. REM Bot articles are reviewed by staff before publication to ensure factual accuracy and maintain editorial standards.
