By Irina Constantin, CEO & Founder of VAUNTOS.COM

The real estate market is changing: we see fewer real estate transactions and higher costs. However, what has changed is not just the economic and political context, but also buyer behavior. According to the internal anonymized reports we generated, we see several important transformations in the sales-purchase process:

• While in 2023, it took about 11 emails to convert a lead, this number rose to 32 in 2026 (for the January-April period). The volume of emails required has nearly tripled.
• Conversely, the number of phone calls required before a transaction has dropped by 40%, indicating a clear shift toward written interaction.
• Leads coming from social media require the fewest emails before a transaction.
• Leads from direct relationships have the highest conversion rate. Meanwhile, leads from websites, portals, or social media have much lower conversion rates and take approximately 100 days to close.

Buyers are turning to new sources of information - online reviews, social media presence, recommendations, or even ChatGPT - and require more interactions before committing to a purchase.

All this indicates that developers need a different approach to marketing and sales. This shouldn't completely replace existing processes (direct relationships still work very well), but rather add new solutions that are easy for the whole team to implement and use.

How AI and Automation Bridge the Gap

Artificial Intelligence and automation, already widely used in many industries, can provide clear benefits to real estate sales teams when used as part of a long-term strategy.

1. Automated Email Marketing

Since the number of emails required to close a deal has surged, automation is a lifesaver for sales teams. Correctly set up, these campaigns run without additional effort, keeping potential buyers updated on project progress, special offers, or news. It is vital for developers to choose platforms that allow them to monitor results, such as completed transactions or visits resulting from a specific campaign.

2. Analyzing Buyer Interest

Sales teams can use AI-based products to better understand buyer behavior. Specialized real estate solutions can analyze data and interactions to identify exactly what catches a buyer's attention, their level of interest, and how messages can be optimized to increase conversion chances.

3. High-Quality Visual Content

In a world where buyers spend significantly more time online, AI can generate much more attractive digital visual materials. Outdated photos or static presentations on listing platforms can drive potential buyers away. Meanwhile, creating immersive tours has become more accessible than ever. These interactive tours can be used in online campaigns to present the project more clearly and capture interest.

4. Market Performance Benchmarking

AI plays a crucial role in understanding market performance. In an increasingly competitive environment, teams need to know where they stand relative to other developers. At VAUNT, we use AI to anonymize and interpret data to generate a Performance Score, showing each user how they are performing and what they can improve.

Overcoming Adoption Barriers

There are two major challenges in adopting tech solutions in real estate:

1. Any mistake is extremely expensive. Developers cannot afford to test unproven technologies.
2. Adding yet another tool to an already long list leads to "tech fatigue" - the exhaustion of jumping between instruments to add lead data, generate financial reports, manage tasks, or create marketing materials.

We created VAUNT with the goal of bringing all the products necessary for easy marketing and sales management into a single digital platform. Already used by over 85 developers, VAUNT has earned the industry's trust as a long-term partner. In 2025, VAUNT supported transactions worth €534 million. Since its launch in 2020, over 75,930 properties have been managed through the platform, with a total value exceeding €10 billion.

Contact us for a free demo.

This article was originally published in Romanian on Profit.ro.