Meredith Orf, Realtor

AI is increasingly everywhere, and real estate is one of the countless industries that seem to have developed an obsession with encouraging dependence on AI tools for as many tasks as possible. While I grieve the impact that widespread use of AI is already having on the health of the planet and on human cognition (not to mention the growing economic bubble that may lead to a recession), I also have to accept that it is no longer possible to entirely avoid AI any more than it would be to avoid the internet itself. But I want to be proactive in choosing how and when to use AI tools, rather than getting swept up in industry hype or sucked into practices that benefit Big Tech more than myself or my clients. Here are the guardrails that I’ve come up with for the time being:

I resolve not to use AI for:
- Drafting or revising emails, text messages, notes, comments, posts, letters, or any other piece of writing that I take credit for creating (this doesn’t include the automated newsletters and postcards that my brokerage marketing team sends out on my behalf; while I wish they wouldn’t use AI for these tasks either, they probably will if they don’t already. If you get marketing emails or postcards from me and see weird errors in them, please let me know so that I can monitor how often the quality of these marketing pieces is being affected. But any errors in my direct correspondence are my own. 🙂).
- Researching and analyzing comparable sales.
- Reviewing/summarizing contracts, inspection reports, listing disclosures, and other documents.
- Creating deepfake videos or recordings of myself or anyone else (in fact, I don’t post videos as a general rule, so if you see a video that seems to be “me,” please let me know!).
- Creating chatbots or other conversational tools that supposedly answer questions the way I would.
- Answering questions about anything reality-based, like compliance, legal matters, science, or facts in general; sources should always be accountable and traceable.
- Scheduling meetings, appointments, or other commitments for me.

I’m potentially okay with using AI for:
- Some of my brokerage’s backend data analysis tools, like those determining likely sellers or homeowners with high equity. These types of tools have been around for many years and don’t use the obnoxious quantities of computing power that LLMs and generative AI do, since they stay in a specific lane (for now).
- Data entry, as long as I can verify that it was done correctly and securely (e.g. adding contact information to my database or transcribing my notes from one medium to another).
- Virtual staging and reimagining spaces (for potential remodels, furnishings, landscaping, etc if done effectively and transparently).

AI tools that I have experimented with in the past, but now resolve to avoid wherever possible because of their environmental cost, lack of accountability to the truth, and destructive impact on human brainpower and creativity:
- Image generators.
- ChatGPT and other LLMs.
- Aggregators like Google’s AI summaries.
- Deal analysis tools for real estate investments.

Let me know if you think I’ve missed anything, or if there are aspects of my work that you want to find out more about AI’s involvement in; this list is a work in progress, and human input and communication is more crucial now than ever.

And I’ll end on a positive note by listing some of the things I do want to cultivate more of in my business and my life, since I love to find others who feel the same:
- In-person events that bring people together (potlucks, meetups, discussion groups, family-friendly activities, creative projects)
- Coffee dates, sharing meals, meeting up for walks
- Connecting people who might enjoy knowing each other or supporting each other’s work
- Being thoughtful, deliberate, and intentional; doing things right
- Always trying to improve how I show up and the quality of what I do
- Learning from others, and sharing what I know when it may be useful
- Helping people to feel seen and to create a life they can believe in

Thanks for reading all this. Feel free to share your thoughts; or let me know if you want to meet up sometime and nerd out about humanity or real estate or parenting; or just get off your device and go outside now and breathe in the atmosphere of this glorious world. 🌎

Thanks for visiting my page! As part of my ongoing quest to spend less time on social media and more time in the real world, and support others to do the same, my business page here functions as a way to put you in touch with me and my work rather than a content-churning factory. Here are some links so you can access the best ways to stay in touch without getting sucked into social media:

- My Realty Austin page, where you can read my bio and reviews, search for homes, and message me to request an appointment or to be added to my monthly newsletter about Austin market updates and events: https://www.realtyaustin.com/t/meredith-orf/agents/meredith-orf
- My Yelp reviews: https://www.yelp.com/biz/meredith-orf-austin-2
- Request a valuation of your current home: https://hmbt.co/qYjJnM
- Explore numbers for buying in various markets: https://hmbt.co/7XCwwp

I do all my home valuations manually using comps, not algorithms, and I write all my correspondence and posts without using AI. If you're looking for a real estate professional who spends more time with humans and houses than bots and apps, feel free to reach out so we can hop on a call or meet for coffee.

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My client, Carly, is the featured tarot reader in a K*T article about the eclipse this week! I love her secular approach to tarot, and I'm excited about her business getting some additional publicity this way. Check it out, and if you'd like to support what she contributes to the tarot scene, please write in Sound Sight Tarot as you're filling out the Austin Chronicle Best Of nominations! (Link in the comments.) And enjoy the eclipse!
Article is here:

Can the eclipse change your life? Austinites look for answers with tarot cards and birth charts. Austinites practicing in the spiritual realm believe the eclipse is a rare opportunity for personal growth — if you know how to take advantage of it. Some said the impact is even greater if you’re in the path of totality.

There's a lot of confusing reportage in the news lately about recent lawsuits, settlements, etc in the real estate industry. I would love to discuss these issues with anyone who wants to get together to chat or has specific questions, but in the meantime, here's some helpful info to clear up misinformation. My hope is that the value of agents who do the best work to advocate for, inform, and empower their clients, will become more apparent than ever once we get through all this.

This past week, I participated in a Habitat for Humanity build day with the Realty Austin team; RA has been leading a build every year for over a decade, and our 2023 build is almost complete. I made it to two of the build days this year, learning how to install windows and doors and how to operate a nail gun (!!). It's awesome to be one tiny part of helping with housing affordability in Austin while also learning more about what goes into home construction. Our fundraising link is here if you'd like to chip in: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/realtyaustinhabitatbuild2023

Realty Austin is sponsoring SAFE's Touch-A-Truck event again this year, and the kids and Tyler and I will be there! If you have little kids in your life, this is a fun event to bring them to. I think this is the first year it will take place in the Q2 stadium. Tickets and more info are here: https://give.safeaustin.org/campaign/touch-a-truck/c492271

I love earning clients' trust and helping them achieve their goals, and I'm so grateful for this wonderful review. ❤️

The other day, my five-year-old and I got to join a tour of Community First Village, which is a neighborhood of affordable tiny homes for residents who were formerly homeless. Community First is one of the housing-related nonprofits that Realty Austin agents partner with through regular donations and volunteer events; I haven't gotten a chance to volunteer yet, so I jumped on the opportunity to join RA's "family tour day" and bring Sky along to check it out. We got to learn more about how the community was started, and some of the awesome resources available there -- an art studio where residents can create works to sell, a greenhouse and gardens, chickens, a health center, a shop, etc. I'm looking forward to getting more involved with it over time; it seems like a strong branch of a much-needed system to address the homelessness crisis. More info is on their website, and I encourage everyone to check it out and support them if you can: https://mlf.org/community-first/

I'm proud to announce that this month, I graduated from the Texas REALTORS Leadership Program (TRLP) with the 2022 cohort. The program consisted of monthly sessions from May to December, and explored various aspects of leadership, from policymaking to self-care to inclusivity to public speaking and more. Our diverse cohort represented a wide range of ages, brokerages, ethnic backgrounds, and life experiences; I feel so grateful to have met and worked with such an inspiring, positive, kind, and hardworking group of agents, and I have a lot to implement from what I've learned from them and from the instructors over this past year. In 2023, we'll be working together on a mentoring project in partnership with the early college Real Estate Program at Akins HS -- I'm so excited to get to combine my real estate work with my passion for connecting students to real-life experiences, and helping strengthen the next generation of professionals. I'm certain that all this leadership training will be relevant in my future work outside real estate (in education, etc) as well.

This month, I took a qualifying course from TSAHC (Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation) to learn more about down payment assistance and other programs that can help folks buy a home in Austin. This is especially relevant now that the days of bidding way above asking price are behind us (for now), making it easier to buy without the piles of liquid cash that were necessary to win bidding wars for the past couple of years. TSAHC offers particularly cool benefits for first-time buyers, teachers, first responders, and others -- check out the eligibility quiz here, and let me know if you have any questions about the programs! https://www.tsahc.org/homebuyers-renters/take-the-eligibility-quiz

Meredith Orf, Realtor Send a message to learn more

I was stoked to walk with the RA crew in the Austin Pride Parade this past weekend! There's been enough rain lately that we even had a real rainbow in the sky above us before the parade started -- pretty cool. 🏳️‍🌈