How the Rise of Artificial Intelligence Will Disrupt Your Rental Portfolio

Our entire world is being disrupted by technology. How will it affect rental property investing?

Lately, I’ve been on a craze of studying artificial intelligence and how robots are replacing humans in the workplace. We’re going through one of the biggest technological and economic shifts in history. It could change our lives, finances, and investments more than most think.

Vaporizing Jobs

With new innovations coming to fruition, many blue collar jobs are going to quickly get outsourced to robots. If you’ve been following, Amazon Go is leading the pack with self-checkouts, where there are literally no cashiers. It may become completely unnecessary to have cashiers and even wait staff at many food joints and restaurants. You can order your food on your phone and pay on your phone. Retail stores are headed the same way, with virtual reality mirrors, windows, and dressing rooms that allow you to virtually try on clothes.

Related: 5 Real Estate Jobs That Have Been Made Obsolete by Tech (& 4 That Haven’t)

That are a lot of jobs that can be taken out. Then look at Uber, who has moved beyond car services to purchasing a trucking company where there are no drivers. Some projections put the percentage at as high as 80 percent that some levels of jobs will be replaced by technology in the next few years. Even tech workers won’t get a break. Mark Cuban recently highlighted that the current focus of tech is to design AI, which can write new software programs. Eventually, artificial intelligence will be able to identify jobs that can be replaced by computers and then create the software or the tools needed to make it happen. So even high-earning developers, engineers, and designers could soon be out of work.

On the bright side, I’d like to think that this is going to positively affect investors and some workers. People will be forced to move up to better jobs. This will force people to be more entrepreneurial and do more for humankind.

Tech in Real Estate

Technology is helping investors. It is making more profitable investments accessible online. Investors are becoming more knowledgeable and equipped for better due diligence. I can literally (virtually) drive a property from a seat in my office using Google Maps. These streamlined processes are also creating better margins and more efficiency, which can be shared between asset managers and end investors.

The one sticking point with all the new data and tech options is that at this point, we still need real humans who can intelligently decipher it, provide common sense, and deliver personal service when it is desired.

To win in this environment, we need creative and analytical thinkers on our teams to evaluate deals with the future in mind—and perhaps to be conservative as we watch the tech revolution unfold.

Do you predict that an extreme amount of jobs will be overtaken by computers in coming years—or do you think the predictions are overblown?

Let me know your thoughts with a comment!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.