AI Systems Instructor • Real Estate Technologist
Quick Answer: Use your Context Card and local market knowledge to generate monthly SOI emails that mix market insights, local content, and personal updates. Each email should provide value even to people who aren't currently buying or selling. Consistency beats perfection.
Your sphere of influence is your most valuable lead source, but most agents treat it like an afterthought. A monthly email to your SOI—friends, family, past clients, and professional contacts—keeps you top of mind so when someone in their network mentions real estate, your name comes up first. This guide shows you how to use AI to create a monthly SOI email that's valuable, personal, and takes 15 minutes instead of an hour.
A strong SOI email has 4 elements: a personal opening (1-2 sentences about what you've been up to), a market insight (one data point with your take), a local recommendation or tip (restaurant, event, neighborhood news), and a soft CTA (not 'refer me' but 'reply if you have questions about the market'). This structure provides value to everyone on your list, not just people actively buying or selling.
Tip: Write the personal opening yourself—it's the one section AI shouldn't generate. 'We just got back from Gatlinburg and I'm convinced Tennessee has better mountains than Colorado' is authentic. AI can write everything else.
Before prompting, collect: one interesting market stat from your MLS, one local recommendation (new restaurant, upcoming event, or neighborhood news), and one personal update or observation. These three elements give you enough Materials for a compelling email. The 5 Essentials framework emphasizes using data to support your expertise—your market stat does exactly that.
Tip: Keep a running note on your phone where you jot down local discoveries throughout the month: a great new coffee shop, a park you visited, a neighborhood event. By email day, you'll have options.
Hero: You are a real estate agent writing a monthly email to friends, family, and past clients. Outcome: Write a 200-word SOI email with market insight, local recommendation, and soft CTA. Materials: Your personal opening (pre-written), market stat, local tip. Execute: Conversational and warm—this is an email to people who know you. No hard sells, no 'if you know anyone,' just value and personality. Should feel like an email from a friend who happens to know a lot about real estate.
Tip: Ask AI to match the tone of a text to a friend, not a business email. SOI emails that feel corporate get deleted. SOI emails that feel personal get read and forwarded.
Send on the same day each month (first Tuesday, second Wednesday—pick a day and stick to it). Apply the OODA Loop: track open rates and replies. If open rates drop, test different subject lines with AI. If replies increase when you include local tips, include more local content. Observe what your sphere responds to and orient your content strategy accordingly.
Tip: The subject line determines if the email gets opened. Generate 5 subject line options with AI and pick the most curiosity-driven one. 'Nashville's weirdest market stat this month' outperforms 'February Market Update.'
[Context Card loaded] Hero: You are a real estate agent writing a monthly email to your sphere of influence (friends, family, past clients). Outcome: Write a 200-word SOI email for February 2026. Materials: - Personal opening (I'll write this): 'Happy February—we survived January in Nashville, which means we survived the one month where everyone pretends they don't like living here.' - Market stat: Nashville median home price hit $475K, up 3.8% YoY. Inventory jumped 12% last week. - Local recommendation: Bearded Iris Brewing in Germantown just released a new IPA that's worth the trip. Also, the Nashville Farmers Market opens back up for the season on March 1st. - My name: Ryan Execute: Warm, casual, funny where natural. This should read like a friend's email, not a newsletter from a corporation. No 'if you know anyone looking to buy or sell.' Soft CTA only. Under 200 words.
Subject: Nashville survived January. Here's what's happening. Happy February—we survived January in Nashville, which means we survived the one month where everyone pretends they don't like living here. Quick market note: Nashville's median home price just crossed $475K, up nearly 4% from last year. More interesting: inventory jumped 12% in a single week. That's good news for buyers who've been waiting for more options, and it tells me spring market is starting early this year. If you've been curious about what your home is worth in this market, reply to this email and I'll pull the numbers for you. Takes me about 10 minutes and it's always interesting to see. Local picks this month: Bearded Iris in Germantown just dropped a new IPA that justifies the drive. And mark your calendar—Nashville Farmers Market reopens March 1st. The first Saturday back is always worth the crowd. Hope your February is off to a good start. As always, if anything real estate-related comes up in conversation, I'm a text away. Ryan
Send your SOI email on the same day every month. Consistency trains your sphere to expect and look for your email. Sporadic sending trains them to ignore you.
Write the personal opening yourself and let AI handle the rest. The personal touch makes the email feel real. The AI-generated market insights and local tips save you 45 minutes of writing.
Include a reply prompt, not just a CTA link. 'Reply to this email and I'll pull the numbers for you' generates 5x more responses than a link to a home value tool. People reply to people, not forms. Context Cards keep your voice authentic.
Keep your SOI list current. Remove bounced emails, add new contacts monthly, and segment by relationship type. A list of 200 engaged contacts beats a list of 1,000 unengaged ones.
Treating SOI emails like a sales newsletter with listings and 'just sold' announcements
Fix: SOI emails should be 80% value (market insights, local tips, personal updates) and 20% real estate. Your sphere already knows you're in real estate. They don't need to be reminded every paragraph.
Including 'If you know anyone looking to buy or sell, I'd love a referral!' at the end of every email
Fix: Never write this. Your sphere knows you want referrals. Asking for them in every email makes you sound desperate and turns a personal touchpoint into a sales pitch. Provide value and the referrals come naturally.
Sending SOI emails once and then disappearing for 3 months
Fix: Monthly is the minimum. AI makes monthly consistency achievable—15 minutes per month for the most valuable lead generation activity in real estate. The compound effect only works with consistency.
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