The short version
Claude is an AI from Anthropic that you chat with, a bit like talking to a coworker. You ask it to do something, and it gets it done. You don't need any experience, and you don't need to pay anything to start.
This is the written version of the video, with every prompt from it in a box you can copy. Most of Claude you can ignore for now. Turn off one switch, paste the first prompt, and let Claude interview you about your business before it suggests anything.
Recorded November 2026. Menus and plans change, so check what your account shows. The agent in the examples (Dana Brooks, Brookside Realty), the listing (88 Willow Bend Drive, Millbrook) and every file are made up.
Sign in, then turn off one switch
Go to claude.ai and click Continue with Google, or sign in with your email. You can start on the free plan. It may ask for your phone number; that's normal. There's also a Claude app for Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.
Your screen may look a little different from mine. Menus move around, and these apps change fast.
- The message box is where everything starts. Type in it and send.
- The + button by the message box is where you add files, and later where you connect things like your email.
- The model name by the box (something like Sonnet or Opus) is the version of Claude you're using. Leave it as it is for now.
Before anything real goes in:
- Click your name in the lower left corner, then Settings, then Privacy.
- Turn off Help improve our AI models. On a personal plan, free or paid, this switch decides whether your chats can be used to train Anthropic's models.
- Close Settings with the X in the top right corner.
Even with it off, leave names, money and contracts out, and check with your brokerage on what's approved to go into AI tools.
Start here: let Claude interview you
The biggest lesson I give anyone new: ask it. Claude can teach you how to use Claude. Copy this into the message box and send it:
I've never really used this before. How do I best use you? Interview me. One question at a time, until you know enough to do this right. Then tell me the first three things I should try.It asks one question at a time. Answer like you'd answer a person. Say "the client", not their name. Short answers are fine, and "I don't know" is a real answer. If typing feels slow, click the microphone and talk to it.
Keep going until it tells you what to try, then pick one thing and do it. In the demo, six questions in, its first suggestion was "write your next listing description with me." That's a good place to start.
Whenever you don't know how to do something in Claude, ask it.
An email you don't want to answer
A seller is nervous because the first week was slow, and they want to know what's going on. Paste in their email, say what you want to say, and ask for help:
A seller sent me this email.
"[paste their email]"
Here's what I want to say: [your points, in plain words]. [Anything it should leave out, like: Don't talk about the price in the email.]
Help me answer this. Keep it short and calm.Read what it adds. In the demo it promised "I'll send those over today" on its own, so cut anything you didn't say.
Hand it the whole pile
A new listing never comes with clean notes: an HOA summary, a tax record, old remarks, the scratch notes you took on a Tuesday, all in different formats. Attach the files with the + button (or drag them into the chat), then:
I'm the listing agent on [address]. Use only these files, and don't search the web.
Pull this into one page for me: what goes in the MLS, what doesn't match between the files, what's missing, and what to ask the seller. If you can't tell, say so instead of guessing.In the demo, two of the files gave different years for the roof, and Claude caught it. Those files were made up. What goes into AI is up to you and your brokerage.
A first draft, in four parts
Start a fresh chat for a new job. A good first draft has four parts:
- The job: what it's writing and who it's for.
- Your facts, with "Use only these facts."
- What you want back: how long, what format, how many versions.
- The question that saves you: "What do you need to know? Am I missing anything?"
Write a listing description for the MLS and my website, for buyers. Describe the property, not the people who might live there.
Use only these facts:
[your facts, one per line]
Give me three versions: straightforward, warm, and a short one for social. Keep the MLS version under 1,000 characters.
What do you need to know? Am I missing anything?"Use only these facts" helps. It's no guarantee, so you still check.
If it asks you anything, answer it or tell it to leave those things out. In the demo it came back with three versions, then asked for the price, which floor the bedrooms are on and what stays, and pointed out which details came from the seller so I could confirm them. You'll be surprised how often "Am I missing anything?" saves you.
Talk back
When an answer is close but not right, don't start over. Stay in the same chat and say what you'd say to a person:
Make the warm one shorter.Ask for another version, add the thing you forgot, or turn it into an email. It's a conversation. When you find yourself asking for the same fix every time, that's the moment to write it into instructions or a skill.
The check: what did it add?
When you haven't given Claude what it needs, it can guess. It says so itself, right under the message box: it can make mistakes.
Before anyone sees a draft, pick one fact and find it in your notes yourself (in the demo: the kitchen updated in 2023). Then ask:
What did you add that I didn't give you?In the demo it owned up: "every convenience" was its own editorializing, and it had called the whole townhome updated when only the kitchen was.
Cut it or confirm it yourself. Its list is a help, not proof: you still read every line, because it goes out with your name on it.
Fair housing: the property, not the people
Fair housing applies to everything you write and publish, including what AI drafts for you. The rule: describe the property, not the people. Say "jogging trails nearby", not "great for joggers."
Don't count on Claude to apply that on its own. A new chat may not know what you're writing or the rules you work under unless you tell it, which is why the first-draft prompt above says "Describe the property, not the people who might live there."
Treat Claude as a second pair of eyes, not your lawyer. Everything you publish is on you and your broker, whoever drafted it.
How it all fits together
The model is the brain. On its own it's smart and knows a lot, but it doesn't know you, your business or how you like things, so it guesses. That's why the interview works so well: it starts out knowing nothing about you.
Everything else attaches to that brain:
- Prompts are what you type.
- Instructions tell it how to act, so you write a rule once instead of every time.
- Files give it your documents.
- Tools give it the web, and later your email, your Google Drive or your CRM.
- Skills teach it a job you do over and over. In the video, one sentence (the address and the time) turned into a whole open house kit.
Claude, the app, holds it all together. You might hear people call that the harness.
I think of it in four levels:
- Talk to it. Ask questions, let it interview you, go back and forth. You can spend a whole week here. Don't rush it.
- Set it up once. A project keeps your files and instructions, so you stop pasting the same background into every chat. That's the next step: Claude Projects for real estate agents.
- Give it tools. Access to your email or your CRM, so it can find what it needs and then write the email for you.
- It works for you. Scheduled tasks, several jobs running at once, Claude Code. That's when you'll see what the hype is about.
Start at level one.
Limits and paying
Claude isn't unlimited. If it says you've hit your limit, you're using it properly.
Pro is $20 a month ($17 a month billed yearly), Max is $100 and Ultra is $200 (prices checked November 5, 2026). Some features, like deep research, scheduled tasks and letting Claude use your computer, need a paid plan.
Open it up and give it one real job this week.
Keep learning
Join Real Estate AI for Agents, my community on Skool. That's where you'll find all my downloads and, more importantly, me.
More free prompts
10 free ChatGPT prompts for real estate agents work in Claude too: listing descriptions, lead replies, follow-ups, open houses and market posts. You don't need to sign up to read them.
Sources: Anthropic Help Center ("Get started with Claude", "Is my data used for model training?" and usage limits), claude.com/pricing and NAR's fair housing guidance, checked November 2026.
