By David Parker
In 1828, Noah Webster published his well-known dictionary, “An American Dictionary of the English Language.” Mr. Webster was obviously an intelligent person, having compiled a collection of nearly 70,000 entries for his dictionary.
One of the words that he defined was the word artificial. He defined artificial, in part, as made or contrived by human skill or labor, in opposition to natural. He continued, artificial was feigned, fictitious, not genuine or natural, contrived with skill or art, not indigenous.
Now I am fairly certain that Mr. Webster did not compile his list of definitions on his Dell Computer or sort the words on an Excel spread sheet. But nevertheless, even though times have changed, he may have been on to something.
I am also certain that at this point, many readers are thinking that times have changed, and we all must adapt to changes. Indeed, that is true. In the real estate industry, with artificial intelligence, loans can be processed in minutes instead of days or weeks. Property descriptions can be written in seconds. Contracts can be drafted and legal forms can be completed at the blink of an eye. And all of this will certainly help the industry and streamline the real estate purchase and sale process. In fact, we may soon be at a point where, other than a 10-minute visit to the house, an entire real estate transaction can take place on someone’s phone, all while the Buyer and Seller never leave their couch. We cannot run away from the changes, and we cannot ignore them.
However, there are some aspects of the real estate process that may still require some human contact. Recently, I published a post on my LinkedIn account that was somewhat different than many of the posts that I see. I did not fully embrace the artificial intelligence and high-speed technology that is rapidly changing our industry. I figured that most people would disagree with me. But I didn’t expect much feedback or commentary. Surprisingly, it turned into one of my most popular posts.
This is the post:
-This is going to be a controversial post. It may be the one that gets me kicked off of LinkedIn. I had a settlement yesterday and you will never guess who was in the conference room for the settlement. Both buyers. The seller. Both Realtors. The loan officer. And me, the settlement attorney.
And the strangest thing happened. The buyer had a question for the seller, and they actually talked to each other in person.
Then the Realtor had a question for the loan officer, and they talked to each other in person.
It was so efficient! No text messages. No emails. No calendar invites. No voice mails. No sitting around waiting for someone to circle back with the answer and ping us or whatever the phrase is. Just plain old-fashioned face-to-face talking to other humans. In person. Smooth settlement. Everyone was happy.
I am pretty sure I saw the buyers and the seller shake hands at the end. I strongly recommend this method of conducting a real estate settlement!
The reaction to the post was rather surprising. I fully expected people to tell me to get with the times. Quit living in the past. It is 2025, Dave. This is how everything is done. And perhaps reactions such as that would be correct. But surprisingly, the responses were quite the opposite of what I expected. For example, one person posted the following:
Thanks for the reminder! Create a no judgement zone and be there to see the kindness in all people. Most especially when they are settling a stress-filled situation. They blossom.
Then, a few more comments started rolling in:
-Imagine that!!! I experienced a similar settlement with your company recently!
-Ditto… Rare but beautiful! I’m game! I think it’s wonderful too!
-I think the de-personalization of our business is such a huge mistake! We immediately put all parties on guard. This is supposed to be a happy occasion–it turns out to being all parties being subjected to an adverse atmosphere—
-It’s such a rare but beautiful thing! I wish it happened more often!!!!
Indeed, I was surprised by the “likes” and the “smiles” and the “hearts” and the comments. Yes, we all need to change with the times, but sometimes, a little bit of old-fashioned, human to human contact and interaction is not such a bad thing. People talk to each other. We work out solutions to problems. We help each other out. It all seems so genuine. And who knows, maybe Mr. Webster was correct when he said that the meaning of artificial was “feigned, fictitious, not genuine or natural, contrived.” After all, he was a naturally intelligent person.
David Parker is an attorney and the Managing Director of Village Settlements-an Atlantic Closing and Escrow Company. His columns have appeared regularly in local newspapers, magazines, and newsletters. He is the co-author of the book, “Real Estate Practice in DC, Maryland and Virginia.” If you have a topic that you would like him to write about, he can be reached at
