[T]echnology: Google’s Canva Killer
[E]ducation: 27% in El Paso. 50% in San Antonio.
[C]oaching: 119 Days
[H]ow To: Deal With Data Centers
[T]echnology: Google’s Canva Killer
If you’re like most agents I know, you live in Canva. Flyers, open house signs, just listed posts. It’s the one design tool agents actually open.
Google just came for it. 👀
It’s called Google Pics, and it launched this week. The difference is the whole point. Canva hands you a template and a thousand little boxes to drag around. In Pics, you don’t design anything. You describe it. Type “open house flyer for a brick ranch, Saturday 1 to 3, navy and white” and it builds you options. It runs on Nano Banana, the same Google image model we’ve covered here before. Now it’s got a design tool wrapped around it.
The features are where it gets interesting for us. You can grab one thing in an image, the couch, the headline, the sign in the yard, and move it, resize it, or restyle it without wrecking everything around it. You can edit the text inside a graphic and translate it on the spot, so your listing flyer becomes a Spanish version in one click. And it upscales to 4K when you need it print-ready. It lives at pics.new and inside Docs and Slides, with Drive coming in a few weeks.
The catch: it’s not free. You need Google AI Pro or Ultra, or a paid Workspace business plan. 💰
Two weeks ago Abby told you the way to avoid AI slop was to start from a Canva template instead of letting ChatGPT design your flyer. Google is betting the model is finally good enough that you can skip the template entirely.
Canva made everyone a designer. Google is betting you’d rather not be one. 🧠
[E]ducation: 27% in El Paso. 50% in San Antonio.
The national housing data looks boring right now. Price cuts on 42.1% of listings, roughly even with last year. Stable, right?
Nobody buys a national house. 🏡
HousingWire broke down three markets this week, and the gap between them is the whole lesson. El Paso and San Antonio sit at similar price points in the same state. In El Paso, 27.4% of sellers have cut their price. In San Antonio it’s been sitting around 50% for two straight months. Same national headline. Opposite markets on the ground.
Cincinnati is the trickier one (yay 🙄). Price cuts there climbed almost 6 points in eight weeks, up to 42.6%. Right at the national average. Sounds like a market rolling over. Except homes are still going into contract faster than new ones are hitting the market. Sellers are adjusting their prices and buyers are still buying. That’s not a market breaking. That’s a market finding its price.
Here’s the takeaway. A price-cut number by itself tells you almost nothing. You have to read three things together: what sellers are doing, how much supply is out there, and whether buyers are actually pulling the trigger.
Your sellers are seeing the national headlines. You get paid for knowing which market your ZIP code actually is. Next listing appointment, skip the national chart and walk them through those three signals for their own neighborhood. The agent who can explain the local market beats the agent who can quote the national one. Every time.
[C]oaching: 119 Days
I’ve told you before that I’m a serial learner. It’s why I love this tech stuff… there’s always another thing to figure out. But this one isn’t about me.
There are 119 days left in 2026. I want you to spend 20 minutes of every one of them learning AI. 🤖
That’s the whole challenge. 20 minutes a day, every day, through New Year’s Eve. Do the math and that’s almost 40 hours. A full work week of AI education before the ball drops. ⚽
Why now? Because the next six months are going to transform the way we do business. You’ll see new models. You’ll see disruptors and AI startups promising little to no commission on AI-assisted home sales. Your value proposition is going to change. That’s not a reason to panic. It’s the reason to start, because the same technology that’s changing your value proposition is the one that will help you rebuild it. ⚒️
So here’s how to spend the 20 minutes. Don’t queue up another tutorial. Open the tool and daydream with it. Tell it what you wish it could do. There’s a good chance it already can. And don’t worry, you can’t f*ck it up. There’s no wrong button. What you’re actually learning is how it thinks, how to ask better questions, and how to let it into your business.
Back in July I gave you the three-year challenge. Answer yes 156 times a year and it works. This one’s smaller. Answer yes 119 times and see where you’re standing in January.
[H]ow To: Deal With Data centers
Data centers are a hot topic right now, and they are likely to become an even bigger topic as election season gets into full swing. When you think about data centers, what is usually the first thing that comes to mind? Property values. With a reported 76% of people opposed to data centers in their communities, this could become a significant concern for your area if one has been proposed, or if there is talk of one coming. (Source: New York Times)
So, what should you do as a real estate agent? 🤔
Start With Education, Not Fear. 🧠
When a data center is proposed for a community, homeowners and buyers naturally have questions: What will this do to my property value? Will my electric bill go up? What will happen to traffic, noise, taxes, and the overall way of life in my neighborhood? As a real estate agent, you don’t necessarily need to have all the answers. Your role is to help people understand the questions they should be asking, find reliable information, and make informed real estate decisions based on facts rather than rumors. When people hear that a data center may be coming to their area, emotions can run high. Some residents may immediately assume property values will fall, while others may believe the project will bring jobs, investment, and increased property values. The reality is that the impact can vary significantly depending on where the facility is located, its size, how close homes are to it, what infrastructure is required, and how the surrounding community changes.
A good real estate agent should avoid making blanket statements such as, “Data centers will lower your home value” or “This will increase everyone’s property values.” Instead, help homeowners understand what is actually being proposed.
Questions worth researching include: Where exactly would the data center be located? How large would the facility be? How close would residential properties be? What roads and infrastructure would be built or expanded? Would there be substations, transmission lines, generators, cooling equipment, or other supporting infrastructure? What zoning or land-use changes are being requested? What is the expected construction timeline? How much additional traffic could construction create? What is the expected long-term employment impact? Are there proposed tax incentives or agreements with the community? What environmental, noise, water, or utility studies have been completed?
The goal is simple: replace speculation with information.
Create a “What We Know” Resource in Canva (have them put in their email for a free download)
One of the best things an agent can do is create a simple community resource that separates facts, unanswered questions, and rumors.
For example: What We Know The proposed facility is located approximately ___ miles from the neighborhood. The project is expected to contain approximately ___ square feet. The developer has proposed ___ phases. Construction is currently expected to begin in ___.
What We Don’t Know Yet
The final traffic impact has not yet been determined. Utility infrastructure plans are still under review. The long-term effect on nearby property values cannot yet be established. 🏡
A proposed data center can create uncertainty for a community, but uncertainty also creates a need for good information. That’s where a real estate professional can provide real value. You don’t have to be an engineer. You don’t have to be a utility expert. And you don’t have to predict exactly what will happen to property values five years from now. Your role is to know how to find reliable information, understand how the development could relate to real estate, recognize what is still unknown, and communicate honestly with homeowners and buyers. The most valuable message an agent can provide is: “I won’t tell you what to think. I’ll help you understand what is happening, how it could affect real estate, and what we should watch as the project develops.”
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-Ty Morton + Abby G