The Chris List™

Next week, I'm hosting a free 2-hour masterclass on using AI to create hyperlocal content that actually converts.

Not theory. Not vibes.

Specific prompts, the best tools, and proven workflows you can start using during the call.

👉 Click here to RSVP​

Now here's this week's Chris List...

📝 [C]ontent: AI is killing the 5-day workweek

🛠 [H]ow-To: Master filming (or finding) b-roll for your videos

🔬 [R]esearch: What Ryan Serhant does from 4 am to 7 pm

🎨 [I]nspiration: A home plumbed with sparkling water (not a joke)

📝 [S]wipes: One plain-text email. 35 appointments. Zero design.

📝 [C]ONTENT

Can Realtors work 3-days a week thanks to AI?

Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom, whose platform basically invented remote work, just told the Wall Street Journal that he hates working 5 days a week.

And he's predicting AI will cut the standard workweek to three days within the next five years.

His logic: the same way Henry Ford's assembly line shrunk the workweek from six days to five, AI agents will handle the stuff that eats your day alive, emails, scheduling, meetings, and admin tasks.

He's not alone:

• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon predicted three-and-a-half-day workweeks
• OpenAI is pushing companies to pilot 32-hour workweeks with no pay cuts
• 80% of workers surveyed by the American Psychological Association said they'd be happier AND just as productive working four days instead of five

Every agent reading this just thought, "must be nice."

You're working 7 days. Showing houses on Sundays. Answering texts at 10pm. Negotiating inspections on your kid's birthday.

But here's the real play: if the rest of the workforce shifts to 3-4 day workweeks, what happens to housing?

People with more free time move more. They renovate more. They relocate to places they actually want to live instead of places close to the office.

Remote work already reshuffled the housing map; a shorter workweek would pour gas on that fire.

And the agents who survive?

They'll be the ones using AI to handle their tedious, busy work, so they can spend their time on the only thing AI can't do...

...sitting across from a human at the most stressful financial decision of their life and making them feel safe.

The 3-day workweek probably isn't coming for agents.

But the real estate agents who figure out how to use AI agents will work smarter in 3 days than their competition does in 7.

🛠 [H]OW-TO

A+ B-Roll: Shoot it yourself or find it for free 🎥

Real estate agents have two problems with video content.

Either they're not filming enough (the footage never exists), or they're filming wrong (shaky, slow, unusable).

Here's how to fix both.

If you're shooting it yourself:

The biggest mistake agents make is treating their phone like a camcorder.

Long, sweeping, unedited clips. Fast jerky pans. Filming at 0.5x zoom (which distorts everything).

Stop.

The pros shoot 5-second clips. That's it. Short, intentional, repeatable.

Before you hit record:

• Go to Settings > Camera > Record Video > 4K 60fps
• Turn on Enhanced Stabilization
• Clean your lens (seriously, clean it)
• Move your body, not your arms

​Three moves that cover 90% of what you need:

Shift: Gently slide the camera side to side.

Rock Forward: Move slightly toward your subject.

Capture Movement: Open a curtain, turn on a light, walk toward the door.

That's a listing Reel. Repeat those three moves in every room.

Create three albums on your phone: Listing B-Roll, Local B-Roll, Personal B-Roll.

Every clip goes straight in. Now you've always got content ready to batch.

If you don't want to film at all:

Here's the thing most agents don't realize: the major stock sites (Pexels, Storyblocks, Artgrid, Shutterstock) have solid coverage of every major city and metro in the country.

Skylines, neighborhoods, coffee shops, waterfront, aerial drone shots, golden hour streets.

If you're in Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix, Miami, or any market with a pulse, the footage already exists, and it's either free or cheap.

The best free option right now is Pexels.

Full 4K library, no signup, commercial use allowed, zero attribution required.

​Pixabay is the same deal. Free, 4K, commercial use, no strings.

If you want cinematic-level footage that doesn't look like stock footage, Artgrid runs on a subscription model and lets you download unlimited clips with a license that stays active even after you cancel.

But if your market isn't covered, or you want footage that's actually yours:

Hire a videographer for one day. One shoot.

Budget $500-$1,500 depending on your market, and you walk away with drone shots, neighborhood walkthroughs, coffee shop clips, street-level footage, and a full local B-roll library you own forever.

You'll use that footage for the next two years. The math is obvious.

🔬 [R]ESEARCH

Ryan Serhant's $6.5B blueprint (in 5 moves) 🗽

My Knwn Local co-founder, Andrew Bayon, spent 70+ hours reviewing Ryan Serhant's interviews, podcasts, and all three of his books to identify 46 operating principles.

Here are the five that matter the most:

1. Your brand is your reputation, not your Canva template.

Ryan flew to Shanghai on 18 hours' notice to save a $1.8M deal. He got stranded on a golf course at 6 am with a dead phone. He still showed up. He still closed.

That's the brand. Not the logo. Not the merch. The moment when it would have been completely reasonable to tap out, and he didn't.

2. Treat your time like a $1,000 daily bank account.

He runs the same structure every single day: 8-10am find business, 10:30am-1:30pm keep business, 2-7pm do business. No exceptions. No rescheduling. Just execution.

And his day starts the night before. He's up at 4am with zero decisions left to make because they were all made the night before.

That's not discipline. That's architecture.

3. Speed beats perfect, every time.

Responding within 60 minutes isn't a suggestion at his firm. It's a hiring requirement. The agent crafting the perfect email lost the lead three responses ago.

His exact quote: "Do not let perfect be the enemy of good."

While you're wordsmithing, someone else has already booked the showing.

4. Put your name on it.

He launched his firm in September 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, and literally put his name on the building. No plan B. No corporate cushion. Deliberate pressure.

He also bought a $3.7M apartment when his budget was $1.5M. On purpose. He uses financial corners to force himself to grow.

Most agents are waiting for certainty before they commit. Serhant manufactures urgency instead.

5. Failure is the job.

Before real estate, Ryan spent two years as an actor getting rejected to his face, because of his face. When he switched industries, rejection stopped being personal. It was about the apartment, not about him.

Now he counts "no's" like KPIs. If you're not collecting enough of them, you're not playing hard enough. The fear shifts from Monday to Friday, because the weekend slows everything down.

The Realtor takeaway:

The thread through all 46 principles is the same: he never waited until he was ready.

He started the day Lehman Brothers collapsed. He launched a firm during a pandemic. He booked a last-minute flight to Shanghai. He bought a home he couldn't afford, so he had no choice but to perform.

Most agents are waiting for the right market, the right tools, the right moment, the right listing to "really go all in." That moment doesn't arrive on its own.

Serhant's entire career is proof that you manufacture it.

Messy action beats perfect paralysis. Every single time.

🎨 [I]NSPIRATION

Win a home with Liquid Death water in the 🚿 &🚰

Taylor Morrison, a national homebuilder, just partnered with Liquid Death to give away a brand new home where every single faucet, shower, and toilet runs on soda-flavored sparkling water.

Not a rendering. Not a concept. A real house.

With 1,000 gallons of Liquid Death hooked up to the plumbing. Showers. Dishwasher. Washing machine. All of it.

The fizzy flow will last about three days until the tank runs dry, and they connect it to normal water like civilized people.

The sweepstakes winner picks a home in Orlando, Houston, or Indianapolis (valued between $265k-$355k). Or they can take $250k cash instead.

Why this matters

This started because Liquid Death's CEO and Taylor Morrison's CMO shared a stage at a homebuilder conference, started riffing on dumb ideas, walked off stage laughing, and then actually built it nine months later.

Read that again.

A conversation at a conference turned into a national marketing campaign that every major outlet is covering.

That's not a marketing budget. That's a marketing mindset.

Stephanie McCarty, Taylor Morrison's CMO, said the quiet part loud: "The collabs that don't make sense on the surface are ultimately the ones that perform the best."

She's right. And this is the playbook most agents are too afraid to run.

You don't need a 1,000-gallon sparkling water tank. But you do need to stop marketing like it's 2014.

The agents winning right now are the ones willing to be weird, be memorable, and partner with local businesses in ways that make people say "wait... is this real?"

That question is the most valuable reaction in marketing. It means they stopped scrolling. It means they're talking about you. It means you won.

Your version of this?

Partner with a local brewery and do an open house with a tap wall.

Team up with a coffee shop and do "Lattes & Listings."

Collaborate with a dog rescue for a "Paws & Property" showing.

Nobody remembers the agent who posted another Just Listed graphic.

Everybody remembers the one who did something nobody expected.

📝 [S]WIPES

The 10-second email that booked 35 listing appointments 📅

One email. Zero design. No AI-generated fluff.

35 listing appointments.

Jamie McMartin in Houston sent this to her database of 8,000:

Subject: Name Your Price

Body:

Hey [Name],

Could you finish the following sentence for me?

"If I could sell my home for $_____, I would list my home this spring."

I can't wait to hear your answer!

[Your name]

That's it.

100+ people responded out of curiosity.

But the real gold: 35 people said they'd already been thinking about selling because of a life change.

Those aren't leads. Those are listing appointments. From one email that took less time to write than it takes to check your Zestimate.

Why this works:

It doesn't ask "are you thinking about selling?" which everyone ignores because it feels like a trap.

It asks them to finish a sentence. That's a completely different psychological trigger. It's a game, not a pitch. People love filling in blanks.

And the ones who respond with an actual number? They've already mentally listed their home. You're just the one who showed up first.

Steal this today:

Don't overthink it. Don't redesign it. Don't add your headshot and a market update.

Send the plain text version. It wins because it doesn't look like marketing.

35 appointments divided by 10 seconds of work is the best ROI you'll see all year. Maybe ever.