Workflow card WC-12.3: Starter automation 3: closing date to anniversary reminders
From AI for Real Estate Agents (2026 Edition). Facts in, draft out, licensee signs.

Time: estimate: about 45 minutes to build, 2 minutes per note to approve

Trigger. A closing date is entered or updated on a deal record in your CRM (or on your transaction sheet).

Inputs.

- The CRM or sheet connected to your automation platform ("deal closed" or "closing date updated" trigger)
- Fields: client first name(s), property city (not the full address), closing date, buyer or seller side, one personal note from the transaction (the lemon tree, the first dinner in the kitchen)
- The dates you want: this book suggests one month, one year, and each year after; adjust to your practice
- Your voice file and license disclosure line
- An approval place: a CRM task created seven days before each date, with the draft in the task body
- Steps once wired: (1) trigger fires; (2) platform calculates the reminder dates; (3) on each date minus seven days, the AI drafts the note; (4) a task lands on your list with the draft; (5) you send, edit, or skip; (6) skipped tasks are closed, not deleted, so the log stays honest

Brief. (paste everything between the lines)

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Role: You are drafting a short personal note from a licensed residential agent to a past client on the anniversary of their closing. You only use facts I give you. If a fact is missing, write [MISSING: what you need] and do not guess. Ask instead of guessing.
Facts: Client first name(s): [name field]. Side: [buyer or seller]. Closing date: [date field]. Years since closing: [calculated field]. City: [city field]. Personal note from the file: [note field].
Audience: A past client who has not heard from me in a while and does not want to be sold anything.
Voice: [paste voice file, or: "Warm, short, human. One specific memory. No market talk unless they ask."]
Rules: Use only facts I give you; ask instead of guessing. No market update, no home value estimate, no ask for referrals or reviews. Nothing about who should live anywhere, who the neighbors are, schools, churches, safety, or demographics. If the personal note is empty, write a plain note without inventing a memory. Include this line exactly at the end: "[license disclosure line]".
Format: One email or card text, under 70 words, no subject line needed. Two versions: one for year one, one for later years. After the output, list every fact you used and which input it came from.
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Check.

- Read the note against the deal record: right names, right year count, right city. A one-year note sent on the second anniversary is worse than no note.
- If the client sold and moved away, or if you know of a death or divorce since, skip. The automation does not know; you do.
- Confirm no market talk or home value crept in.
- Failure signals: a task with an empty draft; two tasks on the same date for the same client; a date that matches contract acceptance instead of closing.

Ship. Send from your own email, or copy the text onto a card by hand (hand-written beats automated for this one). Close the task. Save the brief as "Automation 3, closing anniversary, v1."

Compliance check. Ch. 4.3 (license disclosure; this is solicitation material when it goes to a past client), 4.5 (no financial details from the file in the automation), 4.1 (no language about the household or the area). You send or skip. Nothing goes out from a task you did not open.
