Bed Bath & Beyond's planned acquisition of Fathom Holdings surprised many across the real estate industry. But beyond the headline lies a deeper story about brokerage economics, agent retention, technology strategy, and the challenges of building a sustainable vertically integrated real estate business. WAV Group examines what the deal means for brokerages, MLSs, and industry leaders.
California Real Estate Brokers, Inc. has partnered with Broker Public Portal and invested as a Unit Holder, bringing MetroList listings to Cribio and strengthening an industry-owned, consumer-first home search experience focused on transparency, accuracy, and broker connection.
Rechat’s new Service Network transforms how brokerages deliver ancillary services by embedding them directly into agent workflows. This innovation bridges the execution gap, helping firms drive consistency, improve client experience, and unlock new revenue opportunities.
AI adoption in real estate is accelerating, but most solutions remain fragmented across marketing, CRM, and transaction systems. The future belongs to a unified intelligence layer that mirrors the full homeownership journey and positions the agent as a persistent, AI-powered concierge at the center of it all.
The National Association of REALTORS® has released what may be one of the most important brokerage resources of the year: the Brokerage AI Policy Kit.
AI adoption inside a brokerage is rarely about the technology alone. It hinges on trust, usability, and how people feel once the tool becomes part of daily work. In a recent video interview, Dean Rouso, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Baird & Warner, shared what the first months with REMI, the brokerage's AI-powered support assistant, actually looked like on the ground. The video is worth watching in full. Watch Now Early Access Built the Foundation Rouso did not flip a switch and hand AI to 2,800 agents. He gave managers 30 days of access first and asked them [...]
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping real estate advertising, from listing descriptions to predictive targeting. While the broader marketing industry has introduced voluntary AI guardrails, real estate has yet to align around responsible standards. Transparency, bias prevention, data protection, and MLS policy alignment must become an industry priority.
Every brokerage has the same problem. Agents ask questions all day, every day. About policies. About technology tools. About commission status, disclosure documents, CE requirements, transaction workflows. The questions never stop, and many of them are the same questions asked again and again. Historically, those questions land on managers and staff. Someone picks up the phone. Someone sends a text back on a Saturday night. Someone digs through three different systems to piece together an answer that should have been easy to find. Meanwhile, the work that managers were actually hired to do - coaching, recruiting, driving revenue - gets pushed to the margins.
By Kevin Hawkins Brokerages, MLSs, and Associations may not see it, but their agents are already using it. It’s called Shadow AI. These are unapproved generative AI tools like ChatGPT, image and video generators, and other apps, most often free, that agents use to support their business without any oversight. While today’s leadership is focusing on AI strategy, policy, and systems, Shadow AI is already active inside their organizations. And just because these tools are invisible to leadership doesn’t mean they’re harmless. Shadow AI can expose client data, violate copyright, trigger fair housing violations, and compromise your brand’s trust. What [...]
When Chris Morrison launched RETSY in 2020, he wasn't chasing size for its own sake. He was building a luxury brokerage designed to scale without compromising brand, standards, or execution.
WAV Group reveals how agentic AI is reshaping real estate and why data ownership and platform infrastructure will decide the next generation of industry leaders. Download the full report.
The Seven Gables AI story is not about chasing innovation for its own sake. It is about operational leverage. Most importantly, treat AI as infrastructure you own, not a subscription you rent.
