If you lead an MLS today, there is a good chance your organization looks very different than it did five years ago. Consolidation is reshaping our industry rapidly, and what started as a local association serving one or two counties is now more likely part of a regional or even multi-state operation. The growth is real and the opportunity is significant. But so is the pressure on the systems that hold it all together.
So happy to see Scott Quinn one of our long-time friends and colleagues join the Client Success team at Cotality! Scott has supported the MLS since its beginnings offering online software. Congrats Scott!
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 [...]
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.
A terrific new service crossed my desk today. Strong value proposition. Smart technology. Clear benefit for customers. The kind of launch that usually signals a company serious about growth and connection around homeownership. Then there was Ed. Ed is the local representative attached to the service. Helpful. Responsive. Apparently knowledgeable. But Ed has no head. Not metaphorically. Digitally. His profile photo is a gray silhouette. No face. No expression. No visual identity. It is the horrible epidemic whose cure alludes to a failure in real estate technology.
ChatGPT advertising is poised to reshape real estate marketing, but not in the way most brokers expect. As AI answer engines become a primary place where consumers form opinions, the real advantage lies in combining paid visibility with earned authority through AEO and GEO. Adoption isn’t about leads. It’s about leadership, trust, and long-term positioning.
By Kevin Hawkins Artificial intelligence did not enter real estate through formal brokerage rollouts. It entered agent by agent. What began as individual experimentation by these independent contractors in 2023 has now become nearly universal agent usage across the brokerages that drive most U.S. transaction volume. The latest Delta Media Real Estate Leadership AI Survey shows the industry has crossed an important threshold. 97% of brokerage leaders surveyed said their agents use AI. AI adoption is no longer the challenge. Broker responsibility is. Delta Created Real Estate’s Benchmark AI Survey Now in its third consecutive year, the Delta Media AI [...]
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 [...]
Carolina One Real Estate faced a familiar challenge: too many tools, too little efficiency. Agents juggled CRMs, marketing apps, and design platforms that didn't connect, slowing productivity and weakening consistency. Leadership needed a change — and found it in a unified, relationship-driven platform.
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Dave Herman, SVP of Product and AI innovation at Realtor.com, to discuss two exciting product launches that are reshaping how buyers explore properties online. If you haven't checked out these features yet, you're missing out on some truly innovative technology.
In a market where many brokerages are consolidating or playing defense, SERHANT. has moved boldly in the other direction — expanding into 13 states and Washington, D.C., growing its agent base tenfold, and significantly increasing revenue. A new case study from Rechat explores how the brokerage made it happen, and what other firms can learn from the strategy behind its scale.
The industry is undergoing a massive shift and replatforming effort, with companies racing to keep pace with technological change but lacking clear pathways forward.
