Search, Automation & Agentic Workflows: State of AI in Residential Real Estate

Artificial intelligence has yet to prove it can impact the real estate value chain. Home prices are still far too dependent on macroeconomic conditions and local market drivers. 

This fact has given AI cynics more than enough fodder to dismiss its benefits across the board. 

However, agentic AI and brokerage-wide AI operating systems are moving in on legacy proptechs, empowering CRM data, document analysis, and client insights to function in unison. 

Thus, the seeds of change are really only now germinating. 

Once fragmented tech stacks now have the opportunity to coalesce and reduce clunky connections down to a singularly intuitive, if not fully prescient, user experience. Agents are using AI to aid in negotiation, stage listings, understand client intent, respond to leads, and tackle a fast-growing list of business-critical tasks. 

Land id spoke with a number of industry experts and reviewed multiple industry reports to get a better understanding of where AI and real estate are in their relationship. What we found could best be described as “heating up.” 

MLS Data Meets the Major AI Players

Multiple listing services are beginning to work with large AI providers including OpenAI, Claude, and Google to integrate housing data, giving consumers the power to reason between competitive listings—traditionally the role of the seasoned agent. 

These partnerships can result in better initial search results if the homebuyer has been a frequent user. They can also buoy reports—CMAs, price trends, etc.—on market conditions with data from outside business resources, and do so at a greater pace, a skill that tends to separate top producers from the part-time agents.

How Homebuyers Are Already Using AI

Realtor.com’s Research arm found that 82% of Americans are using AI for housing market data. 

“Among AI platforms, ChatGPT (67%) and Gemini (54%) lead the way, with more than half of respondents saying they’re excited about how AI can personalize their search,” Realtor.com stated. 

While agents remain on top of the list of informed sources, AI is on their heels, the study showed. Of 1,000 respondents, 65.6% said a person is their first stop for market and housing advice. Artificial intelligence sources are 61.9 percent. 

McKinsey: AI Is Reshaping the Full Housing Journey

“Leading companies will redesign the consumer experience from search to service and avoid the trap of just bolting AI onto existing workflows.” - Alex Wolkomir

Consulting giant McKinsey published an interview with Partner Alex Wolkomir on the subject of AI’s increasing presence in the space. 

“AI is not only affecting how housing companies operate after a resident or buyer enters their system, it is also changing how people discover housing, compare options, get questions answered, assess affordability, schedule tours, and place their trust,” Wolkomir said. 

“This matters because housing has always been both a physical product and a ‘feelings’ product. When people buy or rent a place to live, they are making high-stakes decisions about lifestyle, location, services, community, and other personal factors.”

Wolkomir went on to say that ever-sophisticated integrations between housing data suppliers and AI will change how agents work with buyers at the start of their relationship.

“Leading companies will redesign the consumer experience from search to service and avoid the trap of just bolting AI onto existing workflows.”

Agentic AI and the Rise of Autonomous Task Managers

"Agentic AI is capable of providing an autonomous workforce that learns and evolves with your business and/or life." - Alex Gustafson

One way that experience is evolving is through agentic AI. 

Alex Gustafson founded an AI software company called Oppy. “Oppies” are individual agentic task managers, able to be taught any number of business processes and, if instructed, work together to accomplish complex tasks. Oppy customers can use them to respond to clients sooner, complete forms, send listings, or schedule showings. 

Asked why agentic AI might be better for the brokerage community, Gustafson told Land id it’s because of adaptability.

“Agentic AI is capable of providing an autonomous workforce that learns and evolves with your business and/or life,” he said. “An individual AI platform has many capabilities like this. However, achieving full autonomy is either not possible or much more constrained to get off the ground.”

Whereas, Gustafson said, individual agents can move faster and operate on their own. Yet, they should absolutely still be overseen by a human stakeholder, he told Land id.

Inside an AI-Native Brokerage

"The goal isn’t just efficiency for its own sake; it’s giving our staff their time back, so they’re spending it with people instead of buried in paperwork." - Sam Sawyer

Sam Sawyer founded and leads Pinnacle Realty Advisors (PRA), a multi-state brokerage that operates without any offices on a low-fee model. While not the only such model succeeding the space, he is so far the first to “re-launch” as an AI-native brokerage.

The company created a new online real estate agent recruiting effort that eschews any traditional appeals to licensed professionals. It’s all about autonomous modernization. He hired engineers to build a custom document analysis and application process to replace the popular application Skyslope, all part of PinnacleHQ. The system also deploys an internal AI communication assistant, named Hugh, to help with comps research, transaction flow, and general back-office tasks.

Land id asked Sawyer how he’ll know when his experiment becomes a success. 

“I’ll know AI has made a real impact when it shows up in three places at once, not one. Our margins have to improve, but not at the expense of the agent experience or our staff’s workload,” he said in an email to Land id.

“The goal isn’t just efficiency for its own sake; it’s giving our staff their time back, so they’re spending it with people instead of buried in paperwork. If we’re cutting costs but agents are more frustrated, or our team has less room to actually connect with clients, that’s not AI working—that’s just AI cutting corners. The real signal is when agents are closing more deals with less friction, our staff has time back in their day to do the human parts of this business, and the numbers reflect it.”

Success Will Show Up in the Little Things

"Based on all the agents I’ve taught over the past year about AI, I’ve learned one thing: There is no one thing." - Kevin Hawkins

While Sawyer is bullish on the future of his technology, he’s equally bullish on the role human team members play in the deal. 

Like so many other proptech and brokerage leaders, there is collective concern for keeping people at the center of the deal. The idea is to be more productive and omnipresent, not replaceable. 

Kevin Hawkins, an industry consultant and frequent speaker, authored “The Real AI Guide” in 2025. It’s a manual for real estate business leaders. Asked where he sees AI making the most impact, he said it’ll be found in the little things. 

“Honestly, based on all the agents I’ve taught over the past year about AI, I’ve learned one thing: There is no one thing. AI’s biggest impact will come from all the little ways it saves agents and brokers time every day.”