About 170 brokers from six local REALTOR® associations in South Carolina—Beaufort-Jasper County, Central Carolina, Charleston Trident, Coastal Carolinas, Greater Greenville and Pee Dee—gathered July 15 in Myrtle Beach to gain a deeper understanding of AI tools’ capabilities, applications and weak spots.
Several technology startups participated in the summit, presenting the daily broker problems their products aim to solve.
On the projector screen read: “Your agents already use AI. You just don’t know what they’re uploading.”
Jerimiah Taylor, co-founder and CEO of BrokerBot, which is part of the National Association of REALTORS®’ tech growth program REACH run by Second Century Ventures, dove right into data risks.
“I would bet that in the next five minutes I’m going to scare the ever-living heck out of a few of you, because of the risk that is being created for a business that you have spent your life putting together,” he said before explaining how AI models can train on your data, retain your data and frequently yield results with outdated information.
Taylor explained it’s crucial for brokers to know the type of information agents are uploading into large language models that train on information. “Models that [could] in some future iteration ... regurgitate your customer’s private information, the brokerage’s internal policies, your association’s intellectual property that they license to you, and they will regurgitate that to future users,” Taylor, who's also a real estate broker and was named by NAR Tech & Innovation as a 2026 Tech Innovator of the Year, said of consumer AI platforms.
BrokerBot solves this by not retaining data, diversifying use of multiple large language models instead of just one, and not allowing those models to train on users’ data.
These are concerns NAR knows brokers and associations are actively navigating; and to help brokers and associations establish guidelines for the responsible, ethical and secure use of AI, NAR published two customizable AI policy templates in March.
AI as a Risk Reduction Tool, Output Optimizer
MaxHome, another company selected for the 2026 REACH program, is designed to help brokers with often tedious document management and transaction compliance checks. Meanwhile, PropMedia, a directory of real estate media professionals under the accelerator’s portfolio, supports photo compliance regulation by creating a QR-code disclosure to note the image is digitally altered and reveals the original, unaltered photo.
“I think that’s an awesome step toward restoring public trust in how we present real estate, but at the same time allowing us to present real estate on its best foot,” co-founder and CEO Moses Nickerson of Pixlmob, which operates PropMedia, said. “I think we can have our cake and eat it too if we start defining standards and adopting tools like this that allow for both.”
Brokers also heard from peers who shared their hard knocks with tech rollouts—from wasting “tens and thousands of dollars” to creating anxieties about job security.
Eddie Wilder, broker-in-charge at ERA Wilder Realty, works with his son and recalls how one employee assumed his job was in danger after the company invested in a new tech system.
“[My son’s] looking at him and says, ‘We’re not looking to get rid of you. You’re amazing. We’re looking at 10x-ing you,’” Wilder said. That’s why communication is key to tech rollouts, he explained. “All of a sudden it changed the whole dynamics.”
Local and state association executives also spoke to participants about how they’re implementing AI into their operations to benefit members.
South Carolina REALTORS® CEO Nick Kremydas said the state association is preparing to pilot an AI feature on its popular legal hotline.
“We don’t have 24-hour employees, but AI gives us the ability to do that,” Kremydas said. If a member calls after business hours, the AI assistant will create a ticket and gather the caller’s information for the lawyers to respond in the morning. Additionally, it can navigate the association’s website to retrieve forms and FAQs for callers.
NAR Partners With Locals, States on Broker Engagement
The Coastal Carolinas Broker Summit was the 38th in-person broker gathering that NAR has participated in so far this year. NAR has been working with local and state associations from around the country to host these gatherings as part of its strategic goal of strengthening broker engagement. Seventy broker summits are planned by the end of the year.
That effort is led by NAR’s Industry Relations team, including Senior Vice President Jarrod Grasso and Vice President of Broker Engagement Nykea Pippion McGriff, as well as independent consultant and Special Advisor for Brokers Sherry Chris, who are traversing the country—sometimes multiple times a week—to ensure the association meets brokers’ needs.
On stage, Chris previewed five categories of benefits that brokers have with NAR: advocacy (on behalf of individual associations and communities), research, legal, technology and education—which is in the process of being revamped.
In a touching moment, Tim Weisheyer, CEO of Strategic Advantage Consulting, who was interviewing Chris, asked the room to recognize her partnership with brokers. The room erupted into applause.
In the past 18 months since joining NAR as an independent consultant, Chris says she’s seen broker sentiment evolve from a place of doubt to one of hope.
“It’s really, Tim, because of you all coming together in rooms like this,” she said.
