These statistics from the REALTORS® Technology Survey that wouldn’t leave me alone: 41% of agents are using AI in their business, but 46% of those agents say it’s had zero noticeable impact on their business.
Read that again.
Almost half of the agents using AI right now can’t point to anything it’s actually done for them. Not a faster close. Not a better lead. Not even an hour back in their week.
It would be easy to interpret that as proof AI is overhyped. But I don’t think that’s what is happening. I think it's an operator problem dressed up as a technology problem. And that difference matters if you’re a real estate professional trying to figure out whether AI is a distraction or a competitive advantage.
The AI Problem Nobody Is Talking About
My recent discussions with real estate agents are exposing the problem. Los Angeles real estate pro Krystopher Benyamein with Estate of Grace Allstars Realty put it about as plainly as anyone has: The most overhyped tool in real estate right now is ChatGPT. It’s not because it doesn’t work, but because most agents are copying its output without editing it for their own voice. The tool isn’t broken—the behavior is.
The National Association of REALTORS® survey asked more than 1,000 agents why they adopt new technology. Sixty-six percent said it’s to save time, and 64% said it’s about improving the client experience.
The proptech industry has been building tools as if those were the same motivation, but they’re not. One makes the agent's backend operations faster; the other makes the client feel more informed, more confident and more cared for. The agents I talked to who are getting real client satisfaction gains (and NAR's data shows 45% of agents reporting genuinely positive client response to their tech) aren't running the biggest tech stacks. They're running the right tool for the right job, and they know which is which before they buy.
That distinction sounds obvious, but the reality is that’s not how most agents are shopping.
It’s Not About Adding More Tools
Gina Giampietro with RE/MAX Select Realty in Pittsburgh closes over 100 homes a year. Her tech stack is intentionally small. She runs one CRM consistently, instead of a dozen disconnected platforms. Real estate pro Megan Walters, LHC, with eXp Realty’s The Walters Team in Columbia, Mo., runs 150 transactions a year on the same principle: If a system grows with you, stop replacing it. Don't chase the next thing because it's new. The instability of constantly switching tools costs more than the marginal upgrade is worth.
Broker-owner Amy Stockberger, SRS, SFR, in Sioux Falls, S.D., has a four-word filter she runs every process through—SADD:
- Systemize
- Automate
- Delegate
- Delete
Her point: Entrepreneurs are really good at causing commotion where no commotion needs to exist. Half the time, the right answer to "what tool fixes this" is nothing—stop doing it. None of that is a pitch for any particular platform. It’s a pattern. The agents with the cleanest operations and the highest client satisfaction aren't tech-forward in the way the industry usually means it. They’re tech-disciplined. They know what each tool is actually for, they don’t confuse categories, and they’re willing to delete something that isn’t earning its place.
But How Do You Know What’s Really Worth It?
It’s easy to fall for a fancy sales pitch of the latest and greatest tech product.
Lauren Henss with First Team sees past the noise. She has spent the last year-and-a-half leading digital transformation at a brokerage level, and she said something that's stuck with me: Trust but verify. Never make assumptions about a tool's capability based on what the demo promised. Evaluate it the way you'd evaluate anything else that's about to cost you money and time—on whether it can actually deliver.
That's the operating principle behind HomeCode and why I created it. The industry has no shortage of product launches, demos and promises about what technology can do. What’s harder to find is what happens after implementation: Does it actually solve the problem it was supposed to solve? Does it change the way an agent works? Does it create a better experience for the client?
At HomeCode, looking beyond the pitch and into how real estate professionals are using the technology in the field—what works, what doesn’t and what’s worth the investment.
So before adding another tool to your tech stack, ask a different question: What specific problem am I solving? Who benefits from this? And would my business actually notice if this disappeared tomorrow?
The best technology isn’t necessarily the tool everyone is talking about. It’s the one that solves a specific problem, fits the way you work and creates measurable value. And sometimes it takes an honest conversation to figure that out.
Side Note: Lead Gen Had a Misleading Headline (Again) This Year
According to NAR’s survey, social media is the number one lead-generating technology for agents for the third-year running. Thirty-nine percent of agents call it their best source.
That stat gets repeated everywhere, and it’s accurate, and it’s also missing the part that actually matters. Krystopher Benyamein broke this down for me this way: Roughly half of his business starts online, while 70% still closes through sphere, past clients and referrals.
Social media isn’t replacing relationship-based business. It’s identifying who’s ready to have a relationship. The agents winning with it aren’t treating a like or a comment as a lead. They’re treating it as a signal—a reason to pick up the phone, not a substitute for picking it up.
That’s the version of "leveraging technology" I believe in—technology that doesn’t replace relationships but manufactures more opportunities to build them.
