Artificial intelligence has reached a familiar moment in real estate.
The tools are multiplying, and the promises are expanding. Every conference agenda, vendor pitch and boardroom conversation now includes AI as an inevitability. Brokerages feel pressure to “do something” (often quickly) out of fear that standing still will mean falling behind.
However, many brokerages investing in AI today are not building a durable advantage. They are accumulating tools, not capability. And, in many cases, they are quietly wasting money.
The problem isn’t that AI is overhyped; it’s that it is being adopted without discipline.
The cost of chasing shiny objects
The first mistake brokerages make with AI is treating it as a category rather than a business tool.
Leadership teams hear about a new AI product like a CRM assistant, a chatbot, an auto-writer or a website widget and ask where it might fit. Pilots are launched, licenses are purchased, and adoption is encouraged, yet results are vague.
AI tools that aren’t anchored to a clearly defined operational or revenue problem almost always fail to deliver value. They may feel impressive in demos, but they don’t survive contact with real workflows. Worse, they fragment systems further, adding cognitive and operational overhead to already complex organizations.
Smart operators resist this impulse. They don’t ask, “What can this AI do?” They ask, “What is slowing us down, costing us money or limiting scale today?”
If an AI tool doesn’t map cleanly to a known bottleneck, such as agent productivity, support load, marketing efficiency, lead conversion or training scalability, then it’s not an investment. It’s a distraction.
AI does not replace foundations; it amplifies them
The second, more expensive, mistake is attempting to layer AI onto a weak foundation.
AI is not a substitute for clean data, consistent processes or operational clarity. In fact, it is unforgiving in their absence. Models trained on fragmented systems, inconsistent workflows or outdated documentation simply automate confusion.
Brokerages that want to benefit from AI in the future must first do the unglamorous work building solid foundations in the present.
This means consolidating systems instead of proliferating them. It means establishing a source of truth for transactions, contacts, marketing, support and brokerage data. It requires the defining of workflows clearly enough that a machine can understand them. More bluntly put, it means treating data as an asset and not as exhaust.
The brokerages quietly preparing for AI advantage aren’t buying the most tools; they’re modernizing their infrastructure. They are building centralized platforms, normalizing data and documenting operations so that intelligence, whether it be human or artificial, has something solid to work with.
When AI finally matures into a true strategic lever, these firms won’t scramble to retrofit. On the contrary, they’ll be ready.
Discernment is the real competitive edge
The AI vendor landscape is growing faster than any brokerage can reasonably evaluate. Many offerings are sincere. Many are experimental. Some are simply legacy software companies with a rebranded new look or label.
This makes discernment a core leadership skill.
Smart brokerages evaluate AI vendors the same way they evaluate partners: They look beyond features and into fundamentals.
- Does the product integrate cleanly, or does it create another silo?
- Does it solve a persistent problem, or does it invent a new workflow?
- Is the company building toward durability or optimizing for short-term hype?
Most importantly, they ask whether the value proposition survives once novelty fades.
AI should reduce friction. It should clarify decisions, not obscure them. It should make the organization simpler, more scalable and more resilient, not busier.
The firms that win won’t be the ones that adopted AI first. They will be the ones who adopted it deliberately.
Building for what comes next
The irony of today’s AI moment is that the most important decisions brokerages can make right now are not about AI at all. They are about systems, discipline and focus.
Brokerages that stop chasing tools and start building capability will find themselves well positioned for whatever the next wave brings, whether that’s in the form of more advanced automation, predictive intelligence or entirely new operating models.
For brokers and operators, the AI conversation is ultimately a question of stewardship.
Capital, attention and organizational trust are finite resources. Deploying them effectively requires resisting novelty in favor of rigor: clear problem definition, disciplined vendor evaluation and foundational investment in systems that compound over time.
AI will almost certainly reshape how brokerages operate, but it won’t reward impatience. The firms that emerge stronger won’t be those that treat AI as a marketing signal or defensive posture, but those that see it as an extension of sound operational design.
In that sense, the competitive advantage is not artificial intelligence itself, but executive judgment applied consistently and before the hype subsides.
AI is not a shortcut to competitive advantage; it’s a multiplier. And like all multipliers, it rewards those who already have something solid to amplify.
All this month, we’re focused on The New Brokerage Playbook. Running a brokerage in 2026 looks nothing like it used to. From major players to scrappy indies, we’ll map the new playing field and talk with brokerage leaders across the country about what’s working now — and what’s next.
Zane Burnett is the EVP of digital strategy at The Agency. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
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