Our Theory on the Industry's Evolution

The obvious.

Since 2023, Y Combinator has admitted 28 B2B real estate/Proptech teams. From CRM's with hyper-personalized drip campaigns to disclosure analysis (we were the first to this space). Your realtor is their user. They use AI to some capacity. They have automated certain legs of their workflow.

If X changes, Y should too.

We have the privilege of working with clients from Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, etc. I hear about the prioritization of one highly-enabled senior engineer versus 10 entry level engineers at these companies.

Across the Valley, employers encourage AI use but expect production to scale with it. Your output is higher yet your salary stays about the same since your time spent working hasn't changed; you have just become enabled.

A real estate transaction has a finite number of tasks. It can't scale like product development. So as the realtor adapts technology and their job becomes increasingly more efficient, it would only make sense for the consumer to pay relatively less.

As a result:

The consumer will question real estate commissions more than ever.

Maybe 2.5% was justified when you needed an agent to see listings, tour homes, and access information on process; there have been cracks since platforms like Zillow democratized data.

Big brokerage has lost its moat, and AI is the nail in the coffin of a business model that won’t forget the taste of a $75K commission on a single transaction.

Talented agents and teams will adapt to the tech, and we’ll see a rise in boutique brokerages. Ultimately the consumer wins, and the barrier to homeownership drops.