Are Real Estate Agents at Risk? The Truth About AI and the Future of Home Sales

There are usually good conversations that happen on X when it comes to the RETWIT crowd. For those wondering, RETWIT stands for Real Estate Twitter (now X). It is a loosely knit community of different accounts who post about various aspects of the real estate industry. Many use their real names and company affiliations so you can see exactly how they work, structure deals, and find new clients.

Every once in awhile there is a crossover between RETWIT and the SMB community. SMB stands for small/medium businesses. Many in the SMB community are business brokers, attorney’s, bankers, searchers, and entrepreneurs. One of the most popular follows on SMB X is SMB_Attorney. He recently posed the question below wondering how residential real estate agents are not being affected by AI:

Every few years there is usually a company or product which says they are going to disrupt the real estate industry. Time and time again they find it is extremely tough. Here are some interesting responses to SMB_Attorney’s posted question:

Blueprintsmb touches on a real point. The home buying process is very emotional and most likely the largest purchase made by an individual or couple. These people are willing to pay for a real estate agent to help guide them through the process so they have some piece of mind that it will all turn out alright.

Tip your cap to all the art dealers out there! Maybe even that special art dealer who owns mobile home parks in Texas!

Leah mentions a great point. Homeowners would not want to experience strangers walking through their house unless they have a California licensed agent accompanying them on the walkthrough.

Julie has a CA real estate license and is an expert in the San Diego area. Her May 10th post is detailed and would be too long to screenshot here. If you have 2 minutes it is worth the read.

In short, she notes most people don’t understand the true value of a good real estate agent because many agents lack negotiation skills, expertise, or ethics. If AI is to replace agents, it must be trained on local practices, contracts, inspections, and the hands-on details that aren’t public or standardized. This is not happening with AI right now.

While tech can automate checklists and processes, it can’t yet fully assess property conditions or handle complex, on-the-ground issues. The real challenge isn’t just building smarter AI, but teaching it to outperform the majority of agents by mastering both technical and human aspects of real estate.