AI Is Quietly Rewiring How Homes Are Bought and Sold

Richard Montgomery on Jun 9, 2026

Q: My husband and I are both newly converted artificial intelligence (AI) enthusiasts. I am also a real estate agent. We are curious as to the impact artificial intelligence is having on residential real estate. I do not hear too much about it in NAR publications. What do you see happening today and what does the future hold?

A: Your timing is apt. AI's footprint in residential real estate is growing faster than most industry publications are willing to acknowledge -- perhaps because the implications are uncomfortable for some of their core constituents. Three companies illustrate where things stand today. Together they tell a revealing story.

According to Businesswire.com, Homes.com launched a fully conversational AI search experience in February 2026, with no filters, no keywords, no friction. It has been described as a virtual, all-knowing advisor that remembers every transaction, knows everything about every house and takes buyers directly where they want to go. As an agent, the business model behind Homes.com is worth understanding, according to Inman.com. All listings appear on the site and leads on any listing always go to the listing agent, never diverted to a competitor, which is a direct contrast to how Zillow and Realtor.com have historically operated. However, Homes.com shares that paying member agents receive significantly preferential treatment, their listings sort above non-members, with premium placement on neighborhood and school pages and retargeting across thousands of websites.

Homa goes considerably further. Founded by a former Senior Director at Zillow, Homa has completed end-to-end AI-powered home purchases in the United States, offering buyers a transparent, cost-effective alternative that puts them in control and eliminates the need for a traditional commission-based buyer's agent. (According to Business Wire.) In Florida, where Homa is currently active, nearly 40% of users who sign up have committed to purchasing without an agent. That number deserves your full attention. Homa is not a curiosity -- it is a direct challenge to the traditional buyer's agent model, arriving precisely as the post-NAR settlement landscape has buyers openly questioning what they are paying for.

At the transaction layer, platforms like Propbox are building the infrastructure that underpins what comes next. Propbox embeds an AI assistant directly into the client-facing portal, automating workflows, managing documents, tracking milestones and giving buyers and sellers real-time visibility into where their deal stands. Early pilots report closings happening 25% faster with 40% fewer client messages required. That is not a forecast -- it is happening now, in live transactions.

As an agent, this gets personal. The agents who will thrive are those who use AI as a force multiplier -- preparing better, responding faster, advising more precisely -- while providing what no platform can replicate: earned trust with a human being navigating one of the most consequential financial decisions of their life. Customers who use Homa will expect an agent to bring something AI can't.

NAR's relative quiet on this is worth noting. Trade associations historically protect incumbent models. Independent-minded agents, like you, are better served by watching what the technology actually does than waiting for their publication to frame it for you.

The agents who will struggle are those waiting to be told what to think about AI. The ones who will flourish are already using it.

Richard Montgomery is a syndicated columnist, published author, retired real estate executive, serial entrepreneur and the founder of DearMonty.com and PropBox, Inc. He provides consumers with options to real estate issues. Follow him on Twitter (X) @montgomRM or DearMonty.com.

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