Illustration generated using AI technology.

While You Were Selling Houses, Tech Companies Stole Your Data Rights

Before the internet, the concept of owning your listing as a real estate broker seemed straightforward. If you held the listing agreement, you controlled the listing. That paper contract in your filing cabinet represented clear authority over how property information appeared in the marketplace.

But while you focused on showings and closings, the digital revolution fundamentally altered how content ownership works. Today, that listing agreement is merely a starting point. In the digital age, control over listing content depends on copyright law, and most brokers are inadvertently relinquishing valuable rights they could be protecting.

Understanding Copyright in Real Estate Listings

First, a crucial legal distinction: copyright protects creative expression, not facts. The number of bedrooms, square footage, and price are unprotectable facts. However, the creative elements you add like photos, written descriptions, and the selection and arrangement of information, can receive copyright protection when they meet the originality threshold.

Here are four categories of potential copyright protection in your listings, along with important legal considerations:

1. Photographic and Video Content: Clear Ownership Rights

Photography and videography receive strong copyright protection. Under U.S. copyright law, the copyright initially vests in the photographer or videographer at the moment of creation, not the person who commissioned or paid for the work.

This creates a critical gap: without proper agreements, the photographer owns those images, regardless of who paid for them. They could license them to others, use them in their portfolio, or even restrict your use on certain platforms. Brokers get sued every year by professional photographers when their pictures show up in magazines.

Essential agreements needed:

For outside photographers: The broker needs either a “work made for hire” agreement (which must meet specific statutory requirements) or a written copyright assignment. NAR provides sample agreements that address these requirements: https://www.nar.realtor/copyright/listing-photo-sample-agreements

For agent-created content: Your independent contractor agreements should include explicit language stating that copyrightable works created within the scope of the agency relationship are either works made for hire (if agents qualify as employees for copyright purposes) or are assigned to the brokerage. Note that independent contractor status can complicate work-for-hire claims, making assignment clauses essential. You are likely updating your ICA agreements, time to make sure you specify this understanding. There are many circumstances where an agent is no longer with the firm, but the firm keeps the listing. Unless you want to reshoot the photos and property descriptions, you need this in your agreement. 

2. Written Property Descriptions: The Originality Requirement

Property descriptions can receive copyright protection as literary works, but only if they contain sufficient originality and creativity. A description stating “3 bedrooms, 2 baths, granite counters” is purely factual and unprotectable. However, evocative marketing prose: “Morning light dances across restored oak floors in this craftsman sanctuary” likely meets the originality threshold for copyright protection.

The AI complication: The U.S. Copyright Office currently takes the position that works produced solely by artificial intelligence without human creative input cannot be copyrighted because they lack human authorship. If you use AI tools to generate descriptions, ensure substantial human creativity in the selection, arrangement, or modification of the output. Document the human contributions as a requirement in our ICA to support any copyright claims.

3. Compilation Rights: Limited but Real Protection

Individual listings may qualify for “compilation” copyright, which is protection for the selection, coordination, and arrangement of components. However, this protection is notably “thin.” It covers only your specific selection and arrangement, not the underlying facts or individually copyrighted elements.

For example, while others cannot copy your exact selection and sequence of photos paired with specific description excerpts, they could independently select similar photos and create their own arrangement. This compilation copyright prevents wholesale copying of your listing presentation but doesn’t create exclusive rights to the underlying information.

Note to MLS: Data license agreements should explicitly require that the sequence of photos is not altered in any display.

4. Database Protection: The Collection as a Whole

A collection of all your listings may receive copyright protection as a compilation, but again, protection extends only to the selection and arrangement of the complete database, not to individual facts or listings. In the U.S. (unlike in Europe), there’s no sui generis database right, meaning substantial investment in gathering information doesn’t automatically create ownership rights.

This means competitors cannot copy your entire listing database wholesale, but they could independently compile the same factual information. This is the Bing argument. Microsoft Bing creates an independent compilation of the information from millions of listing websites and creates a new compilation. 

Critical Legal Limitations

Even with proper copyright ownership, several factors limit your practical control:

MLS Agreements: When you submit listings to an MLS, you typically grant broad licenses allowing syndication to numerous platforms. These agreements often include irrevocable rights that persist even after the listing expires. Review these agreements carefully as they may substantially limit your ability to control distribution. Generally, the broker provides a limited license to the MLS for MLS purposes and in return the MLS will protect the brokers rights by filing a copyright on the compilation.

As a broker, it is critical that you ask your MLS if they are filing the copyright. If not, the MLS may not be able to enforce those who violate the license agreement beyond turning off the feed.

Fair Use: Others may use portions of your copyrighted content for criticism, comment, news reporting, or transformative purposes without permission.

Independent Creation: Copyright doesn’t prevent others from independently photographing the same property or writing their own descriptions. Google does this with StreetView.

Factual Information: Remember, you can never own exclusive rights to factual information about a property, only to your creative expression of that information.

Practical Steps for Protection

To maximize your content rights within legal limitations:

1. Implement comprehensive agreements: Ensure every content creator—photographers, videographers, agents, copywriters—signs appropriate copyright transfers or work-for-hire agreements that comply with statutory requirements.
2. Document human creativity: When using AI tools, document human contributions to support copyright claims.
3. Understand your MLS agreement: Know exactly what rights you’re granting and whether you can negotiate more favorable terms.
4. Register valuable content: For particularly valuable photography or creative content, consider federal copyright registration, which provides additional legal remedies.
5. Mark your content: Use copyright notices (© 2025 [Brokerage Name]) to put others on notice of your claims. You can also go further by submitting your compilation to the copyright office on a quarterly basis. 
6. Broker Add/Edit – Brokers and franchises who understand the concept of data as an asset will use tools like Ocusell for listing add/edit and push their listings to the MLS. By creating the unique order of operations in compiling and organizing the data, you strengthen your claims and the claims by the MLS. If you only use the MLS, you may not have as strong of a copyright claim because they created the add/edit process and schema for listing input. 

While the framework for protecting listing content through copyright exists, it requires deliberate action and proper documentation. The failure to secure these rights doesn’t mean tech companies “stole” them. Rather, brokers often unknowingly gave them away through inadequate agreements or overly broad licenses.

Understanding these four areas of potential copyright protection, and their limitations, is essential for brokers seeking to maintain whatever control is possible in an increasingly connected digital ecosystem. Your creative content has value, but only if you take the legal steps necessary to protect it.

WAV Group can help. Reach out below so we can support you in putting these best practices into action and in educating your agents and staff. We can also review agreements through our business lens and work with your attorneys.

The post The Multi-Billion-Dollar Mistake: How Brokers Surrender Their Most Valuable Asset appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

Historically, brokers influenced the industry through trade organizations, most notably through NAR boards, MLSs, and state associations. Those bodies shape norms, advocate policy, and establish professional standards, but they do not enforce the law. Today, brokerage leaders are moving beyond these advisory roles into seats with true jurisdiction. State real estate commissions control licensing, investigations, audits, and disciplinary authority. This is not influence, it is enforcement power.

The timing of this shift is not coincidental. It is unfolding as the brokerage supervision model itself is under visible strain, particularly inside fast-scaling virtual brokerage structures. Traditional brokerages with active compliance departments report a growing imbalance. They are supervising their own agents thoroughly, while also absorbing downstream risk created by co-brokering with firms that maintain little visible supervision over their agents. In many transactions, traditional brokerages are effectively doing the file review work of both sides.

Even more concerning, an increasing number of agents cannot identify the name or contact information of their supervising broker. That failure is not procedural. It strikes at the core premise of real estate licensing. The agent works under the authority of a broker precisely because that broker is legally required to supervise the work. When that visibility disappears, the licensing framework itself weakens. 

This is where real estate commissions are now pivoting from reactive enforcement to proactive supervision verification. In several states, commissioners have begun calling agents directly at brokerages to ask a simple question: Who is your supervising broker? When an agent cannot answer, it triggers an immediate red flag. This is a structural shift. Regulators are no longer waiting for consumer complaints to surface supervision failures. They are testing whether supervision actually exists.

The presence of brokerage operators like Annie Hanna Cestra and J.B. Goodwin inside these commissions matters because they understand this problem at scale. They live in a world of file reviews, broker of record exposure, multi office accountability, and daily compliance risk. Their regulatory lens is not theoretical. It is operational. They experience unsupervised agents everyday in their business. They live through the problem that the real estate commission is intended to regulate.

Pennsylvania and Texas also sit at opposite ends of the market spectrum. Pennsylvania reflects legacy regulation and dense MLS environments. Texas represents hyper growth, rapid licensing turnover, and massive transaction velocity. When both ends of that spectrum converge around tighter broker supervision expectations, the implication is clear. This is becoming a national enforcement standard, not a regional experiment.

The industry should expect state commissions to increasingly act as proactive enforcers of brokerage supervision. That includes verifying broker visibility, chain of command clarity, and real accountability structures. Technology platforms alone will not satisfy this obligation. Human oversight remains central to the brokerage license.

The migration of broker leadership from trade boards into regulatory enforcement roles signals that supervision is no longer a background compliance function. It is becoming the next primary enforcement frontier. For brokerages, the message is direct. The era of absent supervision is closing, and operator led regulation will ramp up enforcement.

The post When Brokers Become Regulators: Why Supervision Is Becoming the Next Enforcement Frontier appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

In May of this year I met with 52 brokers representing over 20,000 agents through the Future of Real Estate (FORE) Group. During one of the sessions, I was paired with Marcus Green, a Keller Williams broker based in Utah. What followed was one of the most practical and impressive showcases of brokerage-level AI that I’ve seen to date.

Marcus and Shoney Ivens, CEO KW Westfield, aren’t talking about AI – they’re using it. And not in some abstract, gimmicky way. They’ve built a real system that improves operations, reduces costs, and scales knowledge across their organization. It’s all running on Notion, customized to their brokerage, and trained on their own content.

Their applications cover everything from recruiting and onboarding to legal compliance. One standout example: a “Legal AI” trained on state laws, MLS rules, association policies, and internal brokerage procedures. It now handles common agent questions that used to clog up staff time. That’s just one of many tools they’ve built in-house.

What is Tier 2 AI and why does it matter?

At WAV Group, we recently released a white paper called The Three Tiers of AI. Most brokerages are still operating at Tier 1 – individual experimentation. You’re paying $20-$30/month for ChatGPT or another tool and starting to understand what’s possible. That’s a good start.

Tier 2 is where it gets operational. This is what AI developers call RAG, or Retrieval-Augmented Generation. Instead of pulling answers from the open web, RAG models reference your documents – your playbooks, policies, workflows, and templates. It’s what Marcus and Shoney are doing with Notion. The AI pulls from a private library of your brokerage’s knowledge and delivers consistent, actionable responses to your team.

They’ve also built out a prompt library – templated questions and answers that cover everything from “how do I onboard a new agent?” to “what’s our listing process?” It’s like having a 24/7 training director who never forgets a detail.

Why brokers should care

This isn’t about chasing shiny tech. It’s about profitability, process, and positioning.

• Lower SaaS costs – Replace multiple point solutions with one AI that does more.
• Better onboarding – Deliver consistent training and support from day one.
• Stronger recruiting pitch – Show agents you’re leading the market on AI adoption.
• Operational excellence – Reduce the burden on staff, increase compliance, and make processes repeatable.

You don’t need a team of engineers to build this. If you’ve got your onboarding steps written down, your listing intake checklist, your brand standards – we can turn those into a working Tier 2 AI for your brokerage in a few days. No hype. Just real productivity gains.

Let’s get started

Watch the video. Then download The Three Tiers of AI white paper. It’s currently free, and it’ll give you a framework for how to approach this – whether you’re a small team or a national firm.

If you want help setting up your Tier 2 AI environment, call us. We’ll show you exactly how to do it.

The post Utah’s largest Keller Williams brokerage just shared how they’re using AI – and it’s working appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

The real estate industry just got its most significant technological catalyst in decades. Kore has achieved something that seemed impossible just months ago: complete interoperability between public blockchains like Ethereum and full regulatory compliance with U.S. securities laws. For the first time ever, investors can hold regulated securities tokens directly in standard crypto wallets while maintaining 100% compliance with SEC, FINRA, and other regulatory requirements.

This breakthrough represents far more than a technical achievement—it’s the missing piece that could finally unlock widespread cryptocurrency adoption in residential real estate transactions. With experts predicting tokenization could handle 20% of real estate deals by 2025, and over 94% of cryptocurrency users being millennials and Gen Z who are also major participants in the first-time homebuyer market, the timing couldn’t be more critical.

The Early Adopter Who Saw the Future

Real estate mogul Grant Cardone has been quietly positioning himself at the forefront of this transformation. Managing over $5 billion in real estate assets through Cardone Capital, Cardone has become one of the most vocal proponents of blockchain’s potential to revolutionize property transactions. “I am very excited about the potential of real estate tokenization to democratize access to Real Estate investing by allowing fractional ownership,” Cardone stated, emphasizing how this approach could give a broader range of people the chance to invest in real estate.

Cardone’s commitment to crypto real estate goes beyond mere advocacy. He recently listed a massive, luxurious property for sale on Propy’s blockchain-based real estate platform. The private property in Golden Beach, Florida, USA, has an asking price of $42,000,000, accepting Bitcoin payments and showcasing the practical application of cryptocurrency in high-value real estate transactions.

But Cardone’s most innovative move may be his hybrid investment strategy. Grant Cardone has introduced a new $88 million fund that mixes real estate and bitcoin. The property’s cash flow is used to buy even more bitcoin. This groundbreaking approach demonstrates how established real estate investors are integrating cryptocurrency into their core business models, not as a side venture, but as a fundamental strategy.

The Regulatory Hurdle That’s Been Holding Everything Back

Until now, one of the biggest obstacles preventing mainstream crypto adoption in real estate has been the regulatory compliance gap. The SEC’s 2025 guidance emphasizes that if token buyers expect profits based primarily on the efforts of a centralized team or promoter, the token is likely a security. This classification triggers extensive compliance requirements that have made seamless crypto real estate transactions nearly impossible.

However, he also acknowledged that this disruption may be unsettling for regulators and traditional real estate firms. Cardone has been particularly vocal about regulatory challenges, noting that the SEC is “dragging its feet” on providing clear frameworks for real estate tokenization.

The challenge has been particularly acute for real estate tokenization. Real estate tokenization market will surge from $3.5 billion in 2024 to $19.4 billion by 2033, with a remarkable 21% yearly growth. Yet despite this explosive growth potential, once the SEC determines a cryptocurrency or token is a security and falls under its regulatory purview, this has far-reaching implications. The issuer must then follow SEC regulations that come with extensive reporting and transparency requirements.

How KoreOracle Solves the Impossible Problem

Kore’s KoreOracle infrastructure represents a paradigm shift by acting as what they call a “compliance bridge.” Instead of forcing users into proprietary custodial systems or complex off-chain workarounds, KoreOracle enables real-time validation, transaction monitoring, and lifecycle enforcement for all tokenized securities directly on public blockchains.

This breakthrough directly addresses the regulatory concerns that have kept industry leaders like Cardone cautious. For someone managing billions in real estate assets, regulatory compliance isn’t optional—it’s existential. KoreOracle’s achievement means that for the first time, a homebuyer could potentially:

• Hold tokenized real estate securities in their standard MetaMask or Coinbase wallet
• Execute transactions on Ethereum while maintaining full SEC Transfer Agent compliance
• Trade on secondary markets under proper FINRA oversight
• Participate in Alternative Trading System (ATS) transactions seamlessly

The implications are staggering. Traditional real estate transactions involve multiple parties, paperwork, and prolonged waiting periods. With cryptocurrency: Payments can be settled instantly, reducing closing times from weeks to minutes.

Real Estate’s Trillion-Dollar Transformation

The real estate industry is already experiencing crypto adoption at unprecedented levels. By January 2025, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies surpassed $3.5 trillion, with Bitcoin hitting an all-time high of $109,100. More importantly, stablecoins now account for over 91% of daily market volume, providing the stability needed for large real estate transactions.

The demand is clearly there. Cryptocurrency transactions typically cost around 1% or less, providing a cost-effective alternative for buyers and sellers, compared to traditional payment methods that often involve fees ranging from 2-5% for international wire transfers. For a $500,000 home purchase, this represents savings of $10,000 to $20,000 in transaction costs alone.

Cardone’s recent actions demonstrate this demand in practice. Grant Cardone announced that his company plans to buy up to 3,000 more Bitcoin, further strengthening its crypto holdings. As of now, Cardone Capital’s Bitcoin holdings are valued at over $100 million, showing institutional-level commitment to cryptocurrency integration.

The Cardone Model: Cash Flow Meets Crypto

What makes Cardone’s approach particularly compelling is how it bridges traditional real estate investment with cryptocurrency innovation. “Nobody else has ever done this to scale. Nobody’s ever done this particular model,” Cardone told CoinDesk in an interview. “And the response from our investors is phenomenal.”

His strategy is elegantly simple: use real estate cash flow to systematically accumulate Bitcoin. Cardone plans to buy bitcoin in a price-agnostic way — meaning that he won’t be focused on buying dips, but will simply purchase bitcoin within 72 hours of the monthly distributions coming in. This approach provides crypto exposure without sacrificing the income-producing capabilities of real estate.

And his ambition is to roll out 10 other such projects before June, for a grand total investment of $1 billion. This scale of institutional adoption signals that crypto real estate integration is moving from experimental to mainstream.

The Regulatory Tailwinds Are Strengthening

The regulatory environment is becoming increasingly favorable for this transformation. The introduction of the new Crypto Task Force by SEC Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda is a welcome move. Under the leadership of Commissioner Hester Peirce, who took a pro-crypto stance even during the previous administration, the new task force represents a departure from the SEC’s previous “regulation-by-enforcement” strategy.

The task force aims to provide regulatory clarity while promoting investor protection and crypto innovation. This shift from enforcement-first to collaboration-first regulation creates the perfect environment for innovations like KoreOracle to flourish.

For established players like Cardone, this regulatory clarity is crucial. Commenting on the Propy listing, Cardone remarked that “we are all in on blockchain revolutionizing real estate. We are leveraging top-tier technology to make transactions seamless and unstoppable. This is the future of real estate,” he said.

What This Means for Homebuyers and Sellers

The practical implications of fully compliant crypto real estate transactions extend far beyond just faster payments:

For International Buyers: Cross-border transactions are seamless, avoiding currency exchange fees and delays. Crypto allows investors from different parts of the world to participate in real estate markets that were previously inaccessible.

For Liquidity: Traditionally, real estate is considered an illiquid asset. Crypto and tokenization change this dynamic by enabling investors to sell fractional shares of properties at any time.

For Accessibility: Real estate tokenization enables fractional ownership, meaning investors could own portions of multiple properties rather than being locked into single, large investments.

For Security: The transparency and tamper-proof nature of blockchain ensures secure, unalterable transaction records, crucial in real estate where large sums are involved.

The Network Effects Are Just Beginning

What makes Kore’s breakthrough particularly significant is its potential to create powerful network effects. As more real estate transactions become tokenized and compliant, the infrastructure becomes more valuable for everyone involved—buyers, sellers, brokers, lenders, and regulators.

Large financial institutions and real estate firms are beginning to explore blockchain technology, which could lead to increased mainstream adoption. With a fully compliant infrastructure now available, we can expect this exploration to accelerate dramatically.

The ripple effects could extend into related areas:

• Crypto-backed mortgages: Borrowers can use crypto assets as collateral to secure loans for property purchases. DeFi lending platforms offer lower interest rates, flexible terms, and fewer credit restrictions than traditional banks
• Smart contracts for escrow: Smart contracts automate escrow services, ensuring funds are released only when predefined conditions are met
• Blockchain-based title management: Governments and private entities are experimenting with blockchain-based land registries, reducing fraud and improving property title management

Learning from the Pioneer

Cardone’s early adoption provides valuable insights for what mainstream crypto real estate adoption might look like. His hybrid approach—maintaining traditional real estate income while systematically building crypto exposure—offers a template that other real estate investors and homeowners could follow.

“The place I’m at in my life, I can take this chance. I don’t need more cash flow,” Cardone said. “But if you’re 25 years old and you’re trying to get some cash flow for life, bitcoin is not a solution. It’s a bet, it’s a gamble, and you got to pay rent, you got to take care of your family, you got to pay your bills.

This perspective highlights the importance of KoreOracle’s compliance breakthrough. By making crypto real estate transactions fully regulatory compliant, it transforms cryptocurrency from a speculative bet into a legitimate financial tool that can be integrated into traditional investment strategies.

Challenges and Considerations

Despite this breakthrough, several challenges remain:

Market Education: Many property sellers still prefer fiat transactions due to familiarity and stability. Real estate professionals need education on blockchain and cryptocurrency to facilitate adoption.

Volatility Concerns: While stablecoins address much of this concern, price volatility remains a consideration for both buyers and sellers.

Regulatory Evolution: Cryptocurrency regulations vary significantly across countries, which can impact real estate transactions.

The Investment Thesis

For investors, real estate professionals, and technology companies, Kore’s achievement represents a watershed moment. The combination of regulatory compliance and technical capability creates what may be a narrow window of first-mover advantage.

Cardone’s success provides a proof of concept. The decision by Cardone Capital is consistent with a larger trend in institutional space where large companies are becoming more likely to use Bitcoin. Companies like MicroStrategy, Tesla, and Galaxy Digital are other leading companies that have taken major Bitcoin investments.

Cryptocurrency is set to revolutionize investment property purchases by increasing accessibility, efficiency, and liquidity. While challenges such as regulatory uncertainty and market volatility exist, the adoption of blockchain technology in real estate is inevitable.

Looking Forward: The New Reality of Real Estate

Kore’s breakthrough, combined with institutional adoption by leaders like Cardone, suggests we’re entering a new phase where the friction between innovation and regulation dissolves. Instead of crypto companies trying to work around regulations, or regulators trying to constrain innovation, we now have a model where both can coexist and reinforce each other.

“Blockchain transactions are a game-changer for residential and commercial real estate,” he said, noting that the technology can potentially disrupt the industry. Cardone’s prediction is becoming reality.

This could be the beginning of a fundamental shift in how Americans think about homeownership, investment, and financial sovereignty. When buying a home becomes as simple as a crypto wallet transaction, while maintaining full regulatory protection, we’ll likely see participation from demographics and geographies that were previously excluded from real estate investment.

The infrastructure is now in place. The regulatory clarity is emerging. The market demand is proven through early adopters like Cardone. What happens next will likely reshape not just real estate, but the broader relationship between traditional finance and decentralized technology.

As Cardone put it when listing his $42 million property on blockchain: “This is the future of real estate.” With KoreOracle making that future fully compliant, the transformation is no longer a question of if, but when.

WAV Group holds no financial interest in Kore, Grant Cardone entities, or related crypto assets. This analysis is based on publicly available information and should not be considered investment advice.

The post The Compliance Breakthrough That Could Revolutionize Crypto Home Sales appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

Wayne Gretzky didn’t become the greatest hockey player of all time by chasing the puck. He became legendary by anticipating where it was going next. Today’s real estate brokerages face a similar choice: chase traditional homebuyers in an increasingly competitive market, or position themselves where the next wave of opportunity is heading.

That opportunity? The massive, underserved home flipping and investor market that generated over $4.3 billion in gross profits in just the first quarter of 2025.

The Numbers Don’t Lie: A Market Hiding in Plain Sight

Fresh data from ATTOM reveals that 67,394 homes were flipped in Q1 2025 alone, representing 8.3% of all home sales. With typical investors paying $260,000 and selling for $325,000, this translates to $65,000 in gross profit per flip. Do the math: that’s $4.38 billion in gross flipping profits in three months.

Yet here’s the stunning reality: a comprehensive review of the top 20 real estate brokerage websites and portals reveals virtually zero content, tools, or services specifically designed for investors and flippers. Not one major brokerage has meaningfully differentiated itself to capture this lucrative segment.

This isn’t an oversight—it’s an opportunity.

Why Traditional Brokerage Marketing Misses the Mark

Home flippers and investors operate with completely different criteria than traditional homebuyers. While families focus on school districts, neighborhood amenities, and move-in readiness, investors analyze:

• Profit margins and ROI potential (currently averaging 25% returns before expenses)
• Renovation scope and costs (typically 20-33% of after-repair value)
• Market timing and flip duration (averaging 164 days from purchase to resale)
• Cash purchase capabilities (62.2% of flips are all-cash transactions)
• Geographic profit patterns (Midwest and Northeast showing highest margins)

When brokerages showcase granite countertops and “charming curb appeal,” they’re speaking a foreign language to investors who see dollar signs in distressed properties and undervalued neighborhoods.

The Smart Money is Moving—Are You?

The data reveals where sophisticated investors are already positioning themselves. They’re concentrating in specific markets where the numbers make sense:

High-Activity Markets: Atlanta leads with flips comprising 15.9% of all sales, followed by Memphis (14.7%) and Birmingham (12.8%). These aren’t random choices—they’re calculated plays based on favorable economics.

High-Profit Regions: The Midwest and Northeast dominate profitability, with Buffalo delivering 102.1% ROI and Pittsburgh at 100.4%. Meanwhile, expensive markets like Austin (1% ROI) and Dallas (3.7% ROI) are seeing investors pull back.

Cash-Heavy Transactions: In markets like Rockford, IL and Toledo, OH, over 80% of flips are cash purchases, indicating serious, well-capitalized players.

The puck is moving toward markets with strong fundamentals, reasonable acquisition costs, and proven profit potential. Smart brokerages should be skating there too.

First-Mover Advantage: The Window is Open

While profit margins have compressed from the pandemic highs of 48.8% to today’s 25%, the market remains robust and active. More importantly, the current market conditions are creating an inflection point:

• Rising competition means investors need better market intelligence and faster deal flow
• Compressed margins require more sophisticated analysis and local expertise
• Market uncertainty creates demand for trusted advisors who understand investment fundamentals
• Cash dominance means faster closings and more predictable transactions for prepared brokerages

Building Your Investor-Focused Practice

Forward-thinking brokerages can capture this market by repositioning their services around investor needs:

Specialized Marketing Materials: Develop property presentations that highlight renovation potential, comparable sales analysis, and neighborhood investment trends rather than lifestyle features.

Investment-Focused Tools: Offer ROI calculators, renovation cost estimators, and market timing analysis. Partner with contractors, hard money lenders, and property management companies.

Geographic Expertise: Become the go-to expert in high-opportunity zip codes. Track distressed properties, upcoming developments, and neighborhood transition patterns.

Streamlined Processes: Build systems for rapid property evaluation, cash transaction processing, and investor portfolio management. Time is money for flippers working on 164-day cycles.

Data-Driven Insights: Leverage market analytics to identify emerging opportunities before they become obvious to everyone else.

The Bottom Line

Every quarter, billions of dollars flow through the home flipping market. Every month, thousands of investors make purchase and sale decisions. Every day, properties are evaluated, acquired, renovated, and resold.

Yet the vast majority of brokerages are competing for the same traditional homebuyer while ignoring this massive parallel market. It’s like having an entire lane of the highway to yourself while everyone else sits in traffic.

The data shows where the market is heading. The question isn’t whether the home flipping and investor segment represents a massive opportunity—it’s whether your brokerage will be positioned to capture it.

As Gretzky understood, success doesn’t come from following the crowd. It comes from anticipating where the action will be next and getting there first.

The puck is moving toward specialized, investor-focused real estate services. Smart brokerages are already lacing up their skates. Contact us below to be sure your brokerage is well-prepared!

The post Skating to Where the Puck is Going: Why Smart Brokerages Should Target the $5.5 Billion Home Flipping Market appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

How emotion, not economics, has shaped the real estate industry’s biggest disruptions

The quote “The only thing more powerful than money is hate” has been widely shared online and is often attributed—though never definitively—to fantasy author Terry Goodkind.

Regardless of its exact origin, the insight rings true, especially in industries where change is met with more than skepticism. In real estate, that change is often met with contempt.

Hate, in this context, isn’t just disagreement. It’s emotional resistance. It’s public trash talk, private retaliation, and backroom strategy sessions designed not just to win—but to destroy. And ironically, that emotional fuel has helped some of the most transformative real estate brands break through.

Zillow: the industry’s favorite villain

No company has attracted more hatred in modern real estate than Zillow. When it launched in 2006 with the Zestimate, brokers and agents erupted. The company was accused of misleading consumers, devaluing professional expertise, and undermining broker control. Never mind that the Zestimate drove massive consumer engagement or that Zillow wasn’t doing anything brokers weren’t already doing in print ads. The industry hated it – viscerally.

That hatred didn’t go away when Zillow launched Premier Agent. If anything, it intensified. MLS execs took shots in closed-door meetings. Broker associations warned members against using the platform. Conferences were full of anti-Zillow sentiment, often louder than actual strategy.

And yet, while many incumbents kept hating, Zillow kept scaling. It leveraged consumer attention, built partnerships, went public, and became the most recognized brand in real estate. The hate didn’t stop it—it probably made it stronger.

Redfin: blacklisted before it had a chance

When Redfin launched with salaried agents and a tech-first consumer model, traditional brokers didn’t just roll their eyes. They blocked access. Redfin agents were denied entry to broker open houses. They were ignored or attacked in professional circles. In some cases, they were told to leave industry events. The resistance wasn’t strategic. It was emotional.

This wasn’t about commission splits. This was about defending turf. And that defensive hate helped fuel Redfin’s rise. It gave the company a clear enemy. It clarified its message. And it validated to consumers that Redfin really was different.

Compass: money couldn’t silence the outrage

When Compass started writing large checks to lure top-producing agents, established firms erupted. Compass was called a “poacher,” “a tech pretender,” even “a threat to the soul of real estate.” Leaders who had quietly recruited competitors for decades suddenly labeled the practice unethical when Compass did it with more money.

But the pushback wasn’t about the money. It was about the nerve. Compass challenged the norms of recruitment, branding, and culture. And the hatred it attracted—public and private—was proof it had hit a nerve.

eXp: ridiculed, then replicated

When eXp introduced its cloud-based, no-office model with agent revenue share, critics didn’t just doubt it—they mocked it. Industry forums called it a pyramid scheme. Big brands questioned its legitimacy. Yet over time, eXp scaled into one of the fastest-growing brokerages in the world. And now, many of the same companies that once laughed are quietly testing similar models.

Hate travels faster than a business plan

This pattern plays out over and over again: new company launches, incumbents ridicule or resist, and the emotion becomes the story. Hate has a way of rallying insiders while accidentally spotlighting the outsider. It creates tension—and tension creates attention. If money builds the machine, hate supercharges the engine.

Why the quote matters

Hate is a powerful market signal. When established players stop ignoring you and start actively fighting you, you’re no longer a theory—you’re a threat. While money drives growth, hate proves relevance.

That’s why this quote resonates so deeply in real estate. It reminds us that emotion often drives more decisions than strategy. And that if your brand has made people uncomfortable—or even angry—you might be doing something right.

Mind your own business

My dad, Howard Lund, took a lot of criticism when he invented the aluminum fishing boat in a world of wood boats. He didn’t care. The media attention was free advertising. I discussed this with a client yesterday. Brokers would be better off minding their own business rather than standing on a pulpit about a competitor. 

Don’t hate the MLS

The Multiple Listing Service in America, born out of the business meetings among members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORSⓇ, is the greatest accomplishment in global real estate. It’s a trading platform that provides a neutral market for home buyers and sellers who are represented by licensed real estate professionals. It’s not perfect, and there are plenty of MLSs that are too large or too small to truly serve. I am not sure what size of MLS is just right – but local market satisfaction is a benchmark that tells the story.

The post The only thing more powerful than money is hate appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

Here are some things agents will want to know about to better understand the differences in the generations they serve:

Gen X makes the most and buys the most expensive homes
Buyers aged 49 to 58 now top the income charts, with a median household income of $126,900. That puts them ahead of every other generation, plus they’re using their financial advantage to purchase homes with a median price of $380,000, the highest among all age groups.

Millennials still buy the most homes
Younger Millennials (25–33) and older Millennials (34–43) together make up 38% of all homebuyers. They remain the largest generational group purchasing homes, continuing a trend that began in 2014.

Gen Z quietly enters the market
They may be just getting started, but the Gen Z buyers (18–24) market accounts for 3% of all homebuyers. This generation is mostly single and buying their first home. With a median age of 21 and a median income of $71,200, they’re also the most diverse generation of buyers.

Boomers dominate the seller side
Older Boomers (69–77) and younger Boomers (59–68) make up 45% of all sellers: 45 PERCENT! But that’s really not a surprise, as they have the longest tenure in homes at an average of 19 years before deciding to sell.

First-time buyers bounce back
First-time buyers held a meager 26% market share last year but that’s surged back to 32%. While it’s a positive trend, it still falls short of the 38% historical average.

Mom and dad help out
Nearly one in four first-time buyers received a gift or loan from family or friends for their down payment. That figure jumps to 32% for Gen Z buyers. Family help is a required bridge to homeownership.

Longer-distant moves are becoming the norm
Buyers are moving 20 miles from their previous home: double the distance reported in 2021. Gen Z is moving the farthest: a median of 35 miles.

Fewer children at home
Only 28% of buyers had children under 18 living at home, down from 58% in 1985. It’s a long-term trend that will impact demand for family-style homes and school-focused communities.

Most buyers still want help from a real estate pro
Despite the internet and now potentially AI real estate agents, about 9 in 10 buyers used a real estate agent or broker. And it’s not just Boomers: 88% of Millennials and 90% of Gen Z tap a pro to navigate the process.

Why this data is important to agents
This must-read annual report is a treasure chest to help agents create and refine their sales strategies and marketing plans. It tells us how the real estate market is evolving, why people move, and why they stay in the same place. Most importantly, it puts a spotlight on the different reasons for each generation.

Gen X may have the means. Millennials are still making the most moves. And Gen Z is finding a way in, even if it’s with a little help from family.

For agents, this report helps connect the dots between the market and the people. Take time to study these shifts and you’ll better understand not just the how, but the why behind the motivations of buyers and sellers.

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“We built our offices for Easter Sunday”

A quote that I will never forget which came from former HomeServices CEO, Ron Peltier – “We built our offices for Easter Sunday.” The quote was from a conversation we had at a Realty Alliance meeting when the crippling housing foreclosure economy collapsed brokerage operating profits. The quote really stuck with me.

This quote has evolved into a broader implication for me today. It applies to every expense of the business. In a recent WAV Group 2025 M&A Outlook webinar with Howard Hanna and Compass, we talked a fair amount about brokerage valuations. It’s commonly understood that brokerage buyers pay a multiple of profits. It’s more complicated than that, but in general, firms are trading for 3x to 9x profit. In context, expenses cost you between $3 and $9 dollars for every dollar spent… If you are selling – keep this context in mind.

Today’s brokerage is aggressively chasing technology. At times, it’s a strategy to recruit and retain agents. It also delivers system improvements and automation which should sell more real estate, more effortlessly. In today’s market, brokerages need to stay curious about tools that will deliver these benefits. For example, many brokers who were competing against Compass Concierge launched HouseAmp (normally whitelabeled under their own product name). Similarly, although many brokerage firms had already launched Rayse, more brokers are jumping on that platform because of Compass One. 

Monitor Outcomes

When you see a leading competitor launch something new, pay attention and determine if they’ve gained an advantage. Tech vendors give demos to sell benefits. It’s normal for vendors to provide testimonials of existing customers. Be sure to call them – but do more than that. If possible, look into the MLS and see what happened to the firm’s agent count and transaction volume. Is the technology living up to the vendor’s promise of benefits? Better yet, if the broker is not in your market and you cannot see their agent count and transaction data, find a few of their agents that seem to be doing transactions and call them. They will absolutely tell you the truth. 

For more than two decades, WAV Group has been a great partner to help brokers make the best possible decisions to improve the success of their business. We review the firm holistically – operations, agent satisfaction, technology satisfaction, back office audits, recruiting efforts, and more. These reviews inspire strategy. But the keynote is always execution, something we can also help with. Feel free to reach out!

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The key to success with advertising online for clients using Ylopo is lead conversion. Some Ylopo clients have ad spends and it can be over $250,000 per month. If you are investing that much in advertising, you better have a great CRM to convert leads. 

But CRM can only take you so far. The truth is that humans convert leads. And to have a high rate of conversion, those humans need to be managed and trained. This is a key area where CRMs fail. Improving human performance became a key focus of Ylopo.

Obviously for Ylopo, the higher percentage of leads that convert, the more likely real estate industry professionals are to use their service. If Ylopo finds a great lead (but nobody contacts that lead or follows up), then the cost of generating the lead is burned money. The human is the problem.

To solve the human problem of converting sales leads, Ylopo developed two tools: MaverickRE and Sales Coach. Interestingly enough, they combine machine learning and generative artificial intelligence to measure human performance and improve it. MaverickRE allows the team leader – or the broker – to see their lead performance and manage it. It is very feature rich, but the top line is that it scores leads, listens to agent calls with consumers, grades the agent, uses a digital assistant to follow up with the consumer by text messages and voice calls, hot connects consumers to an agent when appropriate, tracks agent lead conversions, and so much more. Basically, MaverickRE is a machine driven sales manager. (They should rename it to “sales manager” to align with the product name Sales Coach).

MaverickRE can tell you who your best agents are, and do a lot of the work that agents fail to do (machines follow up with calls and text messages) over the 360 day lead nurturing timeline. Yes, it takes over a year to convert the average lead. This has not changed.

So how do you fix agents to have better calls with consumers to convert leads? You coach them!

The newest product by Ylopo is Sales Coach. This is an AI driven product where a digital person talks to the agent and has typical calls that agents have with leads. Ylopo built this intelligence using thousands of recorded calls between agents and consumers to train the AI. The results are outstanding. Agents double the effectiveness of their call scores in FIVE calls! In effect, this doubles the lead generation conversion rates when agents practice client phone calls by interacting with the sales coach. You can purchase a sales coach without purchasing advertising or MaverickRE. I think that this is a great product for enterprise brokers or even MLSs to offer to agents. 

In the above video, I connected with Juefeng Ge at Ylopo on a recorded Zoom for a quick overview. It’s a 30 min overview for both products – but if you speed up the playback, you can easily watch in 15 minutes. Be sure to slow down during the AI parts – you will be amazed at how good this AI is.

Click here for more information.

*Most Ylopo advertising clients use Follow Up Boss for CRM. Follow Up Boss was acquired by Zillow for $400 million in cash and $100 million earn-out – so $500 million. Follow Up Boss was/is super popular in this cohort of top agents, teams, or brokers who spend a bunch on advertising.

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Real AI is a 100% human-created weekly roundup of all things AI in real estate and emerging AI innovations in other sectors likely to impact real estate, posting weekly.

Crazy about Canva

This is a brief story about the best $10 a month a real estate agent can spend on any marketing tool.

Canva was the online design tool that teachers and some real estate agents were raving about back in 2015. For teachers, their accounts were free. It was all WYSIWYG for everyone else – almost the opposite of the skills you needed to use Adobe design tools.

While art teachers may have loathed Canva at the time because it was far inferior to Adobe, for most other users back then, Canva was a lifesaver: it allowed you to create a smart-looking flyer or newsletter in minutes without artistic skills.

Registering for a Canva account that fall to see what the fuss was all about was largely unimpressive for this long-time Adobe user. Sure, it was packed with many templates, but its capabilities were highly limited.

But a few years ago, Canva began to evolve rapidly. Its popularity began to soar as it continued to add new features and capabilities. Last year, real estate’s social media guru Katie Lance chronicled the value of Canva in several posts, along with the emergence of ChatGPT as a go-to agent tool.

Katie was an early adopter of using Canva for social media posts, as Real Estate Coach Bernice Ross chronicled in a 2014 issue of her RealClues (#621) newsletter, touting its free options.

Today’s Canva keeps getting better and better, thanks to AI. It now reports 185 million active users and generates over $2 billion in annual income. Its venture into Enterprise solutions has added 95 million users in the last 18 months.

What sets Canva apart? It has been one of the earliest adopters of AI for design assistance. More importantly, it just announced an AI-first approach to its design platform.

Canva is made for AI, and AI was made for Canva. The expansion this week of its AI-powered Magic Studio is stunning. We don’t have enough space to cover all the design benefits agents can tap into, but the breadth and scope are incredible.

You can use Magic Design, which leverages AI to help you craft presentations, videos, and social posts. When resizing a photo, click a button in Resize & Magic Switch, and you are done without quality degradation. Want to try your hand at turning text into images or videos? Use Magic Media.

Remove a background, expand an image width or length without cutting and pasting, instantly grab an item in an image and move it around or resize that single image, change the color of the baseball cap someone is wearing without impacting the shadows or details, animate a still image – you get the picture? With AI, you can do more with Canva than ever before and easier than you ever imagined.

The apps are built into your workflow, making creating things like an Instagram Reel video with graphics, titles, and full-motion video clips placed inside that oval image achievable by nearly anyone.

It also has solved one of our biggest challenges. High-resolution, high-quality photos are essential companions to a news release. We have taught our clients this. However, when they have a partnership announcement, the partners need high-resolution photos but web images, or there’s not enough time to track down the better photo. But with this AI Photo Enhancer in Canva, we can instantly upscale a web image like this:

Upgrading to Canva Pro after using it on and off for nearly a decade may be the best $10 a month I have ever invested in a single tech tool. We use it in our offices every day, and we keep discovering more we can do, as cobwebs are starting to form on Photoshop, which has also added a ton of AI tools but, in this user’s view, remains eons behind Canva in user experience. (-Kevin)

AI Newsbytes

Future of Everything: The Wall Street Journal held its Future of Everything Festival this week, packed with AI discussions and experts. Astro Teller, cofounder and CEO of research lab X, owned by Alphabet (Google), shared that computers can plan, write, and eventually dream or feel love (gulp), which may be unsettling. “But the flip side of that coin is, we’re gonna learn much more about the world.”

On the flip side of this coin was a more cautious Lina Khan, Federal Trade Commission Chair, who warned that artificial intelligence models that train on data from news websites, entertainment media, and social media services may be violating antitrust laws. The WSJ reports that using an artist’s or creator’s data to produce AI products that replicate their likeness could be “an unfair method of competition,” she said.

Computerworld’s headline calls Gemini “the new Google+”: Under the heading of “News Analysis,” Computerworld takes Google to task itself with its announced strategy to place Gemini everywhere. The biggest issue remains the delivery of “reliable and high quality answers,” guesstimating about a 30% error rate, noting, “But the worst part is that when they can’t complete a task confidently, they don’t give you an error or tell you they’re unable to finish. They make something up and serve you incorrect information…”

Moreover, it reports – as does Search Engine Land – the take of an ex-Google UX design veteran posting on LinkedIn that the drive for AI at Google is myopic and “is NOT something driven by a user need. It is a stone cold panic that they are getting left behind.” It concludes with something worth contemplating:

“Google and the other companies chasing this AI fantasy are desperate to have us see these systems as a life-changing leap forward, but it’s critically important for us to remain aware of the very real minuses that come with this latest shiny plus.” Amen.

Like an elephant, AI will never forget: Axios details Microsoft’s latest AI pitch with Copilot + PCs  – giving Windows 11 computers total recall. If you viewed something in the past, your PC’s new photographic memory can find it, even if you don’t remember where you saw it.

This new AI-powered “Recall” feature, Microsoft consumer marketing chief Yusuf Mehdi told Axios, uses a variety of small language models running in combination, locally, on the PC itself, versus most others that run in the cloud.

Axios reported that Mehdi said, “Anything you’ve ever seen or done, you’ll now more or less be able to find.” (-Kevin)

AI Fast Facts

1. Nearly 1 in 3 (30%) business owners expect AI to generate website copy for their company – AI PRM
2. 74% of consumers surveyed are concerned about AI being used to create deceptive political ads – NITRE
3. Nearly 25% of business owners worry about AI negatively affecting website traffic – Forbes
4. More than half (52%) of individuals in high-income jobs said they are familiar with AI – PWC
5. Only 35% of parents surveyed have discussed AI usage with their kids – AI PRM

Source: National University (-Korey)

AI Headlines

Zillow’s new AI tool aims to promote equality in housing | 5/21/24 HousingWire
The Fair Housing Classifier hopes to provide a chatbot that’s fair housing compliant.

(Brokerage) firms push AI announcements as Q1 losses abound | 5/17/24 The Real Deal
Brokerages are investing in AI to make up for their lost earnings.

Learning how to use AI could boost your pay by 25%, study finds | 5/21/24 CNN
It pays more today to know how to use AI.

3 Major Mistakes Companies Are Making With AI That Is Limiting Their ROI | 5/22/24 Entrepreneur
Many companies are viewing AI as a tool rather than how it can operate in a humanlike capacity.

Amazon to launch new AI-powered, conversational Alexa with monthly subscription fee: report | 5/22/24 New York Post
Amazon is doubling down on its AI support for Alexa, for a price.

 (-Korey)

AI Quote of the Week

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Content suggestions welcomed: email korey@wavgroup.com.

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Homeownership is not easy. There are about 150 systems in a home that need maintenance – ranging from emergency repairs for plumbing, to service items like cleaning out the dryer vent. Milestones organizes all of that help, and their professionals deliver recommendations and advice. Consumers have access to a library of instructional material if they want to do the maintenance themselves, or they can order a service provider to do it for them. Savvy homeowners know that their real estate agent is the best resource for suggesting high quality contractors to help them with home maintenance; they want their agent’s recommendation, not Angie’s. Milestones delivers that and clearly the adoption is taking off.

See below for the full press release.

Milestones Drives Strong Momentum with 513% Increase of Consumers on Platform

AUSTIN, Tex. – Jan. 22, 2024 – Milestones, a leading provider of innovative solutions for homeowner engagement in the real estate and mortgage industries, recently celebrated a phenomenal 513% surge in new consumers on its platform within just one month. This significant growth is attributed to Milestones’ recent strides in product advancements and strategic partnerships, purposefully designed to enable companies in the real estate and mortgage sectors to build closer relationships with consumers over the entire home ownership lifecycle and meet them where they are in the dynamic journey of homeownership.

Tailor-made for homeowners, whether they are buying, selling, moving, or owning, Milestones hubs serve as a centralized place to help simplify homeownership, offering access to essential documents, home service providers, home improvement suggestions, timely and seasonal home maintenance tasks and reminders, wealth-building insights, and more. With a white-label approach, Milestones assists real estate brokerages, mortgage lenders, title companies, home warranty providers, and insurance companies in being actively involved and guiding their customer’s journeys, fostering continuous engagement for repeat business and referrals, as well as  driving ancillary products and services to boost revenue. 

Dustin Gray, CEO of Milestones, expressed his enthusiasm about the progress they are making in homeowner engagement initiatives, stating, “This past year has been incredibly dynamic in the tech sector, laying the groundwork for future innovations. Leading the charge in homeownership, Milestones is looking forward to forging ahead on this journey in collaboration with our customers, unveiling new products in the near future.”

In 2023, Milestones launched Home Improvements and Virtual Designer, powered by AI, to deliver hyper-relevant tools to homeowners to help achieve their highest return on investment. The company also implemented enhanced integrations to help streamline operations for partners while ensuring a unified consumer experience. Since then, Milestones experienced a 513% increase in new consumers on the platform, driven in part by the strategic expansion of top-producing real estate teams and regional mortgage lenders that led to a 41% increase in customer growth.

“These recent offerings represent the beginning of increased demand for those launching Milestones to be first to market to get homeowners on our branded solution. This early reaction to consumers on the platform is bringing praise for what’s to come, setting new standards for consumer engagement and industry innovation,” said Ashley Terrell-Kayiran, Chief Revenue Officer of Milestones.

Learn more about Milestones and talk to Sales here. 

About Milestones

Milestones provides personalized home management portals, referred to as “hubs,” that incorporate a variety of tools and resources to assist homeowners throughout the entire homeownership journey, and that are uniquely branded to professionals in the real estate landscape. Whether it’s buying, selling, moving, or owning a home, homeowners have access to a wide array of home service providers, insights into home value, and much more. Our solution simplifies the complexities of homeownership, while empowering real estate professionals to stay engaged, educate, and add value for their clients to foster long-term relationships.

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Real AI is a 100% human-created weekly roundup of all things AI in real estate and emerging AI innovations in other sectors likely to impact real estate, posting a new edition every Friday.

The AI free-for-all

2024 is signaling a messy year ahead for AI. Yesterday, Apple and Disney were told by the US Securities and Exchange Commission that they could not avoid shareholder votes calling for reports on their use of AI.

The creators of Siri and Mickey were asked to disclose how the companies are using AI in their business operations. Apple was explicitly asked to reveal “any ethical guidelines that the company has adopted” related to the use of AI, Reuters reported.

Likewise, questions for Disney centered on what role its board plays in overseeing AI usage.

Seems pretty straightforward, right? Not so fast. Disney and Apple argued that such disclosures were “ordinary business operations,” and they don’t need to disclose, just like the firm’s choice of which technology they use.

The SEC disagreed, saying the requested disclosures “transcends ordinary business matters.”

Who is behind the requests looking for AI use and abuse? The AFL-CIO says they are just asking these giants to disclose like Microsoft already does.

Adding to this latest news is the lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement that comes from the New York Times, the recently settled Hollywood strikes, new AI laws making their way through state legislatures (like California) and Congress, and the AI Bill of Rights proposed by The White House. It’s a bit of an AI free-for-all out there.

How do these things impact real estate? AI usage is already remarkably high in our industry and leading the most. Significant potential impacts of AI are essential to follow – and track.

AI gets its own keyboard key

Are you a Windows user? Have we got a new key for you! Microsoft has been over the moon about its Copilot technology. Leaked strategically before CES (Consumer Electronics Show) next week in Vegas, Microsoft is touting it as the first change to its keyboard in three decades.

First, what is Copilot? It’s a shortcut to connect you with Generative AI via Microsoft’s Office 365 Suite, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It also introduces “Business Chat” as somewhat of a virtual assistant. As Microsoft writes on its blog:

“Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 in two ways. It works alongside you, embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more — to unleash creativity, unlock productivity and uplevel skills. Today, we’re also announcing an entirely new experience: Business Chat. Business Chat works across the LLM, the Microsoft 365 apps, and your data — your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings and contacts — to do things you’ve never been able to do before. You can give it natural language prompts like “Tell my team how we updated the product strategy,” and it will generate a status update based on the morning’s meetings, emails and chat threads.”

The new AI “key” to access Copilot replaces the menu/application key, right next to the right-hand alt key on most keyboards. Press it, and it launches Copilot, which is built into Windows 11. It provides a chat window prompt for questions or requested actions.

For now, we understand that Mac users have access to Copilot via Teams or the new Outlook for Mac. However, we’re pretty sure Mac users will not flock back to Outlook (at least those of us who remember the horror of that email program; once you go Mac, you don’t go back).

AI Five Fast Facts

1. A McKinsey survey found that 63% of companies experienced increased revenue after adopting AI into their systems.
2. 35% of Americans believe that AI makes their lives easier, says a study by YouGov and Statista.
3. Pew Research Center reported while more than half (57%) of adults in the United States have heard of ChatGPT, only 14% have tried it.
4. Top 3 industries that adopted Generative AI in the workplace: Marketing and Advertising (37%), Technology (35%), and Consulting (30%), reports Statista.
5. Statista projects the market size for AI-driven robots will reach $77.7 billion by 2030.

Source: The Blogging Wizard

AI Headlines Take 5

Get Ready for a ‘Tsunami’ of AI at CES | 12/29/23 Wired
Generative AI shows no signs of quieting down in 2024.

Real estate industry insiders dish about the upcoming year — good and bad | 12/31/23 Business Observer
Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Togal.AI, discusses how AI will impact the construction industry.

Rules Of The AI Road For 2024 | 1/4/24 Forbes
With AI Technology continuously evolving, it’s vital to understand the underlying rules as things change.

How technology and artificial intelligence are bolstering the battle against wildfires | 1/3/24 Reuters
Pano AI is one of the new “firetech” startups being used to make it easier to contain wildfires.

Increase Your Creativity with Artificial Intelligence | 12/27/23 Psychology Today
Learn more about the various ways AI can amplify your innovativeness.

Quote of the week

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Content suggestions welcomed: email korey@wavgroup.com.

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