AI for real estate agents: how 1 team uses it

Most agents miss calls. Not because they don't care, but because they're in a showing, at dinner, or asleep. AI for real estate agents fixes that problem first, and it's the part of the job where AI pays off fastest.

AI for real estate agents works best on speed tasks: answering missed calls, following up with leads, and writing call scripts. Mitch Stein, a team leader at Stein Team Realty (Keller Williams) in Claremont, California, replaced 3 inside sales associates with 1 AI voice agent. According to the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Technology Survey, 68% of Realtors have used AI in their business.

Below, you'll see how Mitch's team sets up its AI agent, how a new agent can use free AI tools to prospect this week, where AI falls flat, and the legal lines to respect.

What does AI for real estate agents look like right now?

AI for real estate agents in 2026 mostly means writing help, with a smaller group of teams using AI to answer calls and follow up with leads. According to the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Technology Survey (published September 2025), 20% of Realtors use AI daily, 22% use it weekly, and 32% haven't used it at all.

The same survey found ChatGPT is the most popular tool at 58%, followed by Google Gemini at 20% and Microsoft Copilot at 15%. The most common task is writing content like listing descriptions, which 46% of agents use AI for.

Mitch Stein is further along than most. Mitch got his license through US Realty Training at age 43, after careers in construction, entertainment, and restaurants. Today he runs his own team and says no part of his business goes without AI.

His reason: speed decides who gets the client. "They've already had the thought," Mitch says, "and you happen to be in front of them while they're having it." AI keeps his team in front of people 24 hours a day.

How does an AI agent answer real estate calls?

An AI voice agent answers any call the team misses, any time of day, and passes the caller to a human when needed. An AI voice agent is software that talks on the phone in a natural-sounding voice, answers questions, and logs what the caller said.

Here's how Mitch Stein's team sets it up:

That means a lead calling at 2 a.m. on a Sunday still gets help, and every answer gets reported back to the team. Tanner even tells jokes. When an open-house visitor asked if she'd have to move in with him, Tanner said his couch was kind of lumpy, but they'd find her a nice place.

Tanner isn't perfect. Mitch says Tanner is right about 98% of the time, so he checks facts before anything goes out. Some agents think Tanner is "too nice" to close. That's fine with Mitch. Tanner's job is to start conversations, not finish them.

Watch Mitch walk through how Tanner works in our full interview.

Can an AI agent replace an inside sales associate?

An AI agent can replace the calling and follow-up work of an inside sales associate, but it can't replace the agent who closes the deal. An inside sales associate (ISA) is a team member whose job is to call leads, follow up, and set appointments for agents.

Mitch Stein's team used to pay 3 ISAs based in the Philippines to cold call and follow up on open-house leads. The team replaced all 3 with Tanner.

Scale is where the difference shows. Mitch's database has about 21,000 contacts. When his team hosted free family photos in Pomona, California, nobody could personally invite 21,000 people. Mitch says Tanner can call that whole list in about 6 hours and handle RSVPs along the way.

Is it worth it for a brand-new agent? Probably not yet. An AI calling system makes sense once your database is too big to follow up by hand. With 300 contacts in your phone, call them yourself.

How can new agents use AI to call their sphere of influence?

New agents can use free tools like ChatGPT or Claude to write a call script for each person in their phone, then make the calls themselves. A sphere of influence is the group of people who already know you: friends, family, past coworkers, and old customers. Our guide to working your sphere of influence covers the full strategy.

Mitch Stein has trained more than 500 new agents in person. He says the biggest fear he sees is the awkward first call. "How do I tell them? I don't want to bug them."

His fix takes about 2 minutes:

Mitch's rule of thumb for how often to call: hold a two-way conversation with every contact once a quarter. He says he's never trained an agent with fewer than 300 contacts in their phone. In his experience, agents who call 300 people 4 times a year can build a six-figure business. That's his coaching benchmark from his own team, not a guarantee, and results depend on your market and follow-through.

One thing Mitch won't hand to AI: the call itself. "AI still doesn't think," he says. "It doesn't know that you and I have talked about having grandchildren." He also doesn't want past clients to feel they've been turned over to a robot.

What can't AI do for a real estate agent?

AI can't read a neighborhood, interpret what the numbers mean for one specific house, comfort a nervous client, or negotiate with another agent. Those gaps are why Mitch Stein says agents still have the edge.

Take pricing. A buyer can ask AI what to offer, and AI will lean on online estimates. But AI doesn't know the house sits on a cul-de-sac that buyers pay more for. It doesn't know a single-story home in that area sells at a premium over a three-story. "Just because you have the facts doesn't mean you know how to interpret them," Mitch says.

We call the line between the two jobs the USRT AI Split: let AI handle speed and volume, and keep judgment and relationships for yourself. Here's how it breaks down, based on how Mitch's team works:

In the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Technology Survey, 46% of Realtors said AI had no noticeable impact on their business. AI is a helper, not the business.

Will AI replace real estate agents?

AI will not replace real estate agents anytime soon, because buying or selling a home is an emotional decision that people want a trusted human to guide. The common belief that AI will wipe out agents gets the job wrong. Agents don't only move information. They read people.

Mitch Stein points to what he calls the D's of real estate: death, diapers (a new baby), degrees, distress, diamonds (marriage), divorce, and deployment. These life events push people to buy or sell in any market, and almost all of them carry heavy emotions. Some of Mitch's clients have already done 3 deals with him in under 8 years. They came back because of how he made them feel, not because he answered faster than a chatbot.

For a deeper look at which tasks AI is likely to take over, read our breakdown of whether AI will take over real estate jobs.

Is it legal to use AI to call or text real estate leads?

Using AI to call or text leads is legal only when you follow federal consent rules and disclose that people are talking to a bot. On February 8, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that calls using AI-generated voices count as "artificial or prerecorded voice" calls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. That means you generally need the person's prior consent before an AI voice calls them.

The Federal Communications Commission ruling also means AI calls must identify who is calling and give a way to opt out. Anyone who opts out must go on your do-not-call list.

States add their own rules. California law (Business and Professions Code Section 17941) makes it unlawful to use a bot online to mislead someone into thinking they're talking to a human in order to sell them something, unless the bot clearly discloses that it's a bot. That's why Mitch Stein's AI agent tells callers up front that it isn't a live person.

Before you turn on any AI calling or texting tool, check with your broker about consent, disclosure, and do-not-call lists. This section is general information, not legal advice.

The takeaway

AI is best at the parts of real estate that reward speed. The parts that reward trust, judgment, and local knowledge still belong to you. Start small. This week, ask an AI tool for a script for 1 person in your phone, and make the call.

Put your saved time into investor clients

Once AI handles your missed calls and follow-up, spend the time you get back on clients worth more per deal. Mitch Stein's first big magazine-farming check came from a triplex sale. Our Certified Investor Agent Specialist (CIAS) course teaches licensed agents to analyze deals, talk cap rate and cash flow, and win investor clients. Start the CIAS 3-day free trial.