2025 Introduced the Chaos
Will 2026 Bring the Resolution?
Three years ago, everyone had predictions about where real estate was headed.
AI would replace agents. Blockchain would revolutionize property transfers. Virtual transactions would become the norm.
Here’s what actually happened: the predictions were mostly wrong.
I’ve been running ACME Real Estate in Los Angeles since 2011, and 2025 taught me more about this industry than the previous decade combined. Not because of what changed, but because of what didn’t.
The AI Promise That Became a Problem
Let me start with the biggest miss: ChatGPT and AI tools.
The hype said these tools would democratize real estate expertise. Anyone could write compelling listing descriptions, generate market analyses, and understand complex contracts.
What we learned instead: buyers can spot AI-generated content immediately.
The Instagram captions feel robotic. The listing descriptions lack soul. The “personal” sentiments read like what they are—algorithmic guesses at human emotion.
AI without its human feels replaceable. In an industry built on trust and relationships, that’s fatal.
But here’s the part nobody predicted: ChatGPT makes factual mistakes. Not small ones. It creates quotes that never existed, complete with quotation marks. It cites articles that don’t exist. It seems to play to what the user wants as an outcome rather than stating facts.
I’m watching tenants use ChatGPT to generate “legal” letters to landlords. They’re getting the law wrong. They’re acting with confidence on bad information. ChatGPT may be inspiring the misinterpretation of the law.
California now requires AI-modified images to be identified as such. The pre-modified version must be available alongside the altered one. The industry is racing to keep pace with how agents are using AI—and misusing it.
In transactions, clients come armed with ChatGPT-generated question lists about inspection reports. The questions are unnecessary, frequently misleading, and complicate the process. They don’t allow the expert to lead.
ChatGPT cannot interpret the law. It has no accountability. It’s dangerous that way.
The Consumer Vulnerability Nobody Anticipated
Here’s what keeps me up at night: consumers think they’re empowered by AI when they’re actually more vulnerable.
An article appeared about Florida homebuyers using AI to purchase homes without agents, supposedly saving thousands. The problem? AI is not a licensee. AI has no fiduciary duty. AI has no ethics controls.
Watch the interview with Tucker Carlson and Sam Altman if you want to understand the ethics gap.
All the protections we’ve built into the existing structure—licensing requirements, fiduciary responsibilities, ethical standards—disappear when consumers rely on AI instead of professionals.
The NAR settlement in 2024 brought a $418 million reckoning and new rules that took effect in August. Agents now must enter written agreements with buyers before touring homes. Offers of compensation can’t appear on MLS platforms.
These changes proved something unexpected: transparency and expertise matter more than automation in complex negotiations.
The “highly trained expert” model didn’t become obsolete. It became more valuable.
The NAR Crisis and What It Revealed
2025 saw NAR playing defense.
The frustration with NAR’s lack of transparency and accountability reached a breaking point. They sit on funds, making them targets for lawsuits. They announced decoupling mandatory NAR membership from MLS access, but most state associations create the forms agents use.
It’s a nothing burger.
The Compass-Anywhere merger looms on the horizon. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden pushed the DOJ and FTC to scrutinize the $1.6 billion deal. The top 10 percent of brokerages already control 42 percent of U.S. sales volume. The combined entity could have over 80 percent market share in Manhattan and Newport Beach.
NAR is threatened by the possibility of mass exodus if changes aren’t made. They’ve been tone deaf, encumbered by accusations of corruption, but also simply too big to be relevant in this modern age of real estate sales.
Here’s my proposal for what needs to happen:
Get rid of Clear Cooperation altogether—the delayed entry option doesn’t work
Make one MLS per state
Make the three-tier membership requirement optional
Make forms available to everyone with a license
Create one nationwide “off market” listing portal that all licensees can access
The Clear Cooperation Imbalance
Clear Cooperation sits at the heart of the Sitzer Burnett drama. It’s at the heart of Compass’s private listing database. And it’s fundamentally imbalanced.
We have a system where one broker covers an entire state. Some private listings under Clear Cooperation have 5,000 agents. Some have 35 agents.
The new rules make individual MLSs responsible for determining how long a delayed entry listing can stay in the system. Each MLS now has its own power.
Why should an MLS determine how long I need to take to sell a listing?
During the COVID boom, buyers thought they were “missing out” if they didn’t have access to private listings. That FOMO drove behavior and expectations.
Now the pressure has shifted. Sellers don’t want to burn days on market, so they’re considering “off market” listings because the market has been soft.
Even in this scenario, bigger brokerages have an unfair advantage. They make more money from dual agency. Studies by Zillow and Bright MLS found that off-MLS listings can cost sellers thousands of dollars per home, with sellers in communities of color disproportionately harmed.
What seemed like innovation actually undermined ethical principles.
What I’m Watching for 2026
My gut says 2026 will be a rollercoaster.
I’m watching the antitrust lawsuits opposing the Compass-Anywhere merger. I’m watching the Compass v. Zillow lawsuit. I’m watching whether NAR makes further progress in transparency and accountability.
Here’s my actual prediction: we’ll have a healthier market in 2026.
The industry will make big changes. Agents will get better at figuring out what AI can and cannot do. We’ll collectively make structural changes regarding private listings and accessibility that will further democratize visibility.
The pattern I’ve recognized from what surprised me over the past three years? The technologies everyone hyped didn’t deliver. The human elements everyone thought would become obsolete became more valuable.
At ACME Real Estate, our mission has been to deploy highly trained and highly ethical design-centric sales experts. That approach looked old-fashioned to some people three years ago.
Now it looks prescient.
The Lesson Hindsight Teaches
Looking back from 2025, the biggest lesson is simple: expertise doesn’t get automated away in complex, high-stakes transactions.
It gets more valuable.
The buyers I work with—move-up buyers, home sellers, investors, and flippers—aren’t looking for AI-generated insights. They’re looking for someone who knows the law, understands the market, and has their back when things get complicated.
They’re looking for accountability. For fiduciary responsibility. For ethical standards.
The tools changed. The technology evolved. But the fundamental need for trained, ethical professionals didn’t disappear.
It intensified.
If you want to follow how these trends develop, I break down the industry shifts and regulatory changes on my podcast, The Clean Close. You can find it at youtube.com/acmerealestate.
Because if 2025 taught me anything, it’s that the next surprise is already forming. And the people paying attention will be ready for it.