AI is not replacing agents, it’s redefining real estate leadership

HousingWire

The real estate industry doesn't need more hype around AI, it needs practical leadership. In this episode of Ten Minute Talks, Brena Nath talks with Kim Tran, Senior Vice President of Learning & Development at Anywhere Real Estate Inc., to unpack how AI is already reshaping how agents work, compete and grow.   Tran shares real, field-tested examples of how Anywhere’s 300,000-plus agents are using AI to automate busy work, scale innovation and strengthen client relationships, not replace them. From agent-built custom GPTs to AI-powered marketing systems driving measurable GCI growth, this conversation makes one thing clear: the future belongs to agents who get curious, start now and use AI as a thought partner, not a shortcut.   #AIinRealEstate #RealEstateTech #FutureOfWork

Transcript

00:00this interview has been uh sometime coming but one that i'm super excited about because the theme

00:14is one that's always important i know our industry always cares about tapping in ai

00:19what's happening and real estate so kim super excited to have you and for those who are not

00:25familiar with her i am sitting here with kim tran she's the svp of learning and development at

00:31anywhere so kim welcome thank you i'm so excited we were finally able to make this happen thanks for

00:37having me my favorite part about this one is my as we were working to schedule this i knew that

00:45there's probably going to be more developments that came along more exciting updates to just talk about

00:50or maybe you could talk about even more um but before we kind of drive dive into ai and what

00:56you're doing and how you're you know deploying that at anywhere let's give a few uh or spend a little

01:02time talking about your background like set tell our audience what they need to know about you some

01:07of your past it kind of shows why i you know why i'm excited to have you on because you know this

01:12industry and tech so well oh thank you yeah um first of all thanks everyone for joining in and listening

01:18to us today um a little bit about myself i mean my career has really been about helping companies

01:25across a ton of different industries really reimagine how they work and upskill through really big

01:32transformations and industry changes and i've just always been so fascinated by and really passionate

01:39about how learning and technology can help people grow their careers and their businesses

01:45and i just feel like being in real estate right now is like the most exciting place to be especially

01:51with emerging tech and ai just like fundamentally rewriting some of the rules of the buying and selling

01:58um experience and so it's just great to be like at the epicenter of all of that and so my job is to

02:05provide you know our like over 300 000 agents and brokers really with like the skills tools and

02:12confidence they need to grow their businesses so it's just a really fun space to be in right now

02:17yeah yeah not a small group there that you're working with and helping kind of lead lead through

02:23you know adoption of the tech one phrase that i know a lot of people have heard this is nothing

02:28new when it comes to ai but i think that the phrase that everyone kind of shares a lot is you're

02:33not going to get replaced by ai you'll be replaced by someone using ai and to me that feeds into this idea

02:40of ai is the competitive edge it's how someone is able to do more and get back valuable resources

02:49like time what are some of the innovative ways that you're kind of helping create that competitive edge

02:55yeah i get the very unique privilege of being able to have access to all of our powerhouse brands

03:03across our portfolio and when i think about uh the massive you know agent network that we have and

03:10getting to be in the field with them um our agents are using ai to work smarter to elevate their client

03:20experience to create solutions that then we can take and scale at the enterprise level um for example we

03:27recently held our first like ai innovator of the year competition and that was really showcasing

03:34the most creative and innovative ai use cases developed by agents across um the field and so one of

03:43our um well actually when we think about what the criteria was we knew that we wanted to focus on um

03:50innovation scalability and actual measurable business impact and we had so many creative submissions

03:56ranging from ai powered content systems to automated transaction workflows to uh seo optimized marketing and crm

04:07integrated lead nurturing tools i mean i was just so blown away by how innovative our agents just took

04:15things and were curious and ran with it and our winner that was selected actually built a six-step ai content

04:23system with custom gpt's with video automation and she even created her own digital avatar that could

04:31speak multiple languages you know to make herself more visible and credible in online search results and

04:39we had another agent that used like chat gpt and grok and gemini to streamline his marketing and research

04:45and storytelling and then that actually led to like a three million gci and 47 percent increase in team

04:53production so i'm just like so blown away and and just these like agent-led innovations they're not just

05:00inspiring but they're you know field tested they're scalable and they offer me a really unique opportunity

05:06to accelerate that ai adoption across our company which is really really interesting the scalability of that

05:15is huge to me too um i mean i feel like that's one of the cornerstone power superpowers of ai is getting

05:22something that one agent can do and other agents especially at a place like anywhere can glean insights

05:28from and say hey here's here's how you can also implement this for real estate specifically i know

05:37personalization is still so important connection the human interaction in it and all of these

05:45cases that you're seeing like even you know the person who created the six step process i would

05:49guess or venture a guess that there's still such an element of how she's integrating what she knows

05:55of them or customizing it or making it so it doesn't seem like it's just technology so can you share

06:03how do you create that balance in an industry that is known for being connection heavy yeah this is such

06:11an important question right now especially because i think just even as consumers we're just inundated

06:16with so much of this like doomsday like ai is coming to take our jobs and and you know replacing

06:22humans at a really rapid rate i think at its very core real estate will always be a people business

06:29and i think the um folks that are just really thinking ahead or are um leaning into that curiosity

06:37they're letting ai handle the busy work the scheduling the paperwork even like virtual

06:43staging like ai can do with a few simple prompts today and like let it do that piece of it that

06:50piece of the automation and busy work so that you can focus on what actually matters and what only

06:55humans can do which is build trust listen right guide people through one of like the their lives biggest

07:02decisions and i find that the best agents that i've had the opportunity to interview and to talk

07:08through they're they are absolutely not afraid of ai they're leading with curiosity they're

07:12experimenting they're constantly learning they're constantly tapping into their networks and getting

07:17you know hey what are you doing in this space and let me share what i'm doing and they're using these

07:21tools to work smarter and you know be able to service their clients in a much better more creative way

07:29um and then i'm also actually teaching a course right now on how to use ai as your thought partner

07:35and what i say a lot in that is that the magic combination is our ability to use technology and

07:42ai as our thought partner let it do a lot of like that heavy lifting to help us think through identifying

07:48blind spots challenging our assumptions looking at opportunities in alternative ways but at the end of

07:54the day we are still the thought leaders like driving those outcomes and we're the only ones that can

07:59deliver that very like personalized memorable experience for the consumer so it's really important

08:06that you have that balance um but don't fear it like lean into it and get curious about it curious is

08:13the word that i kind of latched on to there uh be don't wait for perfect is another kind of theme

08:19there if you kind of wait you're going to spend forever in analysis paralysis i know that's something

08:23the housing where our ceo has said a lot lately is don't get caught in decision paralysis and maybe

08:29this next question i have where you can help with that to stream streamline that which is

08:34you're in the in the weeds of this technology right now so maybe to help some people with their

08:40decision paralysis are there you know one to two tools that you would just highlight that you think

08:45some you know people should be checking out or agent should be checking out absolutely i mean

08:50two really really easy quick ways to get started right now first like just take any large language

08:58model whether it's copilot chat tpt claw gemini grok perplexity just like pick your tool and just start

09:06i mean i think any of them are such a game changers for when we think about how to write listing

09:12descriptions or create social posts or brainstorming new ideas related to your strategy or marketing or lead

09:19generation so just like pick a large language model start experimenting with it and use it like go

09:26beyond just doing a search or giving you answers but really start asking better questions um so that

09:33it can help you more creatively more strategically and then the other tool that i think is really great

09:39is canva i mean we just started a partnership with them but it's it requires zero marketing skills zero

09:45coding skills and it uses ai to instantly create like top-notch marketing materials you can also do

09:51your listing presentations on there or like other marketing assets and it just frees up so much of

09:56your time so that now you can actually take that time and connect with your you know clients and be in

10:04um in front of them i think the key here isn't like you don't need to know every tool or every feature

10:13it's learning to ask better questions when you're using them so that ai can continuously push your

10:19thinking and in that in that way like save you hours and hours of decision fatigue or analysis paralysis

10:28and i think just from my experience and just talking to so many folks in the field

10:33the most important thing you can do today right now is just start and practice consistent

10:39start this consistently yeah um someone worded that the other day as try to take your you know

10:49when you're talking about your language model try to take your questions there whether it's your

10:53point just starting away from using it like google into your point asking different questions and i think

10:59you just worded it so much better than that which is you know don't don't just treat it like a google

11:03where it's like what is this thing and you get an answer there's so much more it can do

11:06in this since we're slightly over 10 minutes i'll try to ask this one really fast um so as it's kind

11:12of a futuristic question so i'll let you figure out the best way to narrow it down but as as we look

11:18ahead i know you and the anywhere team are doing a lot to set agents up for success not just in how

11:26they are as agents but using technology as a tool and we all know tech changes very fast and so trying

11:32to look at two things the way text is change tech is changing but also how do you keep that in mind

11:37as you set them up for success what's one part that you'd want to leave this audience with when

11:41you're thinking about hey here's how we're preparing for the future amid rapid tech changes

11:47yeah i think that ai will spark some significant and fundamental changes in how agents interact with

11:54buyers and sellers and i'm such a firm believer that those changes will actually make like the agent and

12:00client relationship even stronger and i i don't know i just imagine a world where ai can even help us

12:07predict when someone's ready to buy or sell or help a buyer visualize that space that's like perfectly

12:14tailored to their future goals um in that where we're heading like the technology and the ai should

12:21be an enabler not a replacement for the human connection and so my hope is that you leave here feeling

12:28both inspired to reimagine what's possible but also that you start to lead with a lot of curiosity and not

12:35fear um to be able to now start experimenting and seeing what's possible yeah uh get curious see what's

12:43possible those are two things that i think are definitely going to frame 2026 kim i appreciate you

12:50joining me and digging into the art of what's possible especially in the real estate space so thank you

12:55thank you thank you for having me

13:04thank you

13:07thank youTHATKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHHAKHAKH HIbut

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