Patrick Kearns/contributed.
For nearly two decades, the narrative has remained remarkably consistent. Every few years, a well-funded disruptor arrives on the scene, brandishing sleek technology, polished messaging, and sweeping national ambitions, loudly proclaiming its intention to tear down and rebuild the Canadian and North American real estate industries. In response, legacy players clutch their pearls, industry commentators wring their hands, and opinion pieces flood trade publications, breathlessly predicting that a brave new world is finally upon us. And then, invariably, nothing happens.
No barbarians were ever truly at the gate. It was just the wind.
But is this time different? Having spent over fifteen years building businesses at the complex intersection of brokerage operations, fintech, and enterprise technology, I have learned just as much from painful mistakes and failed experiments as from outright successes. That experience has forged a set of practical heuristics designed to separate empty saber-rattling from actual market-shifting forces. For the first time in my career, I believe there are genuine barbarians inside the fortress. This shift is occurring because, for the first time, the innovators building real estate technology are laser-focused on what consumers and agents actually want and need, rather than what the industry assumes they should want.
To explore this evolution, I sat down with Patrick Kearns, a seasoned industry observer and executive who has experienced the real estate ecosystem from multiple vantage points: journalism, startup communications, proptech leadership, and strategic roles shaping integrated platforms. Based in the New York City metropolitan area, Kearns currently serves as the executive director of PR and communications at PLACE, an all-in-one real estate services and technology platform designed for top-performing teams. Together, we examined why previous waves of disruption failed, what the industry has fundamentally misunderstood about its own participants, and what is finally different about the current landscape.
Natalka Falcomer: Patrick, why hasn’t real estate truly been disrupted yet? The industry possesses all of the classic hallmarks that tech disruptors love—deep fragmentation, systemic inefficiency, and notoriously slow technology adoption—yet software and digital platforms haven’t fundamentally transformed the core transaction. Why is that?
Patrick Kearns: There has always been a core mismatch between what the industry thought the problem was and what consumers and agents actually wanted. I’ve covered this space from multiple angles—journalism, proptech, and later on the brokerage side at Anywhere. And here is what I consistently observed: the industry kept trying to solve for convenience, either for the consumer or the agent. Better user experience, seamless integration, and friction reduction. The prevailing logic was that agents should adopt a specific CRM because it saved time, or consumers should use a particular platform because it made house-hunting easier.
But that is not what either group actually cares about. Agents care deeply about return on investment—ROI. Consumers care intensely about control and the certainty that they have found the right home at the right price. The industry was simply solving the wrong problem.
Falcomer: DocuSign is a prime example of this phenomenon. I often point to it as the single best illustration of a technology that got the real estate value proposition entirely right.
Kearns: Exactly. DocuSign is one of the very few enterprise technologies that genuinely stuck in real estate. Why? Because the value proposition is undeniable and immediate. Instead of driving all over town to physical locations to sign documents for a single deal, an agent can manage two transactions simultaneously right from their home office. That isn’t some abstract theoretical benefit; that is literal money in your pocket. An agent does that math instantly.
On the other side of the transaction, buyers and sellers no longer have to wait hours or days for an agent to drive back and forth just to execute paperwork. The primary benefit isn’t necessarily a sleek user interface—it is actual revenue multiplication for the agent, allowing them to handle deals in parallel. For the consumer, it provides a more transparent, streamlined process that instills a sense of control because they receive offer feedback faster and more visibly.
Falcomer: Extending that logic, would you say that agents care far less about brand loyalty or surface-level convenience, and much more about whether a tool directly increases their revenue?
Kearns: Exactly. Real estate agents are fundamentally small business owners. They do not care if a tool comes from Zillow, Realtor.com, or an independent startup. If a piece of software generates qualified leads and doesn’t break the bank, they will use it. However, they will refuse to adopt tools unless there is a direct, undeniable line between adoption and their bottom line. That isn’t irrational behavior; it’s fiercely rational. Every single dollar spent on a software subscription or service that fails to yield a return is money lost that could have been used to feed their family. It is precisely the same mindset shared by any savvy businessperson.
The Anywhere Observation: What Technology Investment Actually Means
Falcomer: Major brokerages like Anywhere and Compass both deploy technology, and both have engaged in highly sophisticated work. For instance, Anywhere focused heavily on AI-driven document processing, modernizing agent commission payments, and rebuilding internal infrastructure. Yet, the public market valued them completely differently. Compass told a compelling story about being a technology company actively disrupting real estate, while Anywhere positioned itself as a traditional brokerage that happened to leverage technology. That narrative difference was highlighted when Compass acquired Anywhere. How much of that valuation gap was rooted in actual technological innovation versus the power of the narrative they projected?
Kearns: Perception matters enormously in this industry. Anywhere was innovating aggressively on internal processes that weren’t necessarily visible to the public eye. They were modernizing legacy infrastructure, handling massive document volumes through advanced artificial intelligence, and making the entire corporate machine run more efficiently. But they weren’t talking about it. In fact, they were intentionally suppressing that narrative because they were worried about looking like a bloated legacy incumbent.
Compass went to market with a dramatically different story: We are a technology company disrupting real estate. Wall Street bought into that narrative hook, line, and sinker. Because investors believed the story, Compass grew its market cap, raised capital at significantly higher valuations, and ultimately acquired companies like Anywhere at a massive premium.
Falcomer: So the company that is actually achieving greater internal efficiency ultimately loses to the company that masters the art of the narrative?
Kearns: That’s right. Whether the story matched day-to-day reality almost became secondary—the narrative won. And it resulted in a multi-billion-dollar acquisition rather than a higher standalone public valuation. In the eyes of the market, perception quickly became reality.
Why Technology Adoption Actually Fails
Falcomer: I want to dig deeper into the challenge of adoption. A corporate parent can build sophisticated internal tools, but when regional brokerages or franchisees attempt to deploy that technology down to individual agents, adoption rates frequently flatline. Why does this happen?
Kearns: At the end of the day, adoption in real estate is entirely voluntary. During my time at OJO and Anywhere, I learned a fundamental truth: agents use software that directly impacts their commission checks. Not what makes their lives marginally easier. Not what sounds innovative at a corporate keynote. Commission checks.
What typically happens is that brokerages understand this dynamic intellectually, but they continue to pitch tools incorrectly. When corporate leadership says, "This new CRM will help you organize your leads much better," agents hear, "I have to learn a complicated new system, disrupt my existing workflow, and change my habits for no guaranteed return on investment." Naturally, they reject it.
The End-to-End Platform Dream and the Reality of Breakage
Falcomer: Every single phase of a real estate transaction represents a potential point of failure. Every milestone is an opportunity for consumers to shop around or for agents to steer clients elsewhere. Why has the dream of a seamless, end-to-end platform been so difficult to realize?
Kearns: Every stage of the transaction process leaves a window open for consumers or agents to opt out. We witnessed this firsthand at OJO. You might pre-qualify a consumer for a mortgage, seamlessly introduce them to an agent, and then have that agent step in and say, "Don’t use that corporate lender; use the local mortgage broker I already know and trust."
Historically, the underlying infrastructure required to build truly coordinated, closed-loop platforms simply did not exist. Modern technology has enabled unprecedented levels of connection, but friction and breakage points existed everywhere—places where consumers and real estate professionals could shop around and exit the proprietary funnel that a company had worked so hard to build.
What has changed today is that technology infrastructure has finally caught up. Data standards and Application Programming Interfaces are vastly superior. When a company owns the underlying infrastructure—incorporating mortgage, title, and transaction coordination into a single ecosystem—they can build a product so tightly integrated that traditional breakage points disappear. Consumers are no longer forced to manage multiple disjointed systems or get handed off blindly from agent to lender; they can interact with multiple facets of the transaction simultaneously within a unified environment. That level of integration was simply not possible a decade ago.
Falcomer: In Canada, we have experimented extensively with in-house corporate lenders. The persistent challenge is that if I own the mortgage company but cannot guarantee a competitive market rate, the consumer will inevitably look elsewhere. Breakage still occurs even when you own the underlying infrastructure.
Kearns: That is a fair point. But consider what end-to-end coordination actually reduces: origination costs. When you integrate mortgage origination, title services, and transaction management into a single workflow, you eliminate redundant administrative processes, duplicate data entry, and competing timelines. Mortgage origination costs in North America have historically been exceptionally high. If you connect platforms to make the homeownership experience more transparent and frictionless, operational costs drop accordingly. That is a trade-off many modern consumers are more than willing to accept.
Furthermore, you aren’t necessarily forcing consumers to use your specific mortgage lender. Think of those various service pillars as welcoming entry funnels into a broader homeownership ecosystem. A mortgage platform that monitors your home equity and interest rates provides a natural touchpoint to make a consumer think, "Maybe now is the right time to buy or sell." You don’t even have to capture the mortgage itself to win; you have successfully secured ongoing engagement across their entire consumer lifecycle.
Falcomer: So the true underlying value isn’t the mortgage product in isolation; it is the continuous engagement maintained throughout the homeownership lifecycle by offering practical tools that actively improve the homeowner’s financial standing or simplify property management.
Kearns: Exactly. We help you manage your physical home. We help you find reliable local contractors for landscaping or repairs. We monitor your equity growth. We advise on strategic refinancing or tapping a home equity line of credit for major renovations. That constitutes genuine, tangible value. By maintaining a continuous, value-driven dialogue with homeowners, you organically create funnels that lead right back into your platform. It is a demonstrable win for both consumers and real estate professionals.
Consumer Psychology: Control Versus Convenience
Falcomer: What do consumers actually want out of a real estate platform versus what the industry assumes they want?
Kearns: People want to feel absolute certainty that they are securing a good deal. If a consumer feels they cannot see every single home currently listed for sale, anxiety sets in. They experience severe FOMO—the fear of missing out. They wonder, "What if there is a better house just around the corner? What if it’s cheaper? What if it has a pool?" That underlying anxiety centers entirely on whether they are securing the absolute best deal available.
This is why digital portals matter so much. Agents should be leveraging portals transparently by telling clients, "Here is the comprehensive market. Here are the specific trade-offs you will need to evaluate at your exact price point."
Falcomer: So the overarching fear isn’t missing out on mere convenience; it’s the paralyzing fear of missing out on the right home.
Kearns: Precisely. Consumers want deep peace of mind. They want to feel confident that they have scoured the entire market. This dynamic explains why Compass executed such a brilliant strategic maneuver in Chicago. When Midwest Real Estate Data cut off Zillow’s direct listings feed in the Chicago market, Compass immediately went to market with a single, potent message: We have every single listing. Zillow does not. They didn’t run ads highlighting complex software features or slick user interfaces; they anchored their entire campaign on complete information and market access.
They took a complex regulatory dispute and translated it directly into a consumer control narrative. Every Compass agent in the region mobilized around that message because they understood something fundamental about human psychology: comprehensive data is what actually matters to the buyer.
Why Zillow Dominates the Portal Landscape
Falcomer: Why has it proven so exceptionally difficult to dislodge a giant like Zillow from the psyche of the North American consumer?
Kearns: Winning on brand equity in the consumer portal space is an uphill battle. That foundational battle has largely been won; Zillow owns that mindshare. Everyone recognizes the brand, they were early first movers, and they built a genuinely strong product with a great user experience.
However, a critical nuance often gets overlooked: Zillow does not possess a proprietary data advantage. They receive the exact same standard IDX data feeds as every other brokerage and portal across the country. The listings are identical everywhere. Yet, the persistent perception is that Zillow possesses a monopoly on all housing data. And in the digital economy, that perception holds immense economic value.
What Compass managed to do was dismantle that neutral ground. They asserted that real estate brokerages, rather than neutral third-party tech aggregators, should maintain control over listing data. By driving that narrative home with aggressive execution, they achieved something rare: a real estate brokerage successfully established a distinct data advantage. They changed the rules of engagement by controlling both the public narrative and the underlying data simultaneously.
Consolidation, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future
Falcomer: Looking ahead five, ten, or even fifteen years, what bold predictions do you have for the trajectory of the real estate industry?
Kearns: We are going to witness a massive wave of further consolidation. We will see greater consolidation of both traditional brands and underlying technology. On the brokerage and franchisor side, it is becoming increasingly difficult to operate as a standalone independent broker. We are already observing major players buying up independents, large firms acquiring regional networks, and major brands consolidating forces simply to compete in the high-stakes arena of listing data.
At the same time, the proptech sector is primed for consolidation. Many technology startups that raised significant capital during peak funding cycles are rapidly running out of runway. Market realities will force widespread mergers and acquisitions.
Falcomer: What role does artificial intelligence play in this transformation, and how does it fit into your vision for the industry’s future?
Kearns: Artificial intelligence is fundamentally shifting human behavior across the board. However, in real estate, we have already established that consumers prioritize control above all else. A buyer doesn’t want to type a prompt into an automated interface saying, "Find me a three-bedroom house in a good school district," and blindly accept a curated handful of AI-generated results. They want to explore the broader market themselves to ensure they haven’t missed anything. For that reason, I do not believe chatbots will completely disrupt or replace traditional real estate portals. The core value proposition remains having all active listings accessible in one transparent place.
Falcomer: Will artificial intelligence eventually eliminate the traditional real estate agent?
Kearns: Not at all. People still desperately crave the psychological security and emotional reassurance that a knowledgeable, well-informed human agent provides. Furthermore, agents themselves will not adopt AI automation tools if those tools threaten to dilute their control over their own independent businesses.
Falcomer: What about the brokerage landscape? I have a working theory that artificial intelligence does not democratize the industry; rather, it acts as a powerful amplifier. That means AI yields massive positive impacts if you operate at scale, but delivers only mediocre utility if you are a smaller, independent shop.
Kearns: I completely agree. We are already seeing that reality unfold in real-time. Larger brokerages can deploy artificial intelligence infrastructure far more efficiently because they possess the financial and technical resources to do so properly. If you are a smaller independent broker, you end up getting a sub-optimal deal on commercial AI tools, and you lack the engineering talent required to build custom workflows tailored to your specific business needs. You are essentially stuck relying on base-level consumer AI software, often inadvertently exposing sensitive consumer data to privacy risks that you aren’t equipped to manage.
Then there is the heavy hand of regulatory compliance. Real estate and mortgage banking are among the most heavily regulated sectors in the economy. If you are a small firm trying to navigate complex AI guardrails and strict client confidentiality laws independently, it is an uphill battle. If you are a massive enterprise backed by dedicated legal teams and hundreds of software engineers, you can work through those regulatory hurdles and find innovative ways to leverage technology safely.
Falcomer: So artificial intelligence doesn’t democratize the marketplace; it concentrates power.
Kearns: Exactly. It widens the performance gap between the well-resourced enterprise and the solo operator.
Falcomer: Where do you see this ultimately landing?
Kearns: Once the broader housing market finally turns around and activity normalizes, we will see a new wave of innovation come to true fruition. We now have advanced technology, sophisticated tools, and well-equipped agents. Yet, the day-to-day process of buying and selling a home still feels remarkably similar to how it operated twenty years ago—listings are posted on the internet, and that remains the primary differentiator.
I don’t believe artificial intelligence will immediately create the frictionless "latte experience" that industry pioneers once predicted—where buying a house becomes as casual and effortless as purchasing a cup of coffee. I doubt the transaction will ever be reduced to a single digital click. However, consumers will feel significantly more in control because they will have robust technology enabling that oversight. We are not removing human experts from the equation. Agents remain utterly critical for strategic guidance, community integration, and providing a reliable gut-check during high-stakes decisions. People simply do not trust artificial intelligence blindly—at least not yet.
What is fundamentally different today is that the technical infrastructure finally exists. For two decades, the industry lacked the foundational building blocks required for seamless integration. Today, modern APIs function reliably, and data standards are steadily improving. We can coordinate complex workflows across mortgage origination, title insurance, and transaction management in ways that were previously impossible.
The Bottom Line: Enduring Psychology on a New Battlefield
The United States and Canada face the exact same fundamental consumer dynamic: people live with the underlying fear of missing out on the right home at the right price point. However, respective legal frameworks, dominant corporate brands, and operational practices differ significantly, altering how disruption ultimately plays out across the border.
The Chicago-Compass example is highly instructive. Compass successfully displaced dominant players in a major market because they controlled exclusive supply. In a strategic coup, they ensured their listings remained unavailable on competing third-party aggregators, enabling them to tell consumers directly that other portals were missing critical inventory. That strategy succeeded because the North American brokerage landscape is fragmented and because a major enterprise was willing to challenge the status quo.
Canada presents an interesting contrast with its historically unified national aggregator, Realtor.ca. While central aggregation offers operational efficiency, it creates a unique vulnerability. Realtor.ca’s long-standing dominance rests primarily on the perception of complete data coverage rather than an unassailable competitive advantage. Much like Zillow, they rely on standard IDX feeds accessible to the broader market. The moment a competitor secures a meaningful portion of exclusive new listings and communicates that disparity effectively, consumer perception can shift rapidly. Canadian consumers are just as willing to platform-hop when superior data or tools appear.
This dynamic points to a broader trend: consolidation will not flatten the brokerage ecosystem into a monolith. Instead, the structural realities of artificial intelligence and enterprise infrastructure point toward a distinct barbell structure already taking shape across the industry.
As AI amplifies institutional advantages, large brokerages with robust compliance and engineering divisions pull further ahead, leaving smaller independent brokerages vulnerable. This creates immense competitive pressure for traditional mid-market firms caught in the middle. Yet, a powerful escape hatch has emerged: the high-performing real estate team.
Modern real estate teams operate with lean, agile efficiency. A team leader functions much like a micro-franchisor, handling marketing, operational overhead, and specialized lead generation while remaining fiercely protective of their bottom line. For these teams, technology platforms that solve administrative bottlenecks—such as regulatory compliance, transaction coordination, and lead tracking—thrive because they demonstrate immediate, quantifiable ROI. Teams do not care about corporate brand prestige or superficial convenience; they care about maximizing revenue and freeing up billable hours.
As the industry evolves, the true battlefield is no longer a simple war between rival portals or legacy franchisors. It is a dual movement of consolidation at the top—where major enterprises acquire exclusive data and deploy integrated platforms—and decentralization at the bottom, where high-performing teams leverage specialized point solutions to stack efficiency upon efficiency. The traditional mid-market brokerage lacking proprietary data or robust team infrastructure will inevitably find itself squeezed out.
The long-awaited proptech barbarians are no longer rattling the gates from the outside. They are already inside, and it turns out they are simply building practical tools that help real estate teams generate revenue, empower brokerages to deliver elevated client services, and provide consumers with seamless access to the entire housing market without the friction of fragmented systems. Once these technological advancements are fully realized across the market, adoption will no longer be flat—it will be ferocious. And that is what finally makes this time different.
Natalka Falcomer is a lawyer, real estate broker, and Certified Leasing Officer who began her career in private equity. She created, hosted, and co-produced a popular legal call-in show on Rogers TV and founded Groundworks, a firm specializing in commercial leasing law. She currently serves as the Chief Real Estate Officer of Houseful.ca, leading the development and expansion of the company’s personalized home buying and selling experience for the Canadian market. She sits as an advisor on NAR REACH Canada and is a former multi-year board member of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.