🎧 Check out our latest podcast!
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
91% of sellers hired a human last year. For-sale-by-owner fell to a record-low 5%. Confidence that AI can find a home dropped from 30% to 16%. People still buy houses through people.
This week on PowerHouseTalk, Tim, Julie, Chris Heller, Dan Lesniak and Tammy Irby break down why the AI economy still needs agents — iBuyer AI underwriting getting tighter and routing sellers to agents, Anthropic's IPO filing and $98 billion in employee stock that could go house hunting, midterms and housing, the survey where 1 in 3 agents lose the listing over price, and the listener who ran 13 open houses with zero visitors.
🤝 91% Hired a Human. FSBO Hit 5%.
The headline number: 91% of sellers hired an agent. FSBO is at a record-low 5%. And consumer confidence in AI to find a home fell from 30% to 16%.
That's not "AI is coming for your job." That's the market telling you buyers and sellers still want a human in the deal — and the ones who show up as that human keep getting hired.
🤖 iBuyer AI Is Getting Tighter — and Routing Sellers to Agents
One iBuyer's AI underwriting is almost twice as tight as it used to be. When the model won't clear the offer, the seller gets routed to an agent.
AI isn't eliminating the agent in that funnel. It's deciding when the machine steps back and a human takes the listing conversation.
📈 Anthropic's $98 Billion Employee Stock — and Housing
Anthropic filed for an IPO. Employees are sitting on roughly $98 billion in stock. When that liquidity hits, some of it looks for houses.
The panel connects the AI wealth story to local inventory, pricing pressure, and which markets feel it first — not as a hype headline, but as a demand signal agents should watch.
1 in 3 Agents Lose the Listing Over Price
A survey said 1 in 3 agents lose the listing over price. That isn't a market problem. That's a pricing conversation problem.
If you can't win the pricing talk before the sign goes up, you don't get a chance to prove the rest of your skill. Skills matter more as AI grows — and pricing is still the first test.
🧠 Human Skills Matter More as AI Grows
Payroll data from the episode: AI-exposed jobs down about 11%, the least-exposed up about 10%. The work that survives is the work that needs judgment, trust and a person in the room.
Your calendar, your pricing script, your open-house follow-up, your ability to tell a seller the truth — those don't get cheaper when models get better. They get more valuable.
💬 Listener Questions
This week's listener questions include:
13 open houses with zero visitors — what to change before the next one.
How midterms land for housing: positive, negative or neutral?
More from the panel on pricing, AI tools and staying bookable when the market is quiet.
Hear the panel's answers in the full episode.
The One Thing to Take Away
AI will keep taking routine work. That makes the human part of the deal more valuable, not less:
Sellers still hire people — show up as the human they want to hire.
Win the pricing conversation before you lose the listing.
Let AI handle underwriting and busywork; spend the time you get back with clients.
Watch where AI wealth and tighter iBuyer models create new listing opportunities.
Personalized attention is the luxury in real estate now. Get to work.
- Tim, Julie, Chris, Dan and Tammy
Hosts, PowerHouseTalk
Want your question featured on an upcoming episode? Reply to this email or DM us on Instagram and we might break it down next.
Know an agent who should be in this room?
Forward them PowerHouseTalk.
Sponsored by
A CRM so smart, it updates itself.
HubSpot's CRM is so smart, it now updates itself. Calls get logged and summarized the moment they end. New leads get researched and a first outreach drafted, automatically. Deals move forward on their own, with next steps flagged before you have to ask.
Even the one repetitive task you've been meaning to fix can now run itself, no code required. Customers using it are already seeing the difference.
This isn't the CRM you have to work hard to figure out. It's the one already working before you log in.