Why are real estate agents not seeing a business impact from AI?
In the National Association of Realtors 2025 Technology Survey, 46% of agents said AI had no noticeable impact on their business, and only 17% reported a significant one. Jason Pantana says the gap isn’t the tool. It’s how agents use it. Doing the same tasks a little faster just creates more volume, while building repeatable outputs, like turning one listing into a description, five posts, a database email, and a follow-up sequence, creates leverage.
When real estate agents see no impact from AI, the fix starts with one change: stop handing AI your old to-do list. Take one listing and ask what it could become beyond a description. That question separates agents who feel a real difference from the ones who shrug.
The numbers on screen make the stakes clear. In NAR’s 2025 Technology Survey, 17% of agents reported a significantly positive impact from AI, 33% saw a moderately positive impact, and 46% said it made no noticeable difference. If you’ve been using AI and your business looks the same, you’re in the biggest group.
As Jason Pantana, co-founder of Ai Marketing Academy (AiM), puts it: “It isn’t the tool, it’s how they’re using it.”
What does the BlackBerry teach agents about AI?
The BlackBerry shows that a faster tool doesn’t give you time back unless you change how you work. It was the first phone that could really do email, and everyone had the same thought: “I’ll answer email in line at the store, in between showings.”
“And you know how that went?” Pantana asks. “Nobody got time back. There was just a lot more email.” Everyone had the same phone and the same idea, so the work expanded to fill the space. Nobody stopped to ask how they should run their day differently now that email was instant.
That’s the pattern most agents are repeating with AI. Write this email. Fix this description. It’s the same job you already had, maybe a little faster. In Jason’s words, “That’s not really impact, it’s just more volume.”
What do the agents seeing real impact do differently?
The agents seeing significant impact ask a different question. Pantana frames it this way: “not how do I do this faster, but what can I build that I couldn’t before?”
Here’s how the two approaches compare:
| The 46%: faster tasks | The 17%: repeatable outputs | |
|---|---|---|
| The question | How do I do this faster? | What can I build that I couldn’t before? |
| Typical use | Write this email, fix this description | One listing becomes a full set of marketing |
| Result | More volume; time fills back up | Leverage you can repeat |
Pantana’s summary: “Faster tasks just fill your time back up. Repeatable outputs hand you leverage.” For more ways agents are putting this into practice, see seven ways top agents are using AI right now.
How do you turn one listing into a repeatable AI system?
Start with a single listing and plan every piece of marketing it should produce before you open an AI tool. Jason’s example: “One listing then becomes a description, five posts, a database email, and a follow-up sequence. Rinse and repeat.”
In practice, that looks like this:
- Pick one listing as the input for everything that follows.
- Draft the listing description with AI.
- Turn that same listing into five social posts instead of one.
- Write an email to your database about the listing.
- Build a follow-up sequence for the people who respond.
- Repeat the same steps on your next listing so the process becomes routine.
The payoff comes from running the same steps on every listing, not from any one task done faster.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of real estate agents use AI, according to NAR?
Jason Pantana points to the National Association of Realtors 2025 Technology Survey, which found that about two-thirds of agents have used AI. The same survey showed 32% had not yet used AI in their business.
How many agents report a significant impact from AI?
Only 17% of agents in NAR’s 2025 Technology Survey reported a significantly positive impact from AI. Another 33% saw a moderately positive impact, and 46% said AI had no noticeable impact on their business.
Is the problem which AI tool agents are using?
No. Jason Pantana says the gap isn’t the tool. It’s how agents use it. Running the same old routine on a new tool produces more volume, not more results.
What’s the difference between faster tasks and repeatable outputs?
Faster tasks are the jobs you already had, like writing one email, done a little quicker, and Pantana says that time just fills back up. Repeatable outputs are systems that turn one input, such as a listing, into many pieces of marketing every time.
Point AI at something that runs without you
Pantana’s closing line sums it up: “You’re the input. Point it at something that runs without you.” If you’re only asking AI to write the listing description, you’re using a fraction of what that listing could produce for your business. Ai Marketing Academy gives members ready-to-run AI systems, prompts, and live sessions, and the Academy + Automations bundle adds done-for-you AI apps that run marketing for you. See what’s inside Ai Marketing Academy and choose the option that fits how you work.
