How Are Top Real Estate Agents Using AI in 2026? The Data

By Emily Terrell — Top Coach and Speaker at Tom Ferry International. Speaker for NAHREP, eXp Con, and brokerages nationwide.

Top real estate agents using AI in 2026 run it as a system, not a search box: one saved prompt per task, a voice file, and output that lands in the CRM. NAR’s 2026 data shows 48% of agents now use AI daily or weekly. This post covers the four workflows top producers run and where they draw the line.

Key Takeaways

• Nearly half of agents now use AI daily or weekly, so access to AI is no longer what separates top producers.
• Top agents point AI at three jobs first: listing marketing, follow-up, and the transaction milestones they used to type by hand.
• The difference between daily users and occasional users is a saved prompt and a destination, not a better tool.
• The most advanced users in 2026 are building their own tools with Claude, not just chatting with it.
• Every top agent I coach runs a human review gate before anything AI-drafted reaches a client or the public.

What does “using AI” mean for top real estate agents in 2026?

For a top-producing agent, using AI means a repeatable workflow where AI drafts a specific asset on a specific trigger and the result lands somewhere it persists: a CRM template, an action plan, or a transaction checklist. It doesn’t open ChatGPT when you’re stuck. The prompt, the trigger, and the destination are decided before the app opens.

Why this matters for real estate agents

Adoption is no longer the story. According to NAR’s 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report (September 2026), 23% of agents use AI daily and 25% use it weekly, while only 12% say they aren’t using it and don’t plan to. A year earlier, 32% hadn’t tried AI at all.

The same report found 55% of agents say AI has had a positive effect on their business. Flip that number over and it’s the uncomfortable part: nearly half the industry is using AI without being able to say it helped. Another 31% are still experimenting occasionally, which is the group most likely to try a tool for a week and drop it.

NAR’s researchers frame the goal plainly. Agents want technology to give them time back and give clients a better experience.

“The two payoffs they want most are time and a smoother experience.”
— Jessica Lautz, Deputy Chief Economist, National Association of REALTORS®

Time is the payoff agents report most. According to RPR’s February 2026 survey of 225 NAR members, 68% of agents save at least one hour a week with AI, and 63% name accuracy of output as their top concern. That concern is exactly why top agents build review into the workflow instead of trusting the first draft.

“Daily users and occasional users have the same tools. The daily users saved the prompt, gave the output a home in the CRM, and stopped starting from zero every Monday.”
— Emily Terrell, Tom Ferry Coach

How are top real estate agents using AI right now?

Top agents run AI in four places, in roughly this order. Each one has a trigger, a saved prompt, and a destination.

Do top agents still use AI for listing descriptions?

Yes, but they build the whole listing suite in one sitting instead of one asset at a time. Writing listing descriptions is the most common AI task among agents who use it, cited by 75% in NAR’s 2026 report, followed by social media posts and email follow-up.

The difference at the top is scope. One saved prompt produces the MLS description, three social captions, the database email, and the open house script from the same property data. The prompt already carries the agent’s voice, the market, and the compliance constraints. I lay out the full weekly version in The AI Workflow for Real Estate Agents Doing 20 Deals a Year.

How do top agents use AI for follow-up and their database?

They write each follow-up message once with AI, then turn it into a CRM template that runs on a trigger. Offer accepted, option period reminder, appraisal update, clear to close, post-closing check-in: drafted once, edited once, loaded into Follow Up Boss action plans, and never typed again.

The second follow-up job is database reactivation. Pull everyone with no touch in 60 days, give AI the last-contact notes, and get one specific message per person that references a real conversation. The agent edits and sends. That block takes about 20 minutes a week and produces more conversations than any content workflow I’ve coached.

Are top agents building their own AI tools?

The most advanced ones are, and Claude is where much of that building is happening. A September 2026 REALTOR® News report profiled brokerage leaders using Claude to automate farming research, turn MLS description writing into a saved workflow, and build internal dashboards and brokerage platforms with AI-assisted coding.

One Florida agent described replacing a 45-minute-per-listing writing task with a saved Claude workflow. A Texas broker-owner built a platform running 17 task-specific AI agents. Every leader in that report kept a human reviewing output and making the final call.

You don’t need to build software to use the principle. A Claude Project with your voice file and your five most-used prompts is the same idea at the size of one agent’s business.

Where do top agents draw the line with AI?

Top agents route three categories of output through a human before anything goes out: property marketing, claims about past clients, and anything that touches the contract. They don’t use AI voices to make outbound calls, they don’t generate testimonials, and they don’t let AI draft or interpret contract language.

Those three limits come from rules that already existed, not from AI policy. The TCPA, the FTC’s testimonial rule, and state license law all apply to the output regardless of what drafted it. I break down each one in What Should Real Estate Agents Never Use AI For?

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by state and change. Consult your broker or an attorney licensed in your state before setting AI policy.

What should brokerage leaders take from the 2026 data?

The barrier for most agents isn’t interest, it’s implementation. NAR’s 2026 report found 63% of agents name the learning curve as their biggest challenge in adopting new technology, ahead of cost.

That changes what training should look like. A demo of ten tools adds to the learning curve. A working session where every agent leaves with one saved prompt, one voice file, and one CRM template installed removes it. Brokerages that train to a finished workflow, rather than to awareness, are the ones whose agents show up in the daily-use column a year later.

How I use this in my own business

I close 70+ transactions a year in San Antonio on roughly five hours a week of active management, and AI touches nearly every piece of marketing and communication my team produces. None of it lives in a chat window.

My listing marketing suite runs from one saved prompt that already knows my voice, my market, and my compliance requirements, including broker identification and a Fair Housing constraint. The output moves straight into the templates my transaction coordinator uses, so it runs the same way in a week when I’m on a stage instead of at my desk. Every asset gets a human review before it is published.

Common mistakes

1. Treating adoption as the goal. Using AI weekly isn’t a result. If you can’t name the hours recovered or the workflow that now runs without you, you’re in the experimenting group, regardless of how often you open the app.
2. Pointing AI at content first. Captions are the easiest place to start and the weakest link to revenue. Follow-up and transaction communication touch live deals.
3. Leaving output in the chat window. If the draft doesn’t land in a CRM template, an action plan, or a checklist, it’s gone by Thursday. I cover the fix in Why Isn’t AI Working for Your Real Estate Business?
4. Adding tools before finishing a workflow. A second subscription with the same empty prompt gives you the same generic result. One general AI tool plus your CRM covers most of what top agents run.
5. Skipping the review gate. AI will invent a square footage, describe the likely buyers instead of the property, or drop your broker’s name. The license holder owns the output.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many real estate agents use AI in 2026?

About 88% of agents use AI or are curious about it, and nearly half use it regularly. NAR’s 2026 REALTORS® Technology Report found 23% of agents use AI daily and 25% weekly, while 31% experiment occasionally. Only 12% say they aren’t using AI and don’t plan to, down from 32% who hadn’t tried it in 2025.

What do real estate agents use AI for most?

Writing listing descriptions is the top use, cited by 75% of agents who use AI in NAR’s 2026 Technology Report. Social media posts follow at 56%, and drafting emails and follow-up at 52%. Top producers extend those same writing tasks into saved workflows that feed their CRM, so the output gets reused instead of rewritten.

What AI tools do top real estate agents use?

Most top agents run a short stack: one general-purpose AI model such as Claude or ChatGPT for drafting, a CRM with automation such as Follow Up Boss for follow-up, and one video tool. The tool matters less than the setup. A saved prompt, a voice file, and a defined destination for every output are what separate daily users from occasional ones.

Does AI actually help real estate agents get results?

For many agents, yes, but not automatically. In NAR’s 2026 Technology Report, 55% of agents said AI has had a positive effect on their business. The agents who see results use AI on follow-up and transaction communication, not just content, and they measure hours before and after so they can see whether the workflow actually changed anything.

What is the biggest barrier to AI adoption for real estate agents?

The learning curve. NAR’s 2026 Technology Report found 63% of agents name it as their biggest challenge in adopting new technology, ahead of cost at 59%. The fastest way through it is narrow: pick one recurring task, build one saved prompt for it, and run it on every instance for 30 days before adding anything else.

What should real estate agents never use AI for?

Agents should never use AI voices for outbound marketing calls without written consent, generate client testimonials, or draft and interpret contract language. Each of those turns AI output into a legal act reserved for a person. Everything else, including listing copy and captions, needs a human review step rather than a ban. This is general information, not legal advice.

How should a brokerage roll out AI to its agents?

Train to a finished workflow, not to awareness. Every agent should leave the session with one saved prompt, a voice file, and one CRM template installed, plus a short written AI policy naming approved tools and what client data never goes in. Brokerage leaders should confirm the policy details with counsel before rollout.

Bring this to your team or event

Emily Terrell speaks at brokerage events, real estate conferences, and team trainings on AI, systems, and social media — the exact playbook in this post, delivered live to your audience. As a Top Coach and Speaker at Tom Ferry International and an active agent closing 70+ transactions a year, Emily speaks from the stage about what’s working right now, not theory. Recent stages include NAHREP and eXp Con.

Book Emily to speak at your next event:
Email: eterrell@yourcoach.com
Phone: (210) 400-9191
Web: coachemilyterrell.com

For real estate agents who want to implement this: Get the weekly real estate prompt library at weeklyrealestateprompts.com or follow @coachemilyterrell on Instagram for daily systems and AI breakdowns.