Editor’s note: The following is the cover story from the December 2025 issue of RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine.
As the door closes on 2025, real estate professionals in every market across the country are setting their sights on the promise of better days ahead. But succeeding in the new year will take more than determination and hard work—it will require utilizing the technological innovations that facilitate operational efficiencies and increased business. Here, three real estate tech leaders share the innovations they believe will give agents and brokers a competitive advantage in 2026, helping them connect with today’s consumers and uncover important new opportunities.
Owning the homeownership journey: How BoldTrail helps agents go beyond the transaction
When the calendar page turns on a new year, there’s always some degree of trepidation about the changes that lie ahead. But there’s also excitement about the potential those changes may yield. For real estate professionals, 2026 is shaping up to be exactly that kind of year.
“Top teams and professional producers are at this crossroads right now,” says Joe Skousen, CEO of Inside Real Estate. “They’re trying to balance lead gen, client engagement, figuring out where AI fits…it’s a lot.”
That’s why Skousen and his team have put the focus on removing the fear and facilitating the potential for real estate professionals with future-focused enhancements to BoldTrail, Inside Real Estate’s all-in-one technology platform for agents, teams and brokers. The recently launched HomeSearch AI is the latest addition to BoldTrail’s comprehensive suite of tools.
“I’m really excited about what’s happening right now with HomeSearch AI,” says Skousen. “It lets buyers search the way they actually talk. Someone types in ‘craftsman with a two-car garage, spa-like bathrooms, in a neighborhood with sidewalks and parks,’ and the AI understands what they really want. Not just matching keywords, but understanding intent.”
While other natural-language AI search models are now dotting the market, Skousen believes HomeSearch AI has a distinct competitive advantage. “I’m really proud that we had the foresight to acquire ListAssist early in 2025 and build this the right way,” he says. “You can’t just bolt natural language search onto an existing system and expect it to deliver the same experience. We built it into the foundation, with the data infrastructure and scale to make it truly effective. That head start matters.”
And according to Skousen, the results so far have been somewhat jaw-dropping, with early adopters seeing 20x – 40x more conversations with their sphere. “Not 20% more,“ he says. “Twenty times more. It’s fundamentally changing how agents engage with their databases.”
HomeSearch AI further solidifies BoldTrail’s ability to serve as a hub that allows real estate professionals to drive more engagement, more productivity and more intelligence through the activities that comprise their day-to-day.
“We’re focused on helping agents uncover opportunities they’re already sitting on,” explains Skousen. “Your inbox is full of hidden opportunities. Your database has signals you might be missing. And being able to respond in the moment can be the difference between winning and losing a deal. It all ties back to owning the complete homeownership journey and helping agents build real, lasting relationships with their clients.”
According to Skousen, owning the homeownership journey is an urgent necessity for anyone who’s part of the real estate ecosystem.
“I think the industry’s kind of lost the plot on lead generation,” he explains. “Everyone’s chasing new leads, expecting people to be ready immediately. But that’s just not how buyers and sellers engage anymore.”
Instead, says Skousen, agents need to focus on database reactivation, which leads to higher conversion at a fraction of the cost. Doing so, however, requires the right resources.
“Most agents don’t have tools smart enough to actually work their database effectively,” he says. “We’re solving that. We’re sending 160 million alerts a month through the platform, and when someone’s search gets matched with the right property, that conversation starts naturally.
“The entire industry needs to wake up to the benefit of full homeownership experiences for clients. That’s what we’re building with BoldTrail,” adds Skousen. “As we bring new capabilities to market this year, we’re continuing that momentum. More conversations from relationships you’ve already built, better engagement, consistent execution.”
Outcomes over features
As AI-powered offerings flood the market, Skousen advises real estate professionals to look beyond the bells and whistles and make sure any product they’re considering delivers measurable results.
“What really matters to us is outcomes over features,” he explains. “How does AI surface opportunities hiding in inboxes? How does it improve engagement across every touchpoint? How does it help agents work smarter without adding more complexity?”
For a company to deliver on all of those fronts, says Skousen, it must have not only the technology, but the data, the scale and the people as well.
“We have professionalized teams focused on conversion-rate optimization, lead-funnel analysis and database-engagement strategies,” he says. “Most companies either have the tech or they have the optimization expertise, but not both. We’re bringing the full package.”
In short, when it comes to AI, don’t just consider the features. Consider the partner.
“What matters is capabilities, scale, the ability to innovate and stay ahead,” says Skousen. “Can your partner enhance and enrich your data over time—data that you own and control? Do they have the expertise to help you convert more, engage more, grow more? That’s where we stand apart.”
In addition to results-driven AI expertise, Skousen believes that BoldTrail also solves the problem of “platform sprawl.”
“Agents don’t need another tool. They need everything to work together seamlessly,” he says. “BoldTrail and BackOffice can be your complete solution, or we can be the foundational hub that makes all your other tools work better together. The point is flexibility. Whether you go all-in with our full stack or integrate the solutions you’re already invested in, your tech ecosystem works better because of how we’ve built it.”
Future focused
As we head into 2026, Skousen has a message for the real estate industry: Stop thinking transactionally and start embracing the entire homeownership lifecycle.
“We’re so focused on closing the deal that we’re missing the bigger opportunity,” he explains. “Someone doesn’t just buy a home and disappear. They renovate, refinance, track their equity, think about their next move. It’s a massive opportunity just sitting there. Every brokerage, every team should be able to deliver that complete journey, and we’re partnering with agents and brokerages to make that possible.”
As Skousen and his team continue to build momentum around the release of HomeSearch AI, making sure agents and teams maximize the resource to its fullest potential, they are also building toward something bigger.
“As we move through the year, we’re bringing capabilities to market that surface opportunities agents are already sitting on—deals hiding in their inboxes and conversations they’re already having,” he says. “The goal isn’t more tools. It’s more intelligence baked into what they’re already doing.”
With that goal in mind, Skousen plans to expand BoldTrail’s capability as a hub, continuing to add partnerships and improve how data moves across the system.
“Everything we do comes back to one question: Does this help the agent build lasting relationships with their clients?” he explains. “We’re not chasing features. We’re building a platform that helps agents own the complete homeownership journey.”
For more information, visit https://boldtrail.com.
Not Just Leads, Opportunities: PropStream Rewrites the Script on Lead Generation
Leads have long been the lifeblood of a real estate professional’s success strategy. Yet they’re also the bane of many an agent’s existence—too expensive, impossible to manage and often a dead end.
That’s why Brian Tepfer and his team have set out to change this vicious cycle of lead generation. As the CEO of real estate data provider PropStream, the 25-year industry vet is spearheading the roll-out of not only highly legitimate leads, but an AI-powered engine designed to help agents convert those leads effectively and efficiently.
According to Tepfer, this necessary evolution of traditional lead gen requires rewriting the script.
“I’m always careful now not to say ‘leads,’ but to say ‘opportunities,’” explains Tepfer. “When you say lead gen, people often think of passive lead gen, like Zillow leads. We provide data that allows agents to find their next sale, their next investment—their next opportunity. We’re using machine learning and AI to help people identify qualified
Opportunities.”
PropStream’s latest innovation creates what Tepfer describes as a lead generation ecosystem. With the company’s July acquisition of BatchLeads and BatchDialer,
PropStream’s rich data is now married with an AI-powered lead and marketing platform. As Tepfer says, this now closes the loop, enabling real estate professionals to search, identify and effectively connect with those who are most likely to transact.
Tepfer explains that by utilizing high-level skip tracing from BatchLeads, PropStream significantly increases connectivity opportunities for real estate professionals, helping them avoid the time suck of chasing bad email addresses and phone numbers.
BatchDialer then further enhances that connectivity by using live AI integration to create scripts on the fly so that anyone dealing with a prospect knows what to say next. Instead of being locked into an awkward pre-determined script, BatchDialer provides contextual responses in real time, helping agents have more authentic and productive conversations.
“You will have a live transcript that will create contextual prompts based on the prospects’ responses,” explains Tepfer. “It really acts as almost a live-support coach that helps them through the phone call.”
Carving a path to success despite uncertainty
The lead gen ecosystem that PropStream has created solves several key pain points for real estate professionals as they head into a still uncertain year ahead. As stubborn challenges continue to impact the real estate landscape, such as interest rates and the lock-in effect, the urgency to uncover those who are most likely to move is more important than ever.
“The first pain point that we solve is finding qualified properties,” says Tepfer. “The traditional way of canvassing neighborhoods, it’s—for lack of a better word—the spray and pray approach. Agents go everywhere and hope they get something. Instead, real estate professionals can use our software to help them find those qualified people who need to list. This also helps agents hone their marketing cost to those most likely to convert.”
PropStream generates opportunities using key data points that indicate someone is likely to move based on life changes, such as death, divorce or retirement. PropStream also gives real estate professionals the chance to help homeowners in financial distress, thanks to the program’s ability to predict pre-foreclosures. As Tepfer explains, this allows an agent to help a homeowner out of a tough spot before the situation gets worse and irreparable damage is done.
According to Tepfer, PropStream’s ecosystem is designed to help agents succeed no matter how 2026 pans out, uncovering business for agents in any market environment. As he explains, it’s about knowing where to look, and with a nationwide database, 160 million parcels and 165-plus unique filters that can be stacked, the opportunities available through PropStream are there for the taking.
“You can find homeowners whose interest rates are going to change, creating affordability issues, if they have liens, or you could look at people’s equity and how long they’ve been in their home—you can find those patterns or those situations where people are going to be likely to transact,” says Tepfer. “There’s no predicting what the market’s going to do, but I think the most successful agents know that there are still opportunities out there. Real estate’s still moving.”
Tepfer also emphasizes that agents need to be able to strike when the iron’s hot, whenever that may eventually be.
“I believe that the market is at a tipping point—something’s going to give,” says Tepfer. “There’s so much pent-up demand that as soon as there’s any shift in interest rates or affordability, we’re going to see a big explosion of transactions. The more that you are in the system, the more that you understand your market, and understand the data out there, when that shift happens, you are already at an advantage.”
To help ensure real estate professionals are ready to seize the opportunities available through PropStream—now and into the future—Tepfer and his team are doubling down on training.
“If customers are going to invest in our tools, we want to ensure they get the most out of them,” he explains. “We have weekly live webinars and classes. We are one of the few companies that have a full U.S.-based live support team. If you pick up the phone to make a call, you’re going to get a live person. We invest a lot in training and user education.”
Standing apart in the AI arena
As is the case for many companies in 2026, AI will play an increasing role in PropStream’s offering. However, as AI becomes an even more frequently used buzzword, the risk of getting drowned out increases. That’s why having a competitive edge when it comes to AI is essential, Tepfer
explains.
“I think a lot of companies jumped on the AI bandwagon and really just provided chatbots—it’s not contextual to help someone do their job,” he explains. “We view AI as an assistant and a tool, not something to replace the real estate professional, but to help them make better-informed decisions that lead to more deals. What we do well, and what sets us apart, is the way we approach AI from that lens—not to be gimmicky just to say we have AI, because that doesn’t help our users be more successful.”
For those real estate professionals who are reluctant to embrace AI, Tepfer says, learn, persevere and stay the course.
“It’s akin to saying, ‘I’m going to join the gym because I want to get stronger,’ but only going to the gym one time and still expecting to achieve your goals,” says Tepfer. “What gives people the most success is consistency and dedication. They need to put that time in every day. Real estate agents who don’t use AI will be at a massive disadvantage from those who adopt it.”
While Tepfer refrained from tipping his hand, he confirmed that there is indeed more to come from PropStream in 2026.
“Our biggest focus is utilizing evolving machine learning algorithms, current AI methodologies and the most innovative tools on the market to help our customers,” says Tepfer. “We are constantly looking toward innovation, utilizing the tools and technology of our acquisition to make our platform better.”
For more information, visit https://www.propstream.com.
Ushering in the Next Generation of Real Estate: RISE by MoxiWorks Enhances Agent Productivity and Brokerage Efficiency
A new era is unfolding in real estate—and MoxiWorks, a real estate tech platform that has revolutionized the industry for more than a decade, is stepping up to meet the moment with its latest innovation designed to address the evolving needs of the real estate market.
Introduced last month at the 2025 NAR NXT Conference & Expo, RISE by MoxiWorks is a new technology platform built on the expertise and intellectual horsepower that have positioned the company as a trusted innovator in real estate.
Built specifically for the real estate market, MoxiWorks CMO Kim Koraca—who has been instrumental in bringing the product to market—notes that there’s a major transformation taking place at the company, which aligns with getting back to the basics of focusing on the value that’s being delivered to
brokerages.
“MoxiWorks has a good history of working with enterprise brokerages on custom packaging, but there’s an opportunity with all of that to evolve. It was time to elevate some of our legacy products in a way that services those enterprise customers we had, but also opened us up to a larger total addressable market,” says Koraca, who goes on to explain that the focus of RISE going forward is to fill the gap that persists among small to large brokerages.
“Brokerages have always deserved more, and now more than ever they’re demanding more,” says Koraca, pointing to the company’s acknowledgement that now was the time to do things differently in order to continue to drive value to the
industry.
“We know that brokerages have had diminishing patience with pieces of technology that didn’t help them with managing their margins and agent adoption, but with so much tech—and so much choice available today—we’re taking a much more aggressive approach in RISE compared to how MoxiWorks did it before,” explains Koraca.
“We’re not looking around saying, ‘Well, what is so-and-so doing? We need to do that, too.’ We’re looking around saying, ‘Nobody’s doing this; we’re going to do it better.’”
And with so much focus on the mass of value to the agent who has to show value to the consumer, Koraca notes that tech companies sometimes forget about the value that has to be supported and delivered to the broker/owner. “And so our vision with RISE is to literally help brokerages rise up in their market,” she says.
Integrating CRM, email marketing and native-AI driven insights to enhance agent productivity and brokerage efficiency, RISE is an all-in-one platform that emphasizes flexible pricing models and agent autonomy—allowing for scalable solutions tailored to brokerage needs.
Focused on the value and pain points that have always impacted brokerage owners and agents, RISE is ushering in the next generation of real estate—flipping the script as far as the way agents adopt technology and how it can be done so that it’s not a burden of cost to the brokerage.
“A lot of brokerage-centric software models offer the same tiered pricing model, but technology is so much more than that,” says Koraca.
Rather than nickel-and-diming customers on every module and putting them onto a path of upsell, RISE is providing brokerages the option to come in at a low-barrier, low-cost entry with the ability for agents to self-upgrade within that if they want premium features. A premium package with no limitations will also be available, providing an unlimited scope of possibility to brokerages and agents alike.
“The flexibility in pricing and plans will allow brokerages to get in the game and grow and scale their business,” says Koraca—all while keeping the value on the brokerage.
“It’s thinking about the opportunity to expand through agents that want some autonomy to make additional choices for themselves while still playing safe in terms of the brokerage’s concern of compliance and brand,” adds Koraca. “It allows the agent to fly but still be compliant and on-brand within the brokerage.”
Empowering agents with proactive AI
Built to help businesses thrive, RISE by MoxiWorks is the first native-AI relationship intelligence platform that interprets real engagement data to surface opportunities, reveal next steps and automate outreach.
“What’s different about our AI is what the agent didn’t even know to ask,” says Koraca, who explains that rather than taking over for the agent, the AI is surfacing things they didn’t know to ask for to more effectively nurture their database—proactively identifying opportunities that might go unnoticed.
For example, if an agent has leads sitting dormant in their database, the system can surface them automatically, generate a tailored email nurture campaign and prompt the agent to take action. With a single tap on their mobile device, the agent can choose to launch the campaign immediately or review and customize the suggested messaging before sending.
RISE also leverages AI to identify meaningful connections with an agent’s database such as new listings that match existing buyers, or properties that align with current sellers. When it spots an opportunity, the system can automatically suggest building and deploying a comparative market analysis.
Using the agent’s existing templates, it generates a customized presentation with listings relevant to their buyer and that address. Every recommendation is based on real data and behavioral insights, drawing on past marketing efforts to ensure each action is timely, targeted and highly personalized.
“Agents no longer have to be thinking about what they’re not doing or what they should be doing better, as the AI is going to prioritize where they need to focus on any given day while crafting the messaging, building the workflow and deploying it,” says Koraca.
“The AI isn’t smarter than the agent, but the AI is bringing to the surface something the agent wasn’t thinking about or didn’t have the time to get to yet,” she adds. “And it does it for them. But the agent can also edit it, approve it, deploy it—or even save it for later. It’s proactive AI with the agent still in control, showing the agent’s core value in the whole process. It’s leveraging all of that to build something that’s more intelligent and doesn’t look and feel like AI when it’s deployed.”
A roadmap for what’s next
Monthly releases will begin rolling out in January, according to Koraca, providing clients clarity on the roadmap of what’s to come as MoxiWorks doubles down on its commitment to bring to market an extremely robust product.
“We have a product that delivers on the things we promised we were going to do as we continue to expand our value to larger segments of the market,” says Koraca—with a team component marking the next major milestone in that evolution.
“Teams are very much underserved in the real estate industry with technology that’s either been built for them but isn’t pulling in MLS feeds and branding packages from the brokerage, or it’s been built for the brokerage and is kind of shoehorning them in,” she explains.
“There’s going to be a very strong teams component within RISE that’s been thought of for teams and how they’re a member of their brokerage but how they need to have their autonomy and their own decision-making and sharing for what they need to do.”
As MoxiWorks charts the next phase of its journey, the focus remains clear: delivering a robust, user-friendly platform that meets the demands of the market while keeping the agent and brokerage at the center of it all.
For more information, visit https://moxiworks.com/solutions/rise.
