[T]echnology: Data Is the New Intelligence
[E]ducation: Where I Stand
[C]oaching: You’re Still Here
[H]ow To: Come Up With Ideas
[T]echnology: Data Is the New Intelligence
So the video above has been making the rounds and it raises a question that I think we all need to sit with for a minute.
I don't condone scraping. Although the irony that Zillow started by scraping data is not lost on me. ⬇️
But does this mean that data is now a commodity? We already know intelligence is. Every AI company on the planet is racing to make their model smarter than the next. But the thing that feeds that intelligence… is data. Your data. My data. Everyone's data.
Something to think about.
Now…we've already talked about Claude Cowork and Perplexity Computer as AI agents over the past few weeks. The idea that AI can actually use your computer and do things for you. Well…the latest episode of leapfrog innovation just dropped. 🐸
OpenAI released GPT-5.4, and this one is different. (Please don’t read this as a “This Changes Everything Headline)
This is the first time OpenAI has built computer use directly into its main model. Not a plugin. Not a workaround. GPT-5.4 can see your screen, move your mouse, click buttons, type text, and complete entire workflows across multiple apps. On its own.
We're talking about an AI that can research something online, open a spreadsheet, plug in the data, build a presentation from it, and email it to your team. While you're at a showing.
And here's the part that got me…on a benchmark that tests how well AI can navigate a desktop and complete real tasks, GPT-5.4 scored 75%. The average human scored 72.4%.
Read that again. ⬆️⬆️⬆️
It's also 33% less likely to be wrong than the previous model. So it's not just faster. It's more accurate.
Every few weeks one of these companies takes a massive leap, and the others have to respond. Claude did it with Cowork. Perplexity did it with Computer. And now OpenAI just raised the bar again with 5.4.
The question isn't whether AI agents are coming to your business. They're here. The question is whether you're going to use them or compete against the agent who does.
[E]ducation: Where I Stand
The Industry Just Split. Here's Where I Stand. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
I've been watching this play out for months. So I'm going to say something.
I don't think any single company is the hero here.
Compass started a fire. 🔥🔥
When they turned private listings from a seller-discretion tool into a systematic data strategy, they opened a door that couldn't easily be closed again. Their recent acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate (the parent company of Coldwell Banker, Century 21, and Sotheby's International Realty) only made that clearer. Combined, Compass and Anywhere represent well over 50% of agents in the United States. When one network controls that much market share AND funnels listings into its own private ecosystem before they ever hit the open market, the question stops being about seller choice. It becomes about data monopoly.
That move prompted Redfin to partner with Compass, agreeing to display Compass private listings on their platform. Which set off everything that followed.
Zillow's response was Zillow Preview. ⬇️
Zillow Preview is a new program that lets agents at participating brokerages publicly market a listing on Zillow and Trulia before it goes active in the MLS. Think of it as a "coming soon" phase that's visible to everyone on the internet rather than locked inside a private network. REMAX was one of the first brands to sign on, alongside Keller Williams, HomeServices of America, Side, and United Real Estate.
But here's what doesn't get said enough. 📣
Zillow isn't doing this for consumers. They aren't doing it for agents. They aren't doing it for the MLS. They're doing it for Zillow. And honestly, that's fine. That's what companies do. What's not fine is wrapping it in consumer-first language while the actual mechanics tell a different story.
Consider this: Zillow has been taking your listings through the MLS feed for years and paying you nothing for them. Now, with Zillow Preview, they're suddenly willing to share revenue with listing agents. The difference is that Preview listings come directly to Zillow rather than through the MLS, which means Zillow controls the relationship from the start. That's worth sitting with.
And the irony gets richer. 💰
It was Zillow's own Coming Soon program back in 2014 that inspired Robert Reffkin to build Compass's 3-phase marketing model in the first place. Zillow killed it. Compass built an empire around it. Now Zillow is relaunching it under a different name to fight the monster it helped create.
So where does that leave us as agents? 🤷
Here's where I'll give credit where it's genuinely due. The REMAX alignment with Zillow Preview has a structural benefit worth understanding.
Normally, when a buyer contacts a listing on Zillow, that lead gets routed to whoever paid for Premier Agent advertising (Zillow's program where agents pay to have buyer leads from other agents' listings sent to them). Not the listing agent. Not the person who actually knows the property. The REMAX agreement with Zillow Preview changes that. When a buyer chooses to contact the listing agent directly, that lead comes to you free with no referral fee attached. The seller's agent stays front and center. The seller gets an agent who's actually accountable to them. The buyer gets connected to the person with the most knowledge about that home. 🧠
There is a second scenario worth knowing. If a buyer instead chooses to connect with a Zillow Preferred Agent for buyer representation, Zillow earns a referral fee on that transaction and pays the listing agent 10% of it. It's nice when it happens. Just understand it only happens when Zillow wins the buyer relationship rather than you getting the lead directly.
Both outcomes are still better than what happens today with a standard active MLS listing on Zillow. Right now you get neither.
But let's not pretend this solves fragmentation. It doesn't. ❌
The industry is now officially splintered. Every platform trying to build its own exclusive inventory pipeline. Every brand trying to own a piece of the pre-market. The agents who win in this environment are the ones who refuse to be loyal to any single platform and are instead loyal to the best outcome for their clients.
That means you understand every channel. You know what Zillow Preview can do for a seller. You know what the MLS still provides that no portal can replicate. You know when pre-marketing actually serves the client and when it serves someone else's business model.
Your value right now is being the person in the room who isn't confused by any of this.
The masquerade is over. Every company in this story is acting in its own self-interest. Our job is to act in the interest of the people who hire us.
That's always been the job. It just got a lot more complicated. 👀
[C]oaching: You’re Still Here
I saw this post from Chris Smith this week and it stopped me mid-scroll.
He reminded every agent reading that if you're still in this business in 2026…you've been through it. And I mean through it. As someone who opened my first office in 2007…I felt this! 😭😭
Think about everything that's happened since 2024. Rates that made buyers disappear. A lawsuit that rewrote the rules overnight. A news cycle that told the world AI was coming for your job. Deals falling apart at the finish line for reasons that didn't even exist five years ago.
And through all of that… you adapted. You learned buyer agreements on the fly. You had uncomfortable compensation conversations for the first time. You figured out how to add value in a market where every consumer thinks they can do it themselves on their phone.
That's not nothing. That's actually incredible. 👏
The people who left this business didn't leave because they were bad at it. They left because this was one of the hardest stretches our industry has ever seen. And the people who stayed didn't stay because it was easy. They stayed because they're built for this.
So if nobody has told you lately…I will.
You're still here. And that matters more than you think.
[H]ow To: Come Up With Ideas
Nothing is worse than being forced to sit at your computer and come up with fun, cool ideas for content—or even creative ways to improve your business. 😖
For me, my best ideas always come when I’m working out or in the shower. Maybe it’s because that’s the only time I’m forced to sit with my thoughts without a phone. What do I do when I come up with ideas? I write them in the Notes app on my phone. 📱 Even if I find something I want to recreate that someone else has done, I take a screenshot and save it in my notes. That way, whenever I’m sitting in front of my computer, I’m never just staring at the screen wondering what the heck I should be working on or filming.
This is especially important when it comes to video ideas. As you go about your day and situations happen, write them down in your notes. Did a seller have a buyer back out of a sale? Write it down so you remember to make a video about it. Did your first-time home buyers experience their first rejection? Write it down and turn it into a video. 📹 This includes all of your crazy story times. Put everything in your notes so you always have a video you can make every day! Your future self will thank you and you’ll never have a moment where you are wrecking your brain trying to come up with ideas.
Want high commission, a low cap, and real support to grow your business? Aspire is our exclusive program for motivated agents who are ready to scale fast with elite coaching and next-level tools
-Ty Morton + Abby G