Why HomeSmart is leaning into human support over AI 

How much does the human touch matter in the brokerage space? 

According to Stacey Onnen, who started a new job as president of HomeSmart in September, it's important enough to build a brokerage strategy and value proposition around — even with much of the industry moving in the opposite direction by prioritizing technology and automation. 

While some brands have boasted to investors about replacing support staff with AI agents and others are consolidating into mega-brokerages, Onnen is taking a different approach. During a recent conversation with Real Estate News, she explained that HomeSmart is staking its identity on the belief that real estate still requires a human being who answers the phone when an agent calls — and a business model that puts agents, not Wall Street, first. 

Tech as a companion — not a human replacement

Onnen's arrival at HomeSmart followed stints leading operations for Keller Williams and eXp Realty. Her path to joining the Scottsdale-based company started with some conversations a few years back. It was when Onnen reconnected with Founder and CEO Matt Widdows — and saw what she described as a rare combination of a top-tier tech platform and a financial structure that benefited agents — that she felt an immediate fit. 

"When I am having a horrible day, when my deal is struggling, when I made a mistake in a transaction — I want my broker," Onnen explained, illustrating that agents need someone who can be present when they need to be bailed out. "I want the person that I can go to on my worst day in my real estate career and know they're going to answer."

As for AI, Onnen said its potential to benefit agents and the industry at large is an exciting prospect. But the tech is there to provide value to agents, not just to Wall Street backers. Some processes can and should be automated, she said. But with so many tech-forward brokerages now in the business, "agents can get systems anywhere," according to Onnen — but value comes from making sure that "agents never feel left on an island."

Standing out in the age of consolidation

Real estate's consolidation moment is another potential threat to agent value and satisfaction, Onnen said, especially if it limits the kind of business that individual brokers and agents can operate. She sees agents as being independent — a theme that many other brokerage leaders have acknowledged as a core value that can determine entrepreneurial success.  

"The thing I don't want to see in the industry is loss of choice for the agent between different models," Onnen explained. "Different models are going to appeal to agents for different reasons. And sometimes I worry that when we're consolidating and creating fewer, really big companies, there's a strong possibility that agents could then start to lose control of some of their own business and their own choice."

But it's not just about losing choice — it's about protecting the agent's voice, Onnen added. After all, "this industry was built by the actual individual agent," she said. Consolidation could present an opportunity for agents to determine what they really value in their brokerage — and in the business. 

Does an agent-first model counter industry trends?

If it's the financial backers who choose which companies merge, Onnen said it will have to be the agents who choose which model they believe is best. In a future with fewer, larger players, HomeSmart is positioning itself as the stable, agent-centric, tech-forward alternative while other brokerages chase automation or consolidation.

After Widdows spent 25 years "quietly building" the company, HomeSmart is ready to step into the spotlight, Onnen said — an ambition already evidenced by the company's recent logo and brand redesign. As an operations leader and company evangelist, part of Onnen's job will be "getting out there more" so that agents can find HomeSmart.

But Widdows' low-key approach to growing the business may also speak to what differentiates HomeSmart from many other large brokerages in the industry. "I think he runs the company with such low ego and such an agent mindset," Onnen said.