LA brokers chase AI referrals as tools reshape deal visibility

Los Angeles brokers are learning that the next referral may not come from a lunch, a golf game or a warm introduction. It may come from an AI system deciding which name looks most credible for a given deal.

A ranking of nearly 2,700 Los Angeles commercial real estate brokers showed how fast that shift is taking hold. The top slot went to a national capital markets chief who closed $2.6 billion in 2024 deals, while Jake Glaser, the No. 2 name, logged $65 million in 2025. The message was hard to miss: AI visibility is rewarding brokers who have built a clear niche and enough market-specific authority to surface as the relevant answer, not simply the people attached to the largest brokerage platform.

That is changing the basic marketing math. The brokers rising fastest are the ones publishing deal data, maintaining visible thought leadership and building a digital identity that is easy for a machine to parse. The new competition is not just for search rankings, but for legibility. AI assistants need a broker who can be tied to a specific asset class, market or transaction history, and the ones feeding those systems a steady stream of information are gaining an edge.

Taylor Avakian, a first vice president at Lyon Stahl Investment Real Estate, said the hardest problem for younger or less established brokers is brand awareness and differentiation, not deal capability. He said ChatGPT had already helped him connect with investors looking to deploy $6 million to $12 million, a sign that AI can open the door long before a traditional referral lands.

The opportunity is uneven, though. Some markets still do not have enough structured data for AI to make strong broker recommendations, which means the brokers who consistently package and publish market intelligence may end up shaping the very systems that point investors toward the next call. That is pushing CRE marketing beyond generic SEO and into category-specific entity building, where trust, clarity and specialization matter more than broad visibility.

The broader industry has been heading this way all year. A 2025 JLL study found more than 700 real estate companies had already implemented AI-powered tools, while a Ferguson Partners survey said 88% of real estate firms were investing in AI. SelectLeaders job posts mentioning AI doubled from 2024 to 2025, even though they still represented just 2.5% of postings. At the same time, Wall Street’s AI scare trade wiped nearly $12 billion from CBRE’s market value in one day, a reminder that brokerage economics are under pressure as productivity tools advance.

Consumer platforms are moving just as fast. On June 2, Realtor.com launched RealAssist AI, an AI-first home search product built with Google’s Gemini and Google Cloud, aiming to guide buyers from a first question to an agent connection. For Los Angeles brokers, the funnel is no longer starting with a handshake. It is starting with whatever the machine can recognize, verify and recommend.