The Group Real Estate’s Brandon Wells on AI ‘slop,’ independents’ edge

Brandon Wells, president and CEO of The Group Real Estate, doesn’t buy into the fear that artificial intelligence will replace real estate agents (AI).

But he also doesn’t buy into most of the AI tools being sold to brokerages today.

“I think there’s a lot of AI slop out there,” Wells said on the latest episode of the RealTrending Podcast with host Tracey Velt. “I think there’s a lot of vendors that are just, you know, putting large language model tools into their existing software, and I don’t really know that that’s accomplishing anything.”

The Group, a northern Colorado brokerage founded in 1976 and the birthplace of the Ninja Selling system, has grown primarily through organic methods under Wells’ leadership since he stepped into the CEO role in 2018.  

Rather than chasing mergers and acquisitions, Wells said the firm’s success has come from investing in brokers through training, education and a culture of abundance — bolstered by an employee-owned model that encourages knowledge sharing rather than hoarding trade secrets.

“In a typical independent contractor setting, there’s a lot of scarcity,” Wells said. “There’s a lot of people that want to hide their trade secrets, and there’s less abundance. I think one of the benefits of having an ownership model where everybody has a vested interest in not only their own personal success but the brokerage success — it’s created this abundance of sharing.”

Private listings: Net negative if unchecked

On the industry’s heated debate over private listings, Wells was measured but firm.

He said he struggles to see how keeping listings entirely off the open market benefits sellers, arguing that maximum exposure typically yields the best results.

“I do not think you can convince me [that] a world that having listings be solely private is of benefit to sellers,” Wells said. “I believe in any product, maximum exposure to the vast, largest audience that we can reach is going to always warrant the best results. Now, there are very many circumstances where I understand private listings could be of benefit to a certain party, but I struggle to understand that it’s a benefit to all.

“And I think it’s more riddled in risk, because I think that is more about what is in the best interest of the brokerage than what’s in the best interest of the customer.”

He said The Group uses office exclusives as a temporary tool — to prepare a property for market, gather feedback from 250 agents and fine-tune pricing before a full launch.

But he warned that without guardrails, private listings tilt toward brokerage benefit over consumer benefit.

How independents win amid consolidation

As large franchises and public brokerages continue to merge and acquire, Wells sees an opening for regional independents.

He said private independents grew market share by 2% in the past year, and he attributed that momentum to flexibility and the democratization of technology.

“Independents are in a really strong position, because if there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my 20-plus years in this industry, it’s that — especially independent contractors as salespeople — they don’t like to be lumped into the same kind of offering,” Wells said. “They like their independence. They like their own creativity, and they really like to differentiate.”

He added that automation and AI have made sophisticated resources accessible to smaller players.

With internal tools like Claude Code for “vibe coding,” The Group has started building its own platforms to manage agent goals and productivity rather than signing expensive vendor contracts.

“What was once really hard to obtain or to achieve or to be able to provide as resources, I think, has become a lot more accessible for the small guy, which gives a big competitive advantage back into the court of the independents,” Wells said.

On recruiting, retention and consumer honesty

When asked what works in recruiting and retention, Wells did not cite incentives or splashy technology.

Instead, he pointed to genuine care and a healthy culture.

“I think, honestly, what’s working is true, genuine care of the success of the agents that are within your walls,” Wells said. “Unfortunately, I think our industry has a bad rap of looking at people as objects, whether that means they’re a revenue number or just a body count. For us, what really works in recruiting is that genuine care on wanting to help brokers understand what is working from shared experiences of their peers.”

Wells acknowledged that market conditions have grown tougher, requiring more education around financing and seller concessions. But he rejected the notion that agents should blame the market for poor results.

“Look one office down and you see somebody having their best year yet — it’s predicated on the effort that brokers are putting in, not the market conditions,” he said.

AI overreaction and raising the bar

Wells identified AI fears as the trend agents are most overreacting to. The trend they are underestimating: rising consumer expectations.

“I think the consumer has really high expectations, and I think we’re still behind the curve on what we’re offering as an industry and truly listening to the consumer journey,” he said. “I think it’s confusing. I think it’s cluttered.”

Asked what he would change overnight, Wells returned to a longtime frustration: low licensing standards.

“I think our industry gets a bad rap because the barrier to entry is too low, and I think — for the people who are truly running this like a profession — they get harmed pretty badly in the eyes of the consumer due to the hobbyists,” he said.

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This article was generated with the assistance of HousingWire Automation. It was reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication. The system helps convert company announcements and industry data into HousingWire-style news coverage.