MLSs aren’t just listing databases anymore. In this week’s Inman Tech Roundup, we detail how one MLS handed 15,000 agents an artificial intelligence assistant that builds prospecting campaigns, and another rebuilt its consumer home search around plain-language queries.
Meanwhile, CoStar spent $730 million on a fleet of camera planes, and Boxabl is eyeing a piece of the AI infrastructure boom.
Here’s what you need to know:
RealReports expands in Texas with LERA MLS deal
LERA MLS is giving more than 15,000 members across San Antonio and South Texas access to RealReports, the property intelligence platform, the company announced Tuesday. Access starts immediately.
James Rogers
RealReports bundles property research, prospecting, CMAs and client engagement tools into one platform. The company says it draws on data covering more than 150 million U.S. properties from over 100 sources. Its AI assistant, Aiden, runs across all of those apps.
The main feature is Aiden’s Agentic Mode. It combines that property data with an agent’s CRM, email and calendar, plus market and business data from partner feeds, and surfaces opportunities each day.
RealReports co-founder and COO Zach Gorman gave an example: After a closing, Aiden can flag likely sellers nearby and prepare a targeted campaign, with the audience and creative ready for the agent to review.
“Changing market conditions and competitors are raising expectations of MLSs,” said James Rogers, co-founder and CEO of RealReports, in a statement. “LERA is showing how an MLS can use its scale to make advanced AI a shared advantage for the professionals it serves.”
LERA CEO Gilbert Gonzalez called the partnership an investment in tools that help members “give better advice and create more opportunities for their businesses.”
The deal expands RealReports’ presence in Texas. The company already partners with the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors (GEPAR).
What this means for agents
For LERA members, the practical draw is an MLS-funded tool that turns past deals and existing contacts into ready-made prospecting campaigns.
Much of the follow-up work agents now handle themselves in their CRM would move into the MLS. The bigger signal is that MLSs are starting to compete on AI, not just data. That means the tools agents get for their dues could vary a lot from one market to the next.
Lansing Realtors launch plain-language home search
The Greater Lansing Association of Realtors (GLAR) launched a plain-language search tool last week on its consumer site, lansing-realestate.com. Instead of clicking through filters, shoppers can type something like “a three-bedroom home under $300,000 with a fireplace and an attached garage” and get matching MLS listings.
Meghan Webber
According to the association, Smart Search handles location requests such as “walking distance to Michigan State,” lifestyle filters like fenced yards and open houses this weekend, and queries in more than 50 languages. Buyers who find a home they like are routed straight to the listing agent.
GLAR’s listings will also appear on Cribio.com, the national portal run by the Broker Public Portal MLS alliance. The group says Cribio covers 537 markets in 24 states and serves 419,000 agents through MLS partnerships.
“Finding a home starts with describing what matters to you,” said Meghan Webber, CEO of the Greater Lansing Association of Realtors. “Smart Search lets buyers do exactly that. They describe the home they want, and the site matches it to accurate, current MLS listings. It is a simpler way to start the search, and it keeps buyers connected to the Realtors who help them get to the closing table.”
The launch puts a Mid-Michigan association in the conversational-search race that the major portals have been running for the past few years.
What this means for agents
Because inquiries go straight to the listing agent, the association’s own site becomes a real lead source, not just Zillow or Realtor.com. The Cribio feed also puts Lansing listings in front of out-of-market buyers, which helps agents who work with relocation clients.
Prefab homebuilder Boxabl eyes the data center boom
Boxabl, the Las Vegas maker of prefab homes, wants a piece of the data center boom.
The company, which listed on Nasdaq in July, unveiled a concept for “Server Pods,” factory-built enclosures for AI and cloud-computing hardware. Proposed sizes run from 10- and 20-foot units up to 40-foot enclosures, plus a 2,500-square-foot version Boxabl calls the “Server Tron.”
The idea is the same one Boxabl uses for housing: build in a controlled factory, then ship finished structures to the site to cut costs and timelines. The company cites JLL projections that roughly 100 gigawatts of new global data center capacity could come online between 2026 and 2030, requiring up to $3 trillion in investment.
For now, it’s only a concept. Boxabl didn’t disclose customers, pricing or a production timeline, and the announcement doesn’t address the power and cooling demands that drive data center construction.
“The announcement is not the launch of a new commercial product. BOXABL has not begun manufacturing Server Pods and is not offering them for sale. Instead, the company is using the concept to demonstrate what its existing factory infrastructure could potentially build for data center customers and to invite developers and equipment manufacturers to discuss custom projects,” the press release says.
Still, the move fits a broader pattern. Data centers already compete with homebuilders for land, power and labor, and now a company built to make housing affordable is pitching its factories to them, too.
What this means for the real estate industry
If Boxabl’s data center pitch gains traction, factory capacity built to solve the housing shortage could end up serving server farms as well. It’s another way AI spending may pull resources away from new homes.
It also hints at where off-site construction is headed. Developers and lenders still doubt modular housing’s economics, and builders may find faster, larger checks from tech infrastructure buyers.
Technology is changing real estate faster than most of us can keep up. November is Proptech Month. We’ll go deep on the startups building what comes next and ask who’s actually shaping the future.
CoStar buys aerial imagery firm Vexcel for $730M
CoStar Group is buying aerial imagery company Vexcel for about $730 million in cash, the company announced last week.
Erik Jorgensen
Vexcel flies its own aircraft and builds its own UltraCam cameras. It captures more than 60 million images a year across more than 45 countries and 320 major metros, covering 99.6 percent of the U.S. population. It reshoots major U.S. metros up to three times a year, at resolutions CoStar says are roughly 16 times finer than typical satellite imagery.
Vexcel generated more than $140 million in revenue over the past 12 months, up more than 30 percent year over year, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of roughly 20 percent. Most of that revenue comes from recurring, multiyear data contracts.
CEO Andy Florance said CoStar plans to use AI to pull hundreds of data fields per property from Vexcel’s imagery of roughly half a billion properties. He called it an “ultra-low-cost” addition to the ground-level research CoStar has relied on since 1989.
“For decades, Vexcel has invested in creating highly accurate geospatial data that customers rely on every day,” said Erik Jorgensen, Vexcel’s CEO. “By joining CoStar Group, we gain the scale, technology, and resources to broaden our reach, accelerate innovation, and deliver even greater value to customers worldwide.”
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. It’s the latest in a series of data acquisitions for CoStar, following its 2025 purchase of Matterport.
What this means for agents
If CoStar can extract property details like roof condition, pools and lot features from aerial photos at scale, Homes.com and its other platforms could show richer listing data than agents enter themselves.
That could help CoStar compete with Zillow on data, but it also means buyers will see more from CoStar’s aerial photos than from the listing agent or the MLS.
