Realtors can spend up to 35 hours on administrative tasks to close a single deal, according to Raz Zohar, who left his job in tech to work as an assistant in the industry to uncover its pain points. This realization sparked a “lightbulb moment,” inspiring him to create Mave—an AI-powered assistant designed to streamline tedious workflows and empower agents to focus on what they do best: serving clients and closing deals.

At its core, Mave uses AI technology to streamline tasks. Realtors interact with the tool through messaging platforms like WhatsApp or iMessage. For instance, an agent might text, “What’s the pet policy for ‘X’ building? When was it built? Does it have rent control?” Mave retrieves and organizes relevant information in seconds, enabling agents to provide instant answers to clients—avoiding the dreaded “let me get back to you” response.

Supporting agents in two key roles

Zohar identifies two primary roles agents juggle: consultant and marketer. Mave is designed to support both areas.

When representing a buyer, agents must act as consultants to help solve their problems, while for sellers, he adds, it goes beyond winning the deal. “Clients want agents to sell their property as fast as possible for the most amount of money,” Zohar notes.

Tasks that traditionally take days—such as creating social media strategies, filming scripts and promotional campaigns—can now be completed in minutes. Agents can quickly produce polished, branded content for platforms like TikTok, Instagram and email, driving engagement and results with minimal effort.

Mave is set up to adhere to brand guidelines for compliance. This means if agents need to market a property with, say, a social media post, a feature sheet or other collateral, they can text their request, and in a few seconds they’ll have branded content ready to go.

How Mave was born

Zohar’s curiosity was born from his own experience in buying a home—he knew his Realtor was working hard behind the scenes, but admittedly, he didn’t know what they were doing. He saw an opportunity for innovation in an industry often criticized for being slow to adopt new technology. 

He began with a question: What do Realtors actually do during those 35 hours? To understand, he quit his job in tech to work as a real estate executive assistant, immersing himself in the processes behind winning listings, staging homes, arranging repairs and managing marketing.

“The only way was to become someone in the industry doing the dirty work that no one sees.,” he explains. This hands-on experience revealed inefficiencies, particularly for brokerages grappling with shrinking margins and limited resources to hire full-scale marketing teams.

Agents often relied on outdated processes or had to wait days for in-house teams to deliver materials. With Mave, Zohar says those delays are eliminated, allowing agents to act quickly and decisively.

Adoption and growth

Mave started small but has rapidly scaled, onboarding nearly 6,000 agents across 90 brokerages in the Toronto area. Of the 1,000 beta users actively engaged, about 60 per cent use Mave daily, according to the company’s founder. 

Zohar emphasizes that trust is non-negotiable. “If an agent’s showing a home and Mave says it’s 10 bedrooms but it’s really one bedroom, you’re just not going to trust it,” he says. Mave’s engineers ensure data accuracy and train the AI to minimize errors.

Still, Zohar and his team see certain situations where AI needs to be fact-checked and reviewed “because it’s performing about 30 steps in one.” So, they advise users to thoroughly review any deeper analysis from Mave to be sure the results look right.

Collaboration with boards and data providers

The tool’s functionality hinges on partnerships with real estate boards and data providers. Zohar cites PropTx, a tech-focused initiative of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), as an example of industry interest in innovation.

While TRREB President Jennifer Pearce clarified that the board has no formal partnership with Mave, highlighting in a statement, “TRREB is a facilitator of technology for our members who are permitted to have individual contractual agreements with Virtual Office Website providers of their choosing.”

Mave takes data security seriously, adhering to strict protocols from real estate boards and brokerages. “Whenever we onboard a brokerage, we must go through a legal process we’ve guaranteed with the boards to sign off on the right to access data,” Zohar explains.

Human touch meets AI efficiency

Despite Mave’s capabilities, Zohar believes human interaction remains at the heart of real estate. “Psychologically, consumers are going through what’s usually the most meaningful purchase of their lives. They want support, a human touch and to feel that there’s a trusted companion by their side. This isn’t going to change because of AI,” he says.

Currently, Mave has onboarded one thousand users in Southern Ontario to its beta program with plans for expansion across North America. 

Zohar’s ultimate goal is to reduce administrative time by up to 90 per cent. For now, Mave continues to refine its features and onboard more users, aiming to revolutionize real estate by giving agents their time back.