Research dated 2026-09-05. Business value remains unmeasured. Software descriptions are documented capabilities; each project must verify fit, rights and outcomes before adoption.
United States brokerage-operations research pilot; state licensing, brokerage supervision, privacy, fair-housing and transaction requirements require local review.
What the evidence supports
DOJ describes the Fair Housing Act as prohibiting discrimination in housing transactions, while CFPB Regulation X governs real-estate settlement-service conduct. Those authorities support a narrow automation boundary around clerical collection, routing, reminders and draft preparation; they do not establish an automation rate or authorize software to decide advertising, access, steering, financing or settlement matters.
[doj-fha] [cfpb-respa]
Processes to test
Listing intake, completeness check and broker-approved publication
Collect supplied listing facts and media, flag missing fields, maintain an approval checklist and prepare a draft listing for review; do not invent facts, set price, choose audience, make accessibility/fair-housing determinations or publish without authorization.
- Measure
- Human minutes per accurate, broker-approved published listing, including review, corrections and exceptions
- Reject the idea if
- Reject if unsupported or discriminatory content is published, a critical field is silently changed, or reviewed human effort does not decrease.
- Human authority
- Broker or designated authorized staff verifies facts, advertising and fair-housing compliance and approves publication; software does not decide audience, eligibility, steering or lawful treatment.
[doj-fha] [follow-up-boss] [propertybase] [repo-property-web-builder]
Lead intake, response routing and showing coordination
Capture inquiries, deduplicate supplied contact details, route by broker-defined rules, send approved scheduling options and track confirmations; do not qualify protected classes, steer, recommend a property, or make an eligibility/financing decision.
- Measure
- Net human minutes per correctly routed and confirmed showing, including exceptions, reschedules and review
- Reject the idea if
- Reject if routing or messaging uses protected-class proxies, sends to the wrong person/property, exposes data, or review/rework offsets the time reduction.
- Human authority
- Brokerage staff retain authority over client communication, property recommendations, access and any fair-housing compliance judgment.
[doj-fha] [follow-up-boss] [propertybase] [repo-espocrm]
Under-contract milestone, document and inspection-request coordination
Maintain a broker-configured checklist, request missing supplied documents, schedule reminders and prepare a review queue; do not interpret contracts, advise on inspection/financing, calculate settlement amounts or release funds.
- Measure
- Human minutes per on-time, correctly documented broker-approved milestone, including review, rework and exceptions
- Reject the idea if
- Reject if a deadline, obligation or settlement fact is misrepresented, an unauthorized external write occurs, or net reviewed effort is not lower.
- Human authority
- Broker, attorney, lender, settlement provider and other authorized parties retain contract, legal, lending, settlement and funds authority; the workflow only coordinates supplied facts and reminders.
[cfpb-respa] [propertybase] [repo-condo] [repo-espocrm]
Post-close handoff, service-request intake and referral follow-up
Log a client request, route it to the selected authorized provider, prepare a status checklist and record acknowledgement; do not recommend financial/legal products, give advice, alter a contract or make a provider/eligibility decision.
- Measure
- Net human minutes per correctly routed and acknowledged request, with review, exceptions and reopenings counted
- Reject the idea if
- Reject if a referral is represented as advice or endorsement, a request is misrouted, private data is exposed, or review/rework eliminates the net effort reduction.
- Human authority
- Client and the selected licensed or otherwise authorized provider decide advice, product, legal and financial matters; brokerage staff approve communications and retain supervision.
[cfpb-respa] [follow-up-boss] [repo-condo] [repo-espocrm]
Existing software
Follow Up Boss
Vendor advertises a real-estate team operating system for contact, task and deal organization, lead engagement, routing, reminders, integrations and team visibility.
No brokerage-specific quote, incumbent spend or realized outcome was verified.
[follow-up-boss]
Propertybase
Vendor advertises a Salesforce-powered real-estate CRM covering lead capture/routing, listings, deal pipeline, commissions, marketing and reporting.
The page displays a vendor price point, but no brokerage-specific quote, actual spend or achieved outcome was verified; value remains null.
[propertybase]
Reusable code candidates
etewiah/property_web_builder
Property websites and embeddable listing widgets for publishing supplied property information.
- Possible reuse
- Version-pinned presentation module fed only by broker-approved listing facts; preserve an approval step and do not infer availability, pricing, accessibility or protected-class targeting.
- Limits
- Website/widget capability does not prove MLS permission, listing accuracy, accessibility, fair-housing compliance, syndication rights or secure multi-tenancy.
- Rights
- README and GitHub metadata indicate an open-source project; license, content rights and production hardening require route-specific review.
[repo-property-web-builder]
Revision: 34ed1756762bf3d4ba55b4eabda93e798e9ca6aa
open-condo-software/condo
Open-source property-management workflows for tickets, resident contacts, properties, payment tracking, invoices and a service marketplace.
- Possible reuse
- Use only as a supervised property/service request and checklist pattern, with SISO-owned identity, permissions and records; never as a ledger, escrow, settlement or advice authority.
- Limits
- Property-management features do not prove brokerage, MLS, escrow, accounting, tenant-law, fair-housing or settlement compliance.
- Rights
- README and GitHub metadata indicate an open-source project; license, deployment, data protection and production qualification require review.
[repo-condo]
Revision: 0b53f64cece266e6d0fd87e47dca78dcdae8d5b5
espocrm/espocrm
General CRM for leads, contacts, sales opportunities, campaigns, cases, custom entities and REST-backed records.
- Possible reuse
- Use as a read/write coordination record only with broker-approved schemas, audit trail and explicit approval for external communications; no property, financing or fair-housing decisioning.
- Limits
- Generic CRM capability does not prove MLS synchronization, transaction-law compliance, data accuracy, fair-housing controls or authority to send binding communications.
- Rights
- Official README supports open-source/customization claims; edition, license and integration/security route require review before adoption.
[repo-espocrm]
Revision: 8b4f900085d2e21097b72c8cc27e14cb1de5cbd8
Business value and a falsifiable pilot
No brokerage baseline, invoices, achieved automation rate, reviewed/reworked effort, operating cost, realized cash saving or eligible-population measurement was verified. Null is not zero.
Within one supervised brokerage, compare matched redacted or synthetic listings, inquiries, showings, transaction milestones and service requests under the incumbent and candidate workflows. Pre-register authority, privacy, fair-housing and rollback conditions before live data.
- Human effort including review and rework is not lower than the matched baseline.
- Any protected or private data crosses an unauthorized boundary or an unapproved external write occurs.
- A listing, route, reminder or extracted field is treated as legal, financial, fair-housing, financing, settlement or other professional advice/decision.
- Measured first-year net cash is not positive for a cash-savings offer; capacity gains alone are not cash.
Read the shared value modelLimits
- This is not real-estate, legal, financial, lending, settlement, fair-housing or professional advice, product admission or an industry-wide value forecast.
- Brokerage software adoption, prices, MLS permissions, realized savings and outcome prevalence were not independently verified; named offerings are not assumed installed.
- State licensing, broker supervision, fair-housing, privacy/security, accessibility, advertising, referral, disclosure, contract and records-retention requirements need local review.
- No generic repository is treated as a replacement for an MLS, brokerage CRM, transaction-management, accounting, escrow, lender or settlement system of record.
Sources
- The Fair Housing Act · U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division
Official legal authority used to bound housing-discrimination and steering-sensitive workflow decisions; not a compliance opinion for a particular brokerage.
- 12 CFR Part 1024 - Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X) · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Official regulation source used to keep settlement and referral workflows supervised; not legal or financial advice.
- The Real Estate Team OS - Follow Up Boss · Follow Up Boss
Vendor-advertised feature evidence for contacts, tasks, deals, routing and engagement; no installation, adoption or outcome claim.
- Propertybase by Lone Wolf | Salesforce-powered real estate CRM · Propertybase by Lone Wolf
Vendor-advertised feature and pricing-page evidence for leads, listings, deals and reporting; no installed-base or realized-savings claim.
- etewiah/property_web_builder · Ed Tewiah / GitHub
README supports real-estate website and listing-widget capability; rights, MLS permission and production qualification remain unverified.
- open-condo-software/condo · Open Condo Software / GitHub
README supports property-management ticket/contact/property/payment/invoice capability; brokerage and settlement qualification remain unverified.
- espocrm/espocrm · EspoCRM / GitHub
README supports general CRM records, opportunities and customization; real-estate integration, security and production qualification remain unverified.