For decades, startups have tried and failed to upend how Americans buy and sell homes.
From Zillow Offers to Purplebricks, each effort ran into the same wall: an entrenched ecosystem that defends the 6% commission with surprising durability.
A new AI-powered home-selling platform called Ridley is trying to change this. Unlike previous attempts that aimed to digitize or discount the agent experience, Ridley is trying to eliminate it altogether. The company believes that a shift in consumer sentiment, AI capabilities, and regulatory pressure finally makes this feasible.
Has the time finally come for fully digital, broker free home transactions?
Real Estate’s Long History of Resistance
Startups have been circling residential real estate for years.
Redfin launched in the early 2000s with a tech-forward brokerage model. However, in spite its lofty ambitions, the company never truly broke from the commission structure. Zillow tried to become a market maker with its iBuying initiative, only to shutter the effort in 2021 after a reported $500 million in losses. Purplebricks, the UK-based discount broker, exited the U.S. market in under two years.
Each of these models attempted to digitize parts of the process, but none removed the agent altogether. Why? Because in the United States, realtors hold outsized power.
The industry is reinforced by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a patchwork of state-level regulations, and the centrality of MLS platforms. Many of which are inaccessible without a licensed broker. Few understand the true power of the NAR on homebuying in the United States. The association spent more than $80 million on lobbying in 2024 alone – more than any other group.
These efforts help the NAR maintain its stronghold on the commission structure that brokers can charge. In Colorado, for example, state law requires brokers to perform a minimum set of services just to get a listing on the MLS. That makes DIY selling costly, confusing, and in many cases, legally precarious.
Why Realtors Still Dominate in the U.S.
Compared to countries like the UK and Australia, U.S. agent fees remain high, averaging between 5 and 6%. That difference adds up. On a $500,000 home, U.S. sellers often pay $30,000 or more in commissions, divided between buyer and seller agents. This fee structure is baked into the real estate culture and justified by the industry as “necessary” due to the complexity of the U.S. transaction process.
But the real reason is structural: agents want control. The NAR, which has more than 1.5 million members, has successfully defended this model through lobbying and antitrust protections. Recently, however, the tide has started to shift. In the past year, the Department of Justice has reopened scrutiny of the NAR’s commission-sharing rules, and companies like Compass and Zillow are actively challenging long-held norms. suggesting the industry may be nearing an inflection point. Could the industry finally be nearing its inflection point?
Why Now — and Why Ridley?
It is amidst this changing landscape that a new crop of proptech players have emerged.
Ridley’s origin story is striking. Founder Mike Chambers had no intention of starting a real estate company. He wanted to sell his house in Boulder, and could not find an agent willing to negotiate below the 6% rate. When he tried to list the home himself, he encountered steep fees and legal barriers. “It wasn’t until I tried to get on the MLS that I realized how rigged the system really was,” Chambers says.
That frustration turned into a viral account, @realtorshateme, which attracted thousands of followers overnight. Encouraged by the response, Chambers built an MVP in 45 days. By the time the beta launched, 5,000 homeowners were on the waitlist.
Chambers is capitalizing on the momentum rapidly evolving tech momentum and evolution in AI to offer personalized, step-by-step support based on hyperlocal market data. The American dream of homeownership continues to slip from reach, consumers are more cost-conscious than ever, an degulatory pressure is mounting. Chambers believes these factors create a “perfect storm” for disruption. “This is a meaningful sum of money for people,” he says. “It impacts affordability at every level of the housing ladder.”
What Ridley Is Actually Building
Ridley is not a discount brokerage. It is a platform designed to let sellers manage their home sale from start to finish, realtor-free. Its AI-powered tools help homeowners determine pricing, draft listings, and distribute them across Zillow, Redfin, and other platforms. Unlike ChatGPT-based chatbots, Ridley’s models are trained on proprietary data and structured transaction logic.
The platform also addresses a major gap: documentation. In surveys conducted by Chambers, paperwork, not pricing, was the top fear among sellers. Ridley is building an intelligent document guidance tool that highlights confusing language and will soon provide negotiation support by analyzing offers and predicting outcomes.
Users also have access to Ridley Concierge, which connects them with real estate attorneys, vendors, and stagers. Through a partnership with Thumbtack, sellers can book everything from cleaning to photography in one place. In beta, Ridley operated in Colorado, Arizona, and the Northeast, closing six sales and saving nearly $40,000 in commissions from sellers who had never tried selling homes on their own before.
Can Ridley Win Where Others Failed?
Disintermediating realtors is still a steep climb. MLS access, regulatory friction, and consumer trust remain real challenges. But Ridley may have an edge where others faltered. It is not capital-intensive like iBuyers. It is not reliant on brokers like Redfin. And it is not trying to play nice with the old guard.
It is also culturally aligned with today’s market. Ridley’s tone is direct. Its product is intuitive. And its growth is community-led, born from real consumer frustration rather than top-down product strategy. Investors like Moxxie Ventures have taken notice and backed the company with funding.
“This industry was built to protect itself,” says Chambers. “Once you start to break that up—even a little—the whole thing starts to shift.”
Ridley is certainly not be the first startup to challenge the U.S. real estate machine. However, it may be the most culturally and technologically aligned to succeed. By giving everyday homeowners the tools (and confidence) to go it alone, it is not just taking aim at agent commissions—it is rewriting the rules of who gets to sell a home in America.