This startup is using AI to take on high real estate commissions

A new startup called Ridley wants to make it cheaper to sell a home by challenging the traditional real estate commission model.

Founder and CEO Mike Chambers says he started Ridley after trying to sell his house earlier this year in a desirable Boulder, Colorado, neighborhood. Frustrated by the lack of agents offering what he considered fair rates, he documented the process of marketing the home himself in a series of viral Instagram videos under the handle @realtorshateme, regularly taking shots at the industry.

“The story was picked up by the press,” he says. “We really had tapped into what I would argue is this sort of underlying sentiment that a lot of consumers are feeling right now, that this process of buying and selling homes is antiquated and somewhat broken.”

Once the house was under contract, Chambers began promoting the business idea that became Ridley. Launched in July, the platform lets sellers pay a flat fee for access to an AI-guided checklist of steps and paperwork, pricing guidance, a listing page, yard sign, and distribution to Zillow.

[Image: Ridley]

Through a partnership with Thumbtack, sellers can also book stagers or photographers, and Ridley connects users with lawyers, either at a $1,200 package rate or hourly. “We’re trying to unbundle this commission model—this sort of traditional model—and give people the freedom and the choice to choose which aspects of the process they want help with,” says Chambers.

Traditionally, U.S. real estate commissions have ranged from 5% to 6%, typically paid by the seller and split between agents. While a recent court settlement has nominally introduced more flexibility, buyers and sellers haven’t yet seen dramatic shifts in practice.

So far, Ridley has logged more than $150 million in listings, growing by several million dollars daily, Chambers says. Closed sales have saved users an average of $25,000 in commissions, with one seller saving as much as $135,000. Most users, he adds, have sold at least one home before.

Pricing and plan details vary from state to state, based in part on differing regulations. In its home state of Colorado, for example, the company offers a $2,999 plan that includes the assistance of a licensed real estate broker—including listing via the multiple listing service (MLS) database accessible to buyers’ agents. Despite Chambers’ public comments on the real estate industry, he says the company has a waitlist of more than 1,000 Colorado agents looking to work with Ridley clients, thanks in part to frustrations many have with traditional industry practices.

Ambierre Rediger, a Denver-area agent who has begun working with Ridley users, says they tend to be slightly more informed about prices and market conditions, but the core of her job is the same. “I’m offering them a similar sort of agent relationship that they would have with anybody,” she says.

In other states, Ridley offers an “essentials plan” for $999 without an agent. Its AI collects property details to generate pricing analyses Chambers says are more accurate than generic online estimates. “Our model is able to provide you with a detailed pricing analysis that gives you a step-by-step breakdown on a bunch of different pricing scenarios and how you might want to go to market,” he says. The AI can also guide users through sale stages and explain industry terms.

Entrepreneur Bradd Fisher used Ridley to sell a home in Yorba Linda, California, after finding Chambers’ videos. He says Ridley’s price estimate was closer to the final sale price than one provided by a human appraiser, and he was satisfied with the attorney he hired through the platform. Fisher handled other tasks himself, like shooting a property video, working with his photographer son, and hosting his own open house.

“We closed in 30 days, and I can say legit, with not one single hiccup, no problems at all,” Fisher says.

Chambers says Ridley plans to add buyer services in the future. The company already offers “Buyer Alerts,” which notify buyers of new or off-market listings. But focusing on sellers, who traditionally pay both commissions, was the logical place to start, he says.

The company, which is in the process of raising a seed round, is likely to add additional options to work with human real estate brokers in more states, even as its AI may gain more abilities to automate parts of the process like pricing or vendor selection. “We’re trying to make this really complicated process as simple and easy to navigate as possible for sellers,” Chambers says. “And I think that’s a really critical component here.”