ACME Founder Courtney Poulos wrote an article featured at Business Insider.
ACME Real Estate’s founder argues the industry needs mandatory apprenticeships and human connection, not just better algorithms
— Courtney Poulos, broker-owner of ACME Real Estate and recent LA Business Journal honoree, has built her boutique brokerage on a contrarian premise: in an industry racing toward AI automation, the winning strategy might be going the opposite direction.
“I’m so old school about things. I believe in the tactile,” said Poulos. “I don’t like digital sign-in codes. I want to see you write down your name in a squiggly way that I then get to have a conversation with you about.”
Poulos isn’t anti-technology. She runs a YouTube channel called “Real Estate AI Coach” where she tests AI apps marketed to agents. Her conclusion: most create more work than they save.
“Is this more work for me to modify what it’s created, put it in my voice, and make sure it’s accurate, as opposed to just doing it myself?” she said. “It isn’t saving me that much time.”
Her deeper concern is agents losing their unique voices as AI-generated content creates uniformity across marketing materials. For an industry built on personality and relationship, that could be fatal. She points to a more troubling trend: agents using AI to summarize contract clauses or provide legal advice.
“AI is not accountable,” she said. “If a buyer thinks they’re going to use an AI agent, and that AI agent messes up the contract to the financial detriment of the buyer, there’s no one to sue. What are you going to do?”
Poulos recently proposed something unusual for modern real estate: mandatory two-year apprenticeships before agents can work independently.
“A lot of realtors haven’t ever even owned a home,” she said. “You can still be a great agent and not own a home, but if you haven’t helped many people through the buying process, you are not going to be able to speak to the psychology of buying.”
The comparison is stark: doctors have residencies, academics have advanced degrees, but real estate agents just need to pass a licensing exam before managing transactions involving people’s most valuable asset.
For ACME, which has operated with exclusive buyer agency agreements since its 2011 founding, the post-NAR settlement landscape represents less disruption than for many competitors. What troubles Poulos more is how large brokerages replaced on-site broker oversight with sales managers incentivized by recruitment rather than ethical accountability.
“It’s the police policing the police,” she said.
In the current Los Angeles market, Poulos sees buyers emerging with more negotiating power. Investor properties and fixers remain competitive, often drawing multiple offers above asking. For regular buyers previously priced out, this may represent a window.
“If I could put it in my gut, I’d say now is the bottom,” Poulos said. “Now would be the time to buy.”
As a boutique operation competing against larger brands, ACME relies entirely on reputation rather than name recognition or marketing budgets.
“We’re hustlers, and we’re grinders,” says Poulos. “That grit and commitment to excellence inspires a better performance.”
About ACME Real Estate
ACME Real Estate is a boutique brokerage founded in 2011, specializing in renovation-resale properties and residential sales throughout Los Angeles.
ACME Real Estate | Los Angeles Boutique Real Estate Brokerage