AI-powered platform – Lorraine Schwarz, 70, said she avoided traditional real estate commissions by using Ridley, an AI-powered online platform, to sell her two-bedroom condo in Westminster, Colorado in October 2025. She listed on a Wednesday morning, received a full-price offer of
On a Wednesday morning in October 2025, Lorraine Schwarz went live with her condo listing in Westminster, Colorado. That same day, buyers came through. By nightfall, she had a full-price offer for $425,000.
Schwarz, 70, sold her two-bedroom condo using Ridley, an AI-powered online platform, rather than a traditional real estate agent. She said the speed wasn’t luck so much as having the listing priced right—and using technology to get the home in front of enough people fast.
Schwarz has bought and sold real estate throughout her life. Her first purchase was a co-op in Park Slope, Brooklyn. She sold it and then bought and sold two houses in Westchester, New York. Later. she moved to Madison. Wisconsin. renovated a house there. sold it. moved to Colorado to build a house. and then moved into a condo.
She said she’s always hated paying real estate commissions. Over the years, she learned how to price by using comps and by watching how properties moved—so when it came time to sell her condo, she wasn’t intimidated by the process.
Her condo ownership stretches back about seven or eight years, and she bought it after a divorce. She said it wasn’t meant to be a permanent home. She found a new development where she could build a house designed for aging, with everything on one level.
Schwarz said she became interested in Ridley after reading an article about Ridley and its founder. Mike Chambers. describing his experience in Boulder. Ridley, she said, helps homeowners sell without paying traditional real estate commissions. “Oh my God. this is brilliant. ” she recalled thinking when she read it. describing it as something she had been saying all along. She became a fan before deciding to sell.
The practical problem, she said, was access. To sell. she needed a platform that could list her home on the MLS. the database that real estate agents use to market properties. She believed that being on the MLS would automatically place the listing on platforms like Zillow and Redfin. which she thought would do most of the work of attracting buyers.
Schwarz said real estate hasn’t “caught up” the way other industries have. She comes from the finance industry, where transaction costs have fallen dramatically, while real estate—she argued—has not seen the same commission drop despite it being the biggest transaction most people make.
At the same time, she said the internet changed how people shop for homes. You can look at a million houses online. narrow choices. and then decide what to see in person—without relying on an agent to drive you around all day. She said there are people like her who understand the process well enough not to need extra help.
Still. she said she needed to get her condo in front of as many eyes as possible. and pricing was her focus. She had an advantage: she was president of her HOA, living in a complex with 64 units. She said she knew every unit that had sold, what was currently on the market, and how to price accordingly.
She said Ridley’s pricing matched what she expected. She added that she wasn’t trying to “get cute” with the price because she was already under contract to buy the new house that was being built. Waiting 2 to 3 months for a sale simply wasn’t an option. In her view, Ridley’s pricing confirmed her own judgment—enough to get people in the door.
According to her account, she listed on a Wednesday morning. The first buyers came through that day, and by night she had a full-price offer of $425,000.
Ridley also. in her telling. handled the step she said many sellers struggle with: answering the questions needed to generate a proper listing. She said some of the terminology got technical. and a Ridley agent answered a couple of questions for her related to what the industry requires before a listing can go on the MLS. She estimated that she did 99% of the work herself.
For writing the listing, she said she used ChatGPT. She also said she used the platform’s guidance rather than communicating directly with buyers; the agent acted as an intermediary.
On costs, Schwarz drew a direct comparison. If she had followed the traditional buyer-and-seller agent model and paid a 5% commission. she said her commission costs would have been $21. 250. With Ridley, she said she paid about $5,000 in total, including the cost of the AI-powered service plus staging and photos.
An editor’s note in her story clarifies the Ridley figure: Schwarz paid $2,999 for Ridley’s pro plan, which now costs $3,999.
Even with the platform, she said she had paid for an add-on service that let her “have an agent hold your hand a little bit,” and she did use that. But looking back, she said she probably could have managed without it.
Schwarz stopped short of claiming agents are obsolete. She said first-time homebuyers may still want to use a real estate agent because many people aren’t comfortable or familiar with the process and don’t feel capable doing it themselves. She offered an example from her own family: her daughter and son-in-law bought a house and used a real estate agent. because they are new to the process and “they certainly weren’t going to ask Mom.”.
In her view, the broader shift is that until now, real estate hasn’t offered many real options. “It’s always been that you have to use a real estate agent,” she said. It makes sense. she added. given the technology people see around them and how many buyers and sellers have done it through agents. But she also described a growing confidence that. for some homeowners. the traditional model isn’t the only path—especially when the MLS listing can be reached through an online platform and the pricing decisions can be made with the same tools people already rely on.
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