How Real Estate Agents Can Use Voice AI for Speed to Lead & More Closed Deals|Mitch Parker

Mitch Parker (00:00)
And so we built essentially a really turnkey system which allows agents to instantly engage with leads. No lead, I know the real estate business statistics very, very well. And so for example, 46 % of buyers work with the first person they speak to. No market intelligence.

Quentin Edmonds (00:16)
Hmm.

Mitch Parker (00:18)
no experience, like that stuff doesn’t matter. It’s 46 % of people are gonna work with the first person they speak with. And then if you don’t talk to a lead within the first five minutes, the chances of ever contacting them goes down by 80%. That’s the stats.

Quentin Edmonds (02:04)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host Q Edmonds. I’m excited to be here today. And y’all know why I get excited. It’s because I always like to hear fresh stories, different people’s perspective. We can literally be doing the same thing, but because we’re different, there’s always going to be a unique spin that we put on something. And so today, there’s a lot of people dabbling in AI. So that’s kind of like, you know, people kind of doing the same thing.

But what this gentleman is doing, I think is a little bit different. I think you’re going to love hearing about his approach to AI and what he’s building that quite frankly is going to help every last one of us, especially if you’re in this real estate space. And so I am so excited and a little jealous because I’ll say if I get him to talk about where he is, I’m excited and a little jealous at the same time. But I want to introduce you all to Mr. Mitch Parker. Mr. Mitch, how you doing today,

Mitch Parker (02:58)
I’m fantastic, Q. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. This is going to be a great conversation.

Quentin Edmonds (03:02)
Absolutely, man. And listen, I’m the type, I want to dive right in. And so I would love for you to tell the people what your main focus is these days, what you’re mainly up to. If you could give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got to the space where you’re in now. We love the hero’s journey. And if you don’t mind, man, tell them what part of the world you’re in. I think they would really like to be jealous at you like I am. So, Mr. Mitch, you have the floor,

Mitch Parker (03:26)
Awesome, fantastic. Well, I’ll hold that for some dramatic suspense, you know, but, you know, my background is I’ve been in the real estate industry for 17 years. I initially actually got into it through ⁓ flipping homes and renovating and rental properties, and then it made

Quentin Edmonds (03:31)
Yes, sir.

Mitch Parker (03:43)
organic sense to get a real estate license. And so I’ve been a licensed broker for 17 years. I’ve done everything from the client side on resale residential. I’ve worked directly for brokers. I’ve worked for marketing companies selling large scale developments in downtown Toronto. And then I transitioned to helping to run a team on the pre-construction side. And so a couple of years ago in Toronto, which is my home base, the pre-construction market

for the lack of a better word, just cratered. It went from incredibly hot to incredibly cold almost overnight. And so, you know, as with any business, there’s problems, there’s challenges. And so you have to come up with a solution. And so that solution was, what do you pivot to next? And it just so happened to coincide that I became fascinated with AI. I was like, totally nerding out on it. And I started thinking in the framework of what are the problems that I see

from my experience in the trenches and how can AI and automation solve some of those problems because I was thinking if they could solve them for me, they probably could solve them for some other people and they’re probably at some monetary value. And so what we started doing, the biggest pain point that I’ve always seen is slow speed to lead and any salesperson, no matter what the industry is who’s watching this can recognize that. And so…

And it’s not because someone’s lazy or because they don’t care. It’s because you’re busy running a business. And so you can’t always be there when the phone rings. And then the other problem is we have a database of thousands and thousands of people, most of who are just not called or contact on a consistent basis. And I just don’t believe like in real estate, you get a lot of emails from realtors who are like recipe of the week or like Merry Christmas. I just don’t think that that’s the kind of thing in 2026 that

Quentin Edmonds (05:11)
Yeah.

Mitch Parker (05:34)
engages people on the level where they need to be engaged.

And so while I was playing with AI and while I was thinking about that problem, I brought on a custom developer, like a coding developer, and we started building out a solution around voice AI. So the concept was that when a lead was going to come into an ecosystem, whether that’s like a CRM or a sheet or an Excel document, right away, ⁓ a phone call outbound would be made.

to that person who registered, that voice AI would have a conversation and that voice AI would be trained on specifically what you need, right? So whether it was a specific listing, whether it was an overall just lead capture, the AI would know what to say, be able to have the conversation, but then qualify it to bring the human back in, right? I think that’s a really important variable. Like whether you’re an investor, whether you’re a contractor, whether you’re a broker, a developer, the human element is still super important with this. And so,

We started building that out and then we also built an AI which goes into a database and actually makes conversations and engages with the clients to see if they’re still interested in our case and in buying, ⁓ But rather than make the user learn the technology and sort of ditch everything else, we built like almost like a mission control ecosystem where we tie in with their existing technology, all the data pulls into one central source.

and then they’re able to control everything from within our platform. And it’s no code, you’re not sitting there coding the agent, telling the voice AI what to say, it’s all done for you.

And so we built essentially a really turnkey system which allows agents to instantly engage with leads. No lead, I know the real estate business statistics very, very well. And so for example, 46 % of buyers work with the first person they speak to. No market intelligence.

Quentin Edmonds (08:11)
Hmm.

Mitch Parker (08:12)
no experience, like that stuff doesn’t matter. It’s 46 % of people are gonna work with the first person they speak with. And then if you don’t talk to a lead within the first five minutes, the chances of ever contacting them goes down by 80%. That’s the stats.

And so it’s like that speed to lead is so crucial. And then in the database side, when the AI is mining for opportunities, when you look at businesses who are just constantly marketing versus ones that…

are marketing plus working their database, they actually spend 25 % of the budget to achieve the same results if you’re leveraging your database. so it’s like margins are already tight in 2026. mean, life is expensive. And so it became, how do I solve my own problems? We built this really cool technology. ⁓ And then we’re going to help other realtors ⁓ do that, solve their problems, doing the same thing using our tools as well. And then

You know, to sort of wrap this up, there’s a lot of people who are not at this stage yet, right? Maybe you don’t have a database of a few thousand people, you’re not marketing actively. And so what we started doing is actually offering ⁓ artificial intelligence and automation consulting for real estate specifically. So we’ll work with different people to say, okay, let’s go over your business. We typically look first at sales and marketing and administration, because that’s where we can make the most impact. And we just figured out…

ways that we can automate the things that you probably shouldn’t be doing so that you have more time to sell, more time to close deals, and every client’s gonna be a little bit different, so it’s not like it’s like one blanket solution. We literally dive into everyone’s business, figure out like, what do you love doing? What do you hate doing? And you know, can we eliminate some of those things so that you love wanna work more every day? And just leveraging the technology that we have to ultimately accelerate our business because

AI is changing things it already has, and it’s like, if you don’t use it, you’re gonna be left behind. So let’s make sure that everybody watching this is in the boat that’s leveraging the AI to really accelerate their business. they can say like, know, Q really made an impact on my results. I think that would be fantastic thing.

Quentin Edmonds (10:20)
Mitch, sir, thank you. I mean, you laid it out, man. I mean, thank you for walking us through it. Everything you said, man, sounds so incredibly fascinating. And again, I’ll stand by what I just said. I think what you’re building is something that’s going to benefit us all, you know? And so, I appreciate it. I want to dig into you a little bit because I love the business. I love what you’re doing. But I picked up on a of things that you said.

you know, real estate for 17 years, retail residential. This is the part that you said that really stuck out to me. You said you learned, evaluated the problems while you was in the trenches. Like you thought about when you was in the trenches, you from all that experience, like, man, how can I really help people that’s in the trenches because I was once in the trenches. And so this is what I say, Mitch. I say this probably every podcast.

Destiny has no wasted moments. Meaning no matter what we go through in life, every stop along the way builds something in us that make us who we are today. And so when I think about you being in the trenches, like that was no wasted moment because you was building the mindset to be able to build what you’re building today. So I would love to know throughout your moments to get into where you are now.

What has destiny, what is these moments? What has the journey taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline? Has it taught you resilience? Like what has unlocked in you as you continue to go on this journey?

Mitch Parker (12:25)
So it’s a fantastic question. ⁓ I think one of my really strong ⁓ personality traits is I’ve always just been a really hard worker. And so I’ve always had the work ethic. So I’ve never been afraid to do that. And I’ve also never been one to like stand above and say, here, you do this. And it’s something that I’m not willing to do. Like I’m always willing to dive in there as well. And I think that’s…

you know, a trait of somebody who’s going to be really successful, is that. But in terms of destiny and shaping outcomes and things like that, the first thing is you have to understand, sometimes it’s just going to suck. Like, it’s just not, it’s just like not going to be fun. But that’s why it’s so important to work at something where you believe is driving you to the 2.0 or 3.0 version of yourself. And so

Quentin Edmonds (13:04)
Yeah.

Mitch Parker (13:16)
And I strategically say that versus doing something you love or something you have passion about because they’re not always aligned. Like some things that you’re passionate about should probably just remain a hobby. ⁓ And so if you, but what you need to be able to look in the mirror every day and say to yourself is what I’m working on getting me closer to that ultimate version of myself. So ⁓ I have this like thing in my head where I’m like,

would the 80 year old version of me be proud? And so looking down at younger Mitch is what I’m doing right now getting me closer to satisfying the 80 year old version of myself. And so, and I sort of use that as like my guiding light. And I’ve reached a point in my career, like when you’re younger, just say yes to everything.

Quentin Edmonds (13:44)
Mmm!

Mitch Parker (14:02)
And it’s like, just learn and absorb and go to networking events and meet people and do work that you think you’re above. There’s always gonna be a lesson to it and there’s always gonna be something, but you never see it until like you’re looking back. And then what happens is opportunity starts finding you. And then once opportunity starts finding you and you start finding a path and you’re working on it, you have to switch the equation from saying yes to everything.

Quentin Edmonds (14:14)
you

Mm.

Mitch Parker (14:28)
to saying no to almost everything. Because first of all, shiny object syndrome is very real. ⁓ I was a victim of it for different parts of my life. I still look at it, right? Especially with AI. You see a new tool and you’re like, wow, this looks amazing, let’s do this. And then you kind of pull it back in, like, do you really need that tool? Probably not. And so it’s like, first say yes to find the opportunities. Then once you find the opportunity, run with it. And say no and just put your blinders on.

And it’s like there’s gonna be distractions. those are almost, when you talk about destiny, destiny is a series of tests, right? To see how bad you really want something. And if you want it bad enough, you’ll figure out a way to get it done. in my experience, one of the easiest things is just to say no to everything else. And sometimes people don’t understand, and sometimes it’s like the people closest to you who don’t understand. But like, if you have it in your head, I just don’t believe when you get to like 80 years old, you’re ever gonna look back and say like,

I regret trying that. I just don’t think that that’s the thing. And so when we were building ⁓ Broker Nest, which is our voice AI platform, there, I was never a tech guy. Like that was never my background. I was a ⁓ realtor and an investor. You know, I was a real estate guy through and through a sales guy. so ⁓ learning all the tech has literally been drinking through a fire hose for me for the last like eight months, but

I just so happen to love it and I see an opportunity there with it. And so yeah, it’s come with challenges. There’s been times where I’m like, what the heck am I doing? But I’m always grateful for it. And it’s usually like the next day I wake up and I’m like, okay, I get it now.

Quentin Edmonds (16:04)
Yeah. Mitch, you said, you just summed up probably at least 60 episodes that I’ve done, man. Because I bring that question that I asked you, I bring it in because I kind of want people that’s listening to dig a little deeper in themselves. Like to realize you probably already have what you need to succeed. And you probably are succeeding, but then sometimes you hit a roadblock.

Mitch Parker (16:11)
You

Quentin Edmonds (17:14)
And sometimes you want to give up. it’s like, I’m just trying to get people to understand that you have what you need looking right in the mirror. Something that you said, I wrote down earlier, something that you said brought this thought back that sometimes purpose is birthed out of pain. Like sometimes like the purpose of what you are developing, it comes from these hard times that you bump up against. And I love how you talked about inner trenches. It kind of like, you know, develop you like, Hey, how can I help the other people that’s back in the trenches?

And so when you, one of my mentors said, when you know who you are, you know what to do. So when you understand like who you are, what you want, like giving, maybe giving your younger self something that you wish you had back then, you know, like I know Holly, you said, you you look to the ADL person and say, Hey, you know, I want to give him what he need. But sometimes it’s also reflecting and say, what do I wish I had?

back then that could have helped me. And maybe I need to create that for the other person that’s coming behind me. And so I just believe that sometimes our purpose is, is birthed out of pain and it really can continue us to press on to create the something that doesn’t exist that we know is going to help the people that’s coming behind us. Does that make sense?

Mitch Parker (18:25)
It totally makes sense. you know, like what you talked about earlier is, like about, about knowledge and sort of pushing, pushing yourself. So, ⁓ you know, when we were chatting just before we started here, we basically were both saying like, knowledge is not.

It’s equalized now. Like AI, as long as you have an internet connection, you can literally find out everything. Now, first off, don’t trust everything that comes out of like ChatGBT or Claude. Like you have to verify and vet everything. ⁓ But the knowledge is out there and available to you. And so now it becomes about idea. So coming out with that idea.

And then it comes to the work ethic, right? Are you willing to take that idea? Because idea to minimum viable product used to be a long thing. Like if you wanted to build an app, let’s say, first of all, like if you or I were gonna build an app, we would need like a team of developers, probably a front end developer, a back end developer, a designer, right? And you’re like.

this is an impossible task that’s gonna cost me like thousands of dollars. Now you can sit there vibe coding on like a Saturday and go from like idea to minimum viable product and then start showing people and saying, hey, like, would you be interested in something like this? So like that time has shrunk to like nothing. So it’s like idea, knowledge is equalized and then work ethic, which I love because everybody can come up with a good idea and everybody can have work ethic if they want it to. And so.

This is the ultimate equalizer in my opinion. We just have to be using it and leveraging it in a way that benefits us the most.

Quentin Edmonds (19:55)
Gotcha. I love it. I love it, Mitch. Let me ask you, what is your next real goal? Like, what are you looking to solve at Scale Next, Mitch?

Mitch Parker (20:01)
So where we’re at with Brokernest right now is we’ve built out the framework and the technology. We’re in beta testing right now. So the technology is actually making phone calls, it’s having conversations, it’s booking appointments. And more importantly, like the ecosystem is working, which is super, super cool to see how somebody can use this thing without knowing how to code or prompt or do anything like that. And so it’s taking it.

through the rest of beta to work out the bugs and then to a full market launch, which is super, super exciting to me. And then we’re in a tech incubator as well, which there’s a lot of people in there who have exited companies and fundraised a lot of money. So I don’t know if we’re gonna go down that route. It really depends on ⁓ what that looks like. I haven’t seen what that path could be, but it could be a fundraising route to scale faster. ⁓

We might just go self-funded and keep the equity ourself, which at the end of the day could be a big decision. So we want to make sure that we make the right one on it. And then on the other side of it is with the consulting, I love helping people specifically with artificial intelligence and with automation in their business. so helping people become like AI assisted.

whatever it is. So if you’re a real estate investor, it’s like an AI assisted real estate investor, an AI assisted property manager, ⁓ know, things like that that enable part of their workflow to be automated. And so they can focus on the things that they enjoy more that pushes them forward to make sure their 80 year old self is happy, you know, things like that. And so that’s where the consulting side really comes in. So for me, those are like my two big goals going forward.

Quentin Edmonds (21:45)
I love you. Love it. Love it.

three last questions. First, you are the real Mitch that I’m talking to, right? That’s the first question.

Mitch Parker (21:52)
No one

will ever know, Q. No one will ever know.

Quentin Edmonds (21:56)
Okay, all right, all right. Okay, second question. We buried the lead, man. Are you willing to tell the people where you are?

Mitch Parker (22:02)
Of course, yeah. ⁓ my home base is Toronto, Canada, but right now I’m actually on vacation in Cartagena, Colombia.

Quentin Edmonds (22:10)
You this lucky guy. Man, lastly, brother, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, Mitch?

Mitch Parker (22:23)
Absolutely. So LinkedIn, I’m under Mitch Parker. Instagram, I’m under Mitch Parker RE, like RE for real estate. And then you can find us also Broker Nest. Bro, one word, Broker Nest is our AI technology company. And so if somebody wants to send me a message, someone wants to follow me, that would be fantastic. I also have ⁓ some cool tools I’m happy to send out. So like one thing that we’ve put together is

10 ways that somebody can use AI in their real estate business right now. So these are like tools that I’ve used to help myself. And so it’s like, it’s a PDF. So if someone shoots me a message, I mean, maybe we can even link it in the show notes or something like that. We can happily share that. And then I would say like, listen, if you’ve spent time in your career building up expertise in real estate, all of this like AI has come so fast.

that it can be extremely overwhelming. And what I would just like to finish with is don’t be so focused on finding like 100 different tools to try to solve like 100 different problems. Think about it from like, a strategical standpoint where like, maybe you don’t even need AI. Maybe you just need to like automate a few things to make your business flow a little bit better. Like there’s programs like Zapier, which for example, like if you have like a landing page that’s capturing leads,

So Zapier can bring it directly into like a sheet or a CRM or things like that. You’re not like manually doing that, right? It’s like a super simple example. But like the core thing is like, it’s too easy to become automated, become overwhelmed, excuse me, in 2026. so like pick one tool. If it works, awesome. If it doesn’t work, ditch it, find another one, but like try not to feel overwhelmed by it. And if people have questions, I’m happy to answer. I’m happy to jump on a Zoom. I’m happy to, you know,

jump into the DMs and answer some stuff. And if we can get some people growing and making more revenue and doing bigger things and making themselves proud, then I think that’s the goal.

Quentin Edmonds (24:22)
Mitch, man, I appreciate you, sir. Let me say three things to you, First, thank you for your time. I normally say you could be anywhere in the world, but you’re here with us. But you are anywhere you want to be in the world and still here with us. So definitely, man, thank you for your time. Secondly, sir, thank you for your story. I put a premium on stories. I believe they have a way of planting seeds in people that can course correct, that somebody can pull from later.

Mitch Parker (24:33)
Yeah.

Quentin Edmonds (24:51)
So I think the information that you’ve given today has really planted seeds in people. So just thank you for talking about what you do, sharing what you do. Lastly, man, thank you for your perspective, your mindset, the way you think, the way you integrate hard work and just stick to it in this, man. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that perspective to this platform. I truly appreciate you being here today.

Mitch Parker (25:13)
Thank you, Koon. Thank you on behalf of all the listeners for sharing this wonderful experience. I think it’s fantastic what you guys are doing.

Quentin Edmonds (25:19)
Thank you so much, So listen, you heard Mr. Mitch. Please check his information out in the show notes. Get in contact with him. He’s going to send us the link. We’re going to put that in the show notes. Definitely get in contact with him. But definitely make sure you are subscribed here because I keep saying it. We’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Mitch. And we’re going to continue to do it over and over again. And so thank you again, sir. And everyone else, listen, you’ll have a fantastic day.