The 24/7 Leasing Agent: Agentic AI in Multifamily Marketing

What if your property could have a leasing specialist who works 24 hours a day, seven days a week? This agent could answer prospective renters’ questions instantly and schedule property tours, even if the prospect is reaching out at 2 a.m.

No, this isn’t an obvious violation of labor laws—it’s agentic artificial intelligence, the next phase in today’s AI economic revolution.

Agentic AI, which acts independently and makes many of its own decisions, is poised to reshape how marketers promote and secure leases at multifamily communities.

“They are actually proactively problem-solving,” said Mendowa Martin, senior vice president & head of multifamily operations at JLL. “Unlike chatbots that are reactive and scripted … agentic AI operates more like a virtual leasing agent with a brain and a memory.”

About a third of enterprise software applications are expected to utilize agentic AI by 2028, according to research and advisory firm Gartner, up from the current 1 percent. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have already transformed how companies do business, but agentic AI will go even further by automating more tasks and creating new efficiencies for property managers.

Agentic AI is, essentially, an AI assistant that acts independently or with agency. Compared to generative AI, which requires explicit human instructions for it to take action, agentic AI can understand what needs to be done and act on its own.

“Agentic AI is really like having a capable colleague, someone who can take on a project and figure out what to do in a thoughtful and step-by-step manner,” explained James Scott, director of industry and professional programs for the Real Estate Technology Lab at MIT’s Center for Real Estate.

Scott said a user could provide an AI agent with a high-level goal, and it would then break down that goal into smaller tasks. Once it’s done that, the agent will complete the tasks on its own—while adapting to new information or data it receives along the way.

While much of this is still theoretical, vendors are rapidly expanding development of agentic AI software in many fields, including multifamily operations and marketing. Companies such as Yardi, Funnel, EliseAI and Appfolio have all released or are developing agentic AI systems for multifamily.

Agentic AI is really like having a capable colleague, someone who can take on a project and figure out what to do in a thoughtful and step-by-step manner.

—James Scott, Director of Industry and Professional Programs, Real Estate Technology Hub, MIT Center for Real Estate

The first step: campaign building

Marketers will soon be able to entrust some of their early-stage efforts to an AI agent. From content creation to strategic targeting, there are many applications for agentic AI at the top of the marketing funnel.

Companies such as Google and Meta offer (or will soon offer) tools to utilize AI agents in the creation of digital marketing campaigns. In May, Google announced a suite of agentic AI tools for marketers, which will work inside Google Ads and Google Analytics to help marketers craft their campaigns and respond to new data.

Google’s tool will be able to recommend new keywords to use in search campaigns or generate creative content, with an option to automatically implement it. Meta’s Advantage+ program, which is available now, offers similar functionality for ads on Instagram and Facebook.

While not yet fully autonomous, these types of tools “really allow marketers to see improved lead volumes and lower acquisition costs,” Martin noted.

Agentic AI and lead nurturing

Once a prospect makes it to the community website and decides to reach out for more information, an AI agent can step in and guide them through the process. One property management firm entrusting some of its marketing and leasing activities to AI is Cortland, which uses an agent called Cortney.

While not yet officially considered autonomous agentic AI, Cortney’s functionality goes beyond traditional chatbots. The tool responds to emails and chat messages from prospective residents, answering their questions and steering them through the early leasing process until they book a tour, at which point a human takes over.

“The universe of questions, as you might expect, is relatively limited in the prospect stage, which makes the AI tool very effective,” shared Cortland Chief Experience Officer Mike Gomes. “People want to know if you’re running any concessions, they want to know about availability, they want to know about pricing.”
Gomes said that last year Cortney engaged with 83,000 prospects and was involved in scheduling more than 60,000 tours. The tool handles between 95 and 97 percent of all inbound email and chat messages and is also fluent in Spanish.

Cortney uses Funnel’s Virtual Assistant platform, which Cortland customized using data from its own portfolio. This content includes specific information about Cortland’s properties, such as what school district a community is in or what types of dog breeds are allowed.

What really makes or breaks a lot of these tools isn’t just the capability of the AI, it’s the knowledge database they’re pulling from.

—Mike Gomes, Chief Experience Officer, Cortland

“What really makes or breaks a lot of these tools isn’t just the capability of the AI,” Gomes explained. “It’s the knowledge database they’re pulling from.”

Gomes said Cortney hasn’t replaced any human jobs; it’s just changed employees’ workflows. Rather than having to individually reply to every inquiry, the staff at Cortland’s Leasing Hub can instead focus on the downstream communications that go beyond Cortney’s capabilities.

When Cortney disengages—either because the prospect booked a tour or asked too complex of a question—the human employee can see the entire communication history between the prospect and Cortney and act accordingly.

Potential pitfalls

Of course, deploying agentic AI comes with some risks that property managers should be aware of.
“As with every AI system, they’re dependent entirely on the data quality,” Scott advised. “So inaccurate or outdated or incomplete data can then lead to very significant or costly mistakes.”

It is also crucial to make sure the AI systems do not violate any rules or regulations in conversations with prospective and current residents. According to Gomes, Cortney, for example, will not answer questions from prospective renters that could potentially have Fair Housing implications.

The key to a successful agentic AI deployment is a targeted approach that leverages the strengths of a particular organization’s data—without trying to automate everything.

“Agentic AI works best on guardrails,” Martin observed.

We’ll start reacting to things in real time—not waiting.

—Mendowa Martin, Senior Vice President & Head of Multifamily Operations, JLL

What’s next?

With the development and deployment of AI tools happening at a breakneck pace, it can be hard to gauge exactly what the field will look like in the next few years, but industry leaders agree that strategically employing the technology can lead to much greater efficiency and capability.

Scott, for instance, said property managers who utilize agentic AI in their leasing and operations could potentially be able to greatly increase the number of units they manage, allowing their virtual agents to handle a significant number of time-consuming and repetitive tasks.

The end goal for many asset holders is a “semiautonomous property management capability (that can) manage the entire property life cycle with a reduced level of human intervention.”

Agentic AI is also likely to bring more automation to multifamily marketing campaigns, according to Martin. She theorized that a potential application could be an AI agent that notices when a particular unit or floorplan is lagging in absorption, so it automatically generates creative content and purchases space across marketing channels.

“We’ll start reacting to things in real time—not waiting,” Martin said.

However, the regulatory landscape around AI is constantly changing. While the Trump Administration has so far leaned away from directly regulating the technology, states may pass their own legislation. California, Colorado, Illinois and others have already passed laws regulating how AI may be used in certain sectors.

Because of the varying regulations across states and the continually evolving legal environment, it may be difficult for property managers and technology vendors to make long-term plans for the deployment of agentic AI tools without proactively implementing their own internal AI policy, according to Scott.

While agentic AI can automate many of the tedious and repetitive tasks property managers face, there will always remain a need for a human touch in operations and leasing.

For instance, while Cortney can schedule tours and provide automated reminders about them, Gomes said the team found that prospects are more likely to show up for their scheduled tour if someone from Cortland calls them to follow up.

“We very much pride ourselves on our resident-centric (approach) and human touch,” Gomes said. “What we found is our show rates vs. our no-show rates improve when we have that additional level of human touch.”

Read the October 2025 issue of MHN.