For Shayne Fairley, taking over as CEO of Stellar MLS in March wasn’t just about stepping into a new role — it was about accelerating the pace of an industry that’s long been known for moving slowly.
Fairley, who spent nearly two decades at the MLS, including eight years as chief operations officer, succeeded Merri Jo Cowen, a 2025 HousingWire Woman of Influence who led the organization for 17 years.
Now six months into the job, Fairley is focused on faster tech adoption, maintaining the culture he helped build and rolling out new AI tools that give agents time back in their day.
He sat down with HousingWire to discuss the transition, differences between genuine artificial intelligence (AI) value and hype, resilience of Florida’s housing market and how the lawsuit settlements have actually made agents more professional.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Jonathan Delozier: You took over as CEO earlier this year after spending a good amount of time in other roles at Stellar MLS. How’s that going so far?
Shayne Fairley:The transition has gone really well, and that’s a testament to all of the planning that we put into the transition itself. We actually ran it much like a project here, so that way we could keep track of milestones, schedules and things like that. We want to keep ourselves honest and make sure that we check the boxes for the things that are going to be needed for the transition to be a successful one. We also got in front of the staff very early and let them know what’s happening, and that we would keep them informed every step of the way.
I’m almost six months in at this point. One of the things we identified even before I got into this seat was the need to move faster. This industry has a reputation for not moving very [quickly]. It doesn’t really matter what we’re doing, we need to do it a little bit quicker. We need to be able to iterate faster. We need to fail faster and learn from those mistakes.
It’s also important to me that we continue to maintain the culture that Merri Jo and I have spent a long time creating and nurturing over the years. We’re going to be rolling out a new product by Lundy called Nora. It’s essentially an AI assistant that can connect to existing systems you have. It can pull in all of the MLS data. It’s got all the rules and regulations for the MLS. It’s an app that you’ll be able to talk to, and so you’ll be able to connect different systems together. Things that normally you’d have to do manually are now going to be able to be connected and voice enabled.
Delozier: Speaking of AI tools and tech, what’s proven most useful to you right now, and what do you think is gaining too much hype in the industry?
Fairley: AI is genuinely earning its keep right now [with] the boring stuff — writing listing descriptions, following up on emails, summarizing an hour-long showing tour into notes that you can send your buyer. It can pull comps for a [comparative market analysis] in a couple of minutes instead of a couple of hours — things like that. Anything that’s giving our agents and brokers time back in their day would be a legitimate use of AI and how AI is helping right now.
With regards to where it’s hype, any tool that promises to replace the human aspect of the job. Any AI that’s going to promise to nurture your leads for six months and make them love you, or that’s going to accurately predict that a homeowner is going to sell in the next 90 days, AI that promises to run listing appointments for you — that’s not real. Not saying it won’t ever come to that, but that’s not real right now.
Everybody has access to the same models right now, so the competitive advantage isn’t really the tool itself. It’s how you use it, and then what you do with the time that it’s going to give you back. If AI’s able to help you handle more clients, that’s a net benefit. If it lets you sit down with the people that you’re working with and nurture those relationships, that’s where the sweet spot is.
Delozier: Looking at the Florida housing market — there’s so many varied trends narratives about different towns and regions. How are things looking for right now, and where do you see things going the rest of the year?
Fairley:I actually saw a couple of price increases the other day, and so I think that hopefully will be a testament to what’s to come. The market has been a bit down compared to other years. However, Florida is still kicking. There’s a lot of interest from international buyers. There’s a lot of interest from people in other states. Florida hasn’t experienced the downturn as much as other regions of the United States. It’s still a healthy market here.
Over the last year, you saw a lot more decreases and people pulling their homes off the market. I get asked all the time, “Is the market going to continue to go down? Should I wait?” I tell people no, there’s never a better time to buy than right now. There are still affordability challenges, and we need to build more homes as fast as we can. That’s still going to be an issue for the foreseeable future. But the market is healthy.
Delozier: Post-NAR settlement, and a constant wave of AI and tech setting in, what biggest changes are you seeing for agents as far as their work behavior, expectations and long-term outlook?
Fairley:There’s been a lot of noise for, honestly, a couple of years now about how buyers’ agents were going to be wiped out, how consumers weren’t going to pay for representation and how the whole model would ultimately collapse. That’s not what happened. This industry is always looking for the next boogeyman — what’s around the corner. But this industry is super resilient. I’ve worked for this company for 21 years, and Realtors are one of the most resilient bunch that I’ve ever seen.
What happened ultimately is that agents got more professional. More of the conversation happens up front now. Buyers agents sit down with the client. They explain what they do. They explain what the cost is going to be, and buyers sign an agreement before [the agent] takes them out to see homes. I think that’s a healthier conversation for the industry. It also forced agents to articulate what their value is. A lot of them didn’t have to do that before.
It definitely made agents go back and sharpen their pencil and articulate their value in a way that they really didn’t have to do before. The agents that I talk to are very positive about the industry and the future, even though the market’s been a little bit down. They’re out there doing their best job, and that’s what we want to do — help support them and make them look good in front of their clients.