Write property listings, client follow-ups, and CRM notes at the speed of speech. Close deals faster by spending less time at the keyboard.
As a real estate agent, your days are packed with showings, open houses, inspections, and client meetings. But between all those in-person interactions, there's a staggering amount of writing that has to happen. Property descriptions for MLS listings. Follow-up emails to buyers and sellers. CRM notes after every showing. Offer summaries and negotiation updates. Market analysis narratives. Social media posts showcasing new listings. Transaction coordination emails with lenders, inspectors, and title companies.
The writing never stops — but your schedule doesn't have gaps for it. You're often typing listing descriptions at 9 PM after a full day of showings, or tapping out follow-up emails on your laptop between appointments. The writing itself isn't hard — you know these properties intimately, you know your clients, you know the market. The bottleneck is the mechanical act of typing it all out.
Steno eliminates that bottleneck. It's a macOS voice-to-text app that lets you speak your text instead of typing it. Describe a property as if you're giving a tour, and the listing description writes itself. Narrate your showing notes while they're fresh, and your CRM updates are done in seconds. You can speak at 150 words per minute — that's three to four times faster than typing.
The best listing descriptions paint a picture. They walk the reader through the home, highlighting features, finishes, and the feeling of each space. When you dictate a listing description, that's exactly what happens — you describe the property as if you're walking through it with a buyer. The result is vivid, engaging, and naturally structured. You mention the open-concept kitchen flowing into the family room, the natural light pouring through oversized windows, the mature landscaping framing the front entrance. It reads like a tour because it was spoken like one.
Your CRM is only as good as the data you put into it. After every showing, call, and meeting, you need to log what happened, what the client said, and what the next steps are. Most agents skip this because typing notes is tedious. With Steno, you can speak a complete summary in thirty seconds. Your CRM stays current, your follow-ups stay informed, and nothing falls through the cracks.
Real estate is a relationship business, and email is where relationships are maintained between meetings. Whether you're sending a listing alert, a market update, a showing recap, or a negotiation update, dictating your emails lets you produce more personalized, detailed messages in less time. Your clients feel the difference when you reference specifics from your last conversation instead of sending a generic template.
When you present a CMA to a seller or a market overview to a buyer, the data tells part of the story, but the narrative you wrap around it is what builds confidence. Dictating your market analysis lets you explain trends, comparable sales, and pricing strategy in your own voice — literally — which produces more persuasive, natural-sounding reports.
Between accepted offer and closing, there are dozens of emails to lenders, inspectors, appraisers, title companies, and attorneys. Each requires clear, professional communication. Dictating these messages keeps the transaction moving without the typing overhead that usually slows things down during busy periods.
| Task | Typing | With Steno |
|---|---|---|
| MLS listing description | 10-15 minutes | 3 minutes |
| Post-showing CRM notes | 5 minutes | 1 minute |
| Personalized client follow-up email | 8 minutes | 2 minutes |
| CMA narrative section | 20 minutes | 6 minutes |
| Social media property post | 10 minutes | 3 minutes |
| Transaction update email | 5 minutes | 1.5 minutes |
Benchmark your current speed with our free typing speed test, then see the difference voice makes.
Agents need tools that work fast and don't add complexity. Steno is a menu bar app — it sits quietly on your Mac until you need it. Hold the hotkey, speak, release. No app to switch to, no transcription window, no voice commands to memorize. It works in your MLS platform, CRM, email client, and every other tool you use. The setup takes thirty seconds — read our guide on setting up Steno on your Mac.
The transcription is powered by Groq's Whisper large-v3 model, which accurately handles real estate terminology — escrow, contingency, appraisal, HOA, earnest money, closing costs — as well as street addresses, neighborhood names, and architectural terms. You can read more about the technology behind Steno.
Yes. After a showing or walkthrough, hold Steno's hotkey and describe the property as if you're walking a client through it — the layout, finishes, neighborhood, unique features. The text appears in your MLS platform or document immediately. Most agents can dictate a complete listing description in under two minutes instead of ten.
Steno works with any application on your Mac, including web-based MLS platforms, Zillow, Realtor.com agent tools, Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, BoomTown, and any CRM. It types text at your cursor position — no integrations needed.
Steno works on any Mac with a microphone, including MacBook laptops. Between showings, you can open your laptop, hold the hotkey, and dictate notes, follow-up emails, or listing descriptions while the property details are still fresh. It's much faster than typing on a laptop keyboard in your car.
Steno's AI model handles real estate vocabulary well — terms like escrow, contingency, appraisal, HOA, MLS, comp, earnest money, closing costs, and property types are transcribed accurately. It also handles street addresses, neighborhood names, and architectural terms like wainscoting, coffered ceilings, and en-suite.
Download Steno free and see how voice-to-text fits your real estate workflow.
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