There's only one way to start this week's Radar, and that's by celebrating Heather Harmon as our inaugural GEM of the Year. From pressure testing startup ideas to being a GEM Ventures Partner to serving as a Peer Circles facilitator to collaborating on Field Trips to attending more dinners than anyone else to raising a hand to be our NorCal/Bay Area Ambassador, the impact Heather's had on the GEM community over the last few years is beyond immense. It's great to see peers in the community recognize all her acts of service to the ecosystem.

Thank you for everything you do. It's beyond an understatement to say GEM wouldn't be what it is today without your contributions.

UPCOMING GEM EVENTS

• Orlando: HIA-GEM VIP Dinner (February 18th)
• Denver: Innovators Roundtable Dinner (February 25th)
• San Francisco: Innovators Roundtable Dinner (March 12th)

Interested in learning about future dinner opportunities? Sign up for GEM Primer.

In this Weekly Radar, we cover:

• AI alarm bells are ringing in every corner.
• The GEM Proptech Index decreased 4.53% from the previous week.

Latest from Geek Estate Blog:

Rental Fee Transparency and the Software Test for Property Managers

The compliance clock is ticking for property managers. What once started as a best practice in rental listings is rapidly becoming a regulatory expectation that demands real action. Fee disclosures that were previously buried in fine print, PDFs, or buried conversations during the leasing process…

GeekEstate BlogMerrick Lackner

Unlocking Donor-Advised Funds to Address the Homeownership Crisis

For the first time in modern history, an entire generation faces the prospect of being permanently priced out of homeownership, with long-term consequences for wealth accumulation, community stability, and economic mobility. At the same time, the philanthropic landscape has quietly changed. Donor-advised funds have accumulated…

GeekEstate BlogFrank Rohde

Privacy vs. Security: The Growing Battle Reshaping Real Estate Technology

In my twenty years in real estate technology, I’ve watched the industry shift through waves of advancing technology, regulatory change, evolving tenant expectations and new market pressures. Today, one challenge stands out from the rest for tech leaders in our industry: navigating the increasingly complex…

GeekEstate BlogNathan Miller

Smart Tech for the Full Resident Lifecycle

The growth of proptech has transformed the rental experience, yet many workflows still feel disjointed. Operators often juggle multiple systems for leasing, access, and maintenance. Residents encounter similar fragmentation as they move from touring to move-in and daily living. This disconnect has limited the full…

GeekEstate BlogMerrick Lackner

As always, links surrounded by the ❇️ emoji indicate exclusive GEM content. If you would like to have access to all links or attend our curated gatherings, please consider GEM membership.

Transmission Recap:
Last week, Drew Meyers pressure tested two startups that have announced funding lately. In Part I, he pokes holes in Sekra's mission to reimagine what rental living can look like with community at the core. In Part II, he ❇️explores Oro and whether employer housing benefits can finally take hold❇️. Most recently, Jeff Turner wrote an important essay about AI voice, perhaps the most important topic of the whole year. If you're not thinking deeply about the implications of AI voice technology advances, you're building in the past. Dig in.

BIZ INTEL

PROPTECH INDEX WEEKLY - AS OF 2/13/2026
By: Community Relations

Consisting of 25 stocks, the GEM Proptech Index had a combined market cap of $235.909B, a decrease of 4.53% from the previous week.

QUARTERLY EARNINGS SUMMARIES
Read full summaries for: ❇️Zillow, News Corp, and ProCore❇️ (will be published to Crystal subscribers once all ten earnings summaries are completed).

GEM MEMBER NEWS

• Dono raised $6.5 million. — Tali Gross
• Applications are now open for PitchFest to pitch live at Housing Innovation Summit in Charlotte. — Dennis Steigerwalt
• RentSpree expanded its partnership with CRMLS to introduce RentEdge, a platform that builds tenant screening, market data, and rental management directly into the MLS. — Michael Lucarelli and Art Carter
• Prosperity Home Mortgage partnered with Foyer. — Landy Liu
• Padsplit cross the 30k units milestone. — Atticus LeBlanc
• RentSpree teamed up with TurboTax to make tax season easier for landlords and real estate agents. — Michael Lucarelli and Lauren Martin
• Shortlyst launched a new website. — Ross Chesnick
• Eric Bramlett was a guest on Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered Podcast: Listen/watch the episode.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

LOUD AND CLEAR AI ALARM BELLS
By: Drew Meyers

I'm not trying to be an alarmist, but I have to admit reading this Tweet from Miles Deutscher caused me to pause…

This is getting out of control now...

Read this slowly.

In the past week alone:Head of Anthropic's safety research quit, said "the world is in peril," moved to the UK to "become invisible" and write poetry.Half of xAI's co-founders have now left. The latest said "recursive self-improvement loops go live in the next 12 months."Anthropic's own safety report confirms Claude can tell when it's being tested - and adjusts its behavior accordingly.ByteDance dropped Seedance 2.0. A filmmaker with 7 years of experience said 90% of his skills can already be replaced by it.Yoshua Bengio (literal godfather of AI) in the International AI Safety Report: "We're seeing AIs whose behavior when they are tested is different from when they are being used" - and confirmed it's "not a coincidence."

And to top it all off, the U.S. government declined to back the 2026 International AI Safety Report for the first time.

The alarms aren't just getting louder. The people ringing them are now leaving the building.

Are you getting worried about what's coming on the AI front?

For all those that haven't read it already, go read Jeff Turner's essay: Empathy Just Got Cheaper. That’s A Problem.