The AI.Edge Q1 2026 Build Competition – Winners Announced!
The Q1 2026 Build Competition has officially wrapped, and what a quarter it was.
From autonomous valuation tools to AI-powered permit assistants, this cohort pushed the boundaries of what’s possible when CRE professionals put AI to work. The quality and diversity of submissions made this one genuinely hard to judge.
A huge thank you to everyone who built, submitted, and engaged. You’re the reason this community keeps raising the bar.
Check out this impressive list of the various build submissions from the showcase!
🔹 CMBS Data & Surveillance Platform – Turns raw SEC filings into institutional-grade CMBS surveillance reports that would normally take a credit analyst a full day to produce.
🔹 Argus Autopilot – Six AI agents that take your Argus exports and automatically produce a complete, IC-ready portfolio valuation package, including NOI, DCF, cap rates, and written commentary.
🔹 Market Risk Heat Map – Transforms any CRE market’s risk factors into a scored, visual heat map with underwriting adjustments, delivered in under five minutes.
🔹 LIHTC Site Map Analyzer – Layers census data, flood zones, affordability inventory, and transit data onto one interactive map, then uses AI to generate site feasibility narratives for affordable housing developers.
🔹 SiteStack – An all-in-one browser tool that lets independent CRE developers source deals, pull public records, view financial models, and track returns, no login, no subscription required.
🔹 Budgeting & Financial Management Tool – A streamlined web platform that replaces expensive enterprise software for multifamily developers, managing budgets, contracts, invoices, and insurance in one connected space.
🔹 Local LLM Agents Platform – A fully in-house AI agent platform that runs on local models, giving CRE operators data ownership, cost control, and AI-powered property insights without the API bill.
🔹 Net Lease Pricer – Instantly generates a multi-scenario STNL valuation report with cap rate analysis, market comps, and pricing recommendations from a single property input.
🔹 CrossBeam – An AI-powered permit assistant that reads architectural plans, cross-references California ADU law, and generates a professional correction response, cutting a 90% first-submission rejection rate down to size.
🔹 Headshot Generator – Upload 4–6 photos and get four polished, LinkedIn-ready professional headshots in about two minutes, no photographer needed.
🔹 CRE Closing Checklist Creator Skill – A Claude skill that generates a complete, deal-specific closing checklist instantly, replacing hours of manual document preparation.
And the winners are…
🥇 First Place: Norman Li
Build: CMBS Data & Surveillance Platform
CMBS Pulse ingests loan-level data from ~300 SEC EDGAR ABS-EE filings, structures it into a searchable platform with deal dashboards, property and loan drill-downs, and generates AI-written surveillance memos, the kind of report that would normally take a credit analyst a full day to produce. Three years of historical performance data across 14,000+ loans and 21,000+ properties.
Check it out → https://cmbspulse.com
🥈 Runner-Up: Tobin Joseph
Build: Argus Autopilot – Autonomous Portfolio Valuation Powered by Argus Exports
Argus Autopilot automates the valuation work that happens after you run Argus. Drop your Argus rent roll and cash flow exports into a folder – six AI agents analyze the data, calculate NOI, pull live market cap rates, run a DCF valuation, track quarterly trends, and generate a downloadable IC-ready PDF report. This ultimately reduces quarterly valuation time for teams that do not have access to external data platforms and/or want something more custom-made.
Check it out → https://argus-autopilot-production.up.railway.app/
Congratulations to Noman and Tobin. Check out their builds in the AI.Edge Build Showcase!
The Q2 2026 Build Competition is coming. Join AI.Edge to participate when it opens.
