AI can improve the pitch but undermine the transaction
Agents remain responsible for checking property facts, protecting customer information and reviewing AI-generated marketing before it reaches the public.
AI can turn out a listing description in seconds. It also can invent a bedroom, add a boat slip that's not there and make a wall disappear from a virtually staged photo.
“AI is fast. The truth is slower,” real estate attorney Sarah Geltz told Realtors® at the recent Florida Real Estate Legal Summit.
Artificial intelligence has become integral to listing copy, social media, virtual staging, lead scoring, pricing suggestions, customer communication and brokerage workflows, Geltz said. The tool isn't the problem. Problems start when agents treat its responses as ready-to-use instead of working drafts that still need to be checked.
“Speed is the feature. Accuracy is your license,” she said.
In one case, an agent used AI to write a listing description for a two-bedroom condo. The copy came back with a third bedroom and a deeded boat slip that didn't exist. The agent posted it without checking, opening the door to advertising and ethics problems.
Her advice: “Treat it as a first draft from an intern who knows nothing.”
When virtual staging becomes remodeling
In another example, AI added furniture to an empty room but also removed a wall, added a pool and removed water damage and cracks. When the out-of-state buyer saw the property after closing, the differences were hard to miss.
Geltz’s rule is simple: Stage the furniture, not the facts. Agents should verify every altered image and disclose virtual staging every time.
Watch what goes into the prompt
Geltz also warned agents to keep private customer details and sensitive transaction information out of public AI tools, such as:
- Driver’s license and social security information
- Birth dates and account numbers
- Wiring instructions and escrow information
- Executed contracts and addenda
- Financial disclosures
- Inspection and appraisal reports
- Customer emails and chat transcripts
“Anything that you wouldn’t send unencrypted to somebody you don’t know, don’t put it into AI,” she said.
AI also shouldn't be used to answer legal, financial or tax questions. Geltz described a brokerage chatbot that incorrectly told a buyer that Florida contracts automatically include an appraisal contingency. Her recommendation was that brokerage chatbots provide general information and send those questions to a person.
Her checklist for safer use: treat every output as a draft, verify property facts, disclose altered images, protect customer information and adopt a written brokerage AI policy.
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