{"id":7611,"date":"2026-07-16T20:16:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T00:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=7611"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:16:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T00:16:58","slug":"ai-can-sell-your-home-genius-move-or-colossal-blunder-waiting-to-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/ai-can-sell-your-home-genius-move-or-colossal-blunder-waiting-to-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Can Sell Your Home. Genius Move? Or Colossal Blunder Waiting to Happen?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Did you catch that New York Times<\/em> tech reporter\u2019s article? Yes, the one detailing his attempt\u2014successful, he assures us\u2014to sell a home with a chatbot instead of an agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human real estate agents, we can imagine, are not exactly thrilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home sales, agents quickly point out, are high-risk transactions. There\u2019s a lot of money at stake. And there\u2019s more. All sorts of emotions come into play whenever someone transfers or receives title to a home. AI doesn\u2019t do emotion. Granted, it does put on a pretty good show of mimicking empathetic language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deed transactions involve trust. Authentic trust. That\u2019s critical. AI can gather and analyze figures. AI can report all the facts about a community. But unlike a local agent, AI cannot explain the human elements of a home or a neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, let\u2019s look at what this New York Times journalist did with AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Tech Journalist Takes Public Plunge Into an AI-Assisted Deed Transaction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times<\/em> tech writer decided to apply AI to \u201cthe intricate world of Hudson Valley real estate.\u201d The idea was irresistible. What a lot of money there was to be saved by avoiding a full-service human agent! After all, wrote the journalist, \u201crising home prices and soaring agent commissions mean the math is becoming undeniable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gave AI the basic facts about the home. The chatbot produced a listing description. It called the home \u201cflooded with light\u201d and \u201cperfect for bird lovers.\u201d So far, so good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would AI handle the all-important step of setting the listing price? A brief look at Zillow showed a valuation of $550K. The writer called a few agents, who largely agreed without offering much analysis. AI\u2019s advice (go higher) turned out to be the right move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journalist began by quizzing the Google chatbot, Gemini. He received leads for local photographers and staging help, along with advice on arranging images online effectively. He used Homecoin, which lets sellers list for-sale-by-owner homes on the Multiple Listing Service for a couple hundred bucks. And voil\u00e0! DIY listing achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agents\u2019 requests to see the home rolled in. The journalist put the buyers\u2019 agents\u2019 questions to the chatbot. Each time, the journalist copied and pasted AI\u2019s suggested answer to the agents. It worked. He acknowledges that he writes about tech for a living, which gives him that much of an edge. He used multiple AI platforms, depending on the task. He also recognizes that the context for his particular deed transaction was \u201ca thriving market, with no special circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did purchase an add-on service, which allowed him to access an agent as needed. At the end, he hired a closing lawyer. But without an agent representing him as an in-person negotiator, the journalist felt bolder. He asked the buyers to pay their own agent a commission, and thereby wriggled out of a $12K charge. When all was said and done, the reporter had saved more than $90K. \u201cThat includes the premium over the asking price, plus the roughly $36,000 in fees I didn\u2019t pay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Try This at Home (Without the Expertise to Oversee the Technology)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To sell her Colorado condo, Lorraine Schwarz used Ridley. It\u2019s an AI tool that helps homeowners sell without paying agent commissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, Lorraine had valuable experience, too. She\u2019d sold other homes. Plus, she was president of her homeowners\u2019 association and therefore had plenty of knowledge to help her set a price and market the home effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She picked Ridley for its capacity to publish her property through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), as human agents traditionally do. A property listed on the MLS will show up on the websites\u2014Zillow\u00ae, Redfin, and so forth\u2014where many home seekers begin their journeys.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She used ChatGPT to draft the listing text, and then let Ridley guide the Q&A process to create the actual listing for the MLS. It worked. Within 24 hours, Lorraine received a full-price offer: $425K.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A traditional 5% commission would have amounted to more than $21K. Yikes! The Ridley platform\u2019s pro plan, which Lorraine bought, costs $4K. A bargain compared with $21K.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is There Anything AI Can\u2019t Do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An AI tool can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n