Alexa, Sell My House

“Alexa, sell my house.” Whether you are watching the AI takeover of our world as we know it with trepidation, excitement, or a healthy dose of both, it cannot be denied that the real estate industry is facing huge changes brought on by the swift advancement of artificial intelligence. Have you noticed that the property descriptions of homes currently on the market have gotten especially poetic, engaging and lengthy? Chat GPT. What about the perfectly staged interior photos that look straight out of the pages a magazine? REimagineHOME (or one of the myriads of other virtual staging platforms flooding the market). Whatever is needed to make a property look and sound its best online – there’s an app for that. When planning marketing for a home I will be listing, I like to think about putting its best face forward. Just as I jump in the shower, put on my mascara and lipgloss, and select a tidy outfit for the day before heading off to work, a house is well served to have a good cleaning, some sprucing up (little fresh paint here, little wobbly handrail repair there), and a general decluttering, both inside and out, before it hits the market. Putting the most appealing version of a product – in this case, your home – is perfectly reasonable, as it can only help garner you the most attractive sales price. And then, we get into those “straight out of the pages of a magazine” listings that were mentioned earlier. They are so perfectly balanced in their glossy interior design that you can’t help but start to breathlessly imagine spending your evenings sitting by that beautiful fireplace with a cozy cup of hot tea. You excitedly contact your Realtor to schedule a tour. You arrive, the front door swings open and…the house is vacant. What happened to the perfect décor? Why do the rooms feel so much smaller than the photos indicated? Wait a minute…there’s supposed to be a soaring stone fireplace – is this the wrong house? Sadly, no. Right house, wrong use of virtual staging. Talk about putting lipstick on a pig. You’ve been misled, and the sting is so great that the house turns from budding with possibility to stinging with disappointment. AI can be a very helpful powerhouse in real estate marketing – when it is used appropriately. As in all things, misrepresentation should be avoided at all costs when marketing a home. Also, straightforward honesty is key – virtual staging should not falsify the material facts of a home, and it should always be disclosed in a listing. Can you just erase that high-tension power line that runs through your yard from the exterior listing photos? Technically, it could be erased with ease. Also technically, it would be a highly unethical and unadvisable thing to do. Wherever AI is taking us – and yes, I think we are all aware by now that we are just along for its ride – it seems sensible to embrace the enhanced efficiency and convenience of its offerings, while remembering that at the end of the day, it is human connection and integrity that truly makes the world go ‘round. Jessica Lipscomb is a Preston County native, and she is the Broker of Houses & More Real Estate. She can be reached at jessica@housesandmorerealestate.com.