INDIANAPOLIS— Artificial intelligence is making it more difficult for potential home buyers to determine what a house actually looks like when browsing online listings, according to real estate experts.
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The trend has a name: “house fishing.
"I am sure that many people out there have heard of the term "catfishing". "Housefishing" is basically the same thing, but with property listings rather than potential dates online," said Charlie Lankston with Realtor.com.
Lankston said the practice is becoming more common, driven in part by advances in AI technology.
“This can be done in a number of ways, but one of the most popular is through AI,” Lankston said. “That’s why we are now seeing such a big surge in the number of house fishing cases.”
AI tools can digitally alter listing photos, making it harder for buyers to distinguish what is real and what has been enhanced.
“Some listings will do AI staging,” Lankston said. “They might have a photograph of the space in real life and then include an AI interpretation of what that space might look like.”
However, not all listings disclose when images have been digitally modified. Experts say AI is not the only method used to mislead buyers. Techniques such as wide-angle camera lenses can also make spaces appear larger than they actually are. In many cases, the result is frustration for buyers.
“People will see a listing online, think it’s their dream home, go to see it in person, and then, quite frankly, be left horrified by what the property is,” Lankston said.
Lankston recommends that buyers communicate closely with their real estate agents when browsing listings online. Agents can help identify red flags, such as prices that seem too low for the market or images that appear overly polished.
“If something looks too good to be true, it probably is,” she said.
Some states are beginning to address the issue. California passed a law in January requiring sellers to disclose whether listing photos have been digitally enhanced.
