How AI is changing the way people find a realtor

A buyer might once have searched "real estate agent in Berkeley," opened a few websites, read some bios, and tried to figure out who seemed experienced and trustworthy.

A seller might have searched "best listing agent near me" and compared the first few names that appeared.

AI is changing that behavior. Increasingly, people aren't thinking, "I'm doing a search." They're explaining what they need and, as I shared today in our meeting, they are confiding in their AI agents. They are looking for recommendations, but it's much more detailed than a plain ol' search for listings. We need to think about emotions, situations, and needs.

Someone looking for a realtor might tell ChatGPT or another AI system:

"I need to sell my mother's house, but it needs work and I'm overwhelmed. I want an experienced agent who will tell me what is actually worth fixing, help me understand my options, and not pressure me into making decisions before I'm ready. Who should I talk to?"

Or:

"We want to buy our first home, but the Bay Area market is intimidating. We need someone who will explain the process, tell us when a house is overpriced, and be honest if we're about to make a mistake."

Those are very different kinds of searches.

And note the emotions involved in the hypothetical chatbot conversations above.

Feeling intimidated.

Feeling overwhelmed.

Search is no longer entirely two-dimensional. A conversation allows someone to describe their situation, explain what they're worried about, rule things out, and refine what they're looking for.

So they may not begin with a neighborhood, price range, or list of real estate services. They may begin with a divorce, an inherited property, a job change, a growing family, a difficult market, or the fear that they don't know enough to make a smart decision.

For realtors, this means we need to think differently about how your website communicates with the main AI systems.

Google used to reward a business with a high page ranking if it used the right combination of keywords or paid for ads. That is no longer enough, as we now know.

The goal is to give these systems enough accurate, meaningful information to represent you correctly when someone explains what they're looking for.

The technology is new. The underlying need isn't.

Someone experienced. Someone who will advocate for me. Someone who will tell me the truth. Someone who understands that buying or selling a home is rarely just a transaction.

That's ultimately what strong AI visibility should accomplish: helping the right client find you at the moment they're looking for exactly the way you work.

The old way of searching asked: What are you looking for?

The new search asks: What do you need?

That is the conceptual shift.

I love working with realtors on their AI visibility. It matters the most for your business. The Google game has changed and I know what to do.