Some house hunters say they’re feeling “housefished”—the new label for essentially catfishing, but in real estate.
A recent Reddit post calling out AI-enhanced real estate photos has generated more than 12,000 upvotes and over 600 comments. A New Jersey couple who’s been house hunting for more than a year described finding picture-perfect listings online only to discover the properties looked nothing like the photos.
In one example, they shared how a pristine kitchen was actually cluttered and unclean. An exterior showed lush green grass where in reality the outdoor area had dirt and weeds, along with stained siding and a dilapidated above-ground pool.
“It’s such a waste of time to click through an entire gallery only to find the last few photos showing the property’s true condition,” the poster writes. Commenters agreed, describing the images as creating false expectations and wasting buyers’ time.
AI is making it easier than ever to show a property in its best light—and sometimes too good to be true. Even free AI tools can instantly remove objects, alter lighting, add furniture, change landscaping and even modify permanent features with just a few prompts.
So, where is the line between enhancing a listing’s looks and misrepresenting it? The industry is beginning to draw one, with state lawmakers and real estate organizations increasingly weighing in. Recent examples include California’s new disclosure requirements, a similar New York state bill under consideration, and Minnesota’s NorthstarMLS new guidelines for using AI in property photos.
A Digitally Altered View
Chris White, a real estate photographer who works as the product marketing manager for the real estate visualization company Planitar of iGUIDE, says the ethical line around photo manipulation isn’t new, but AI has made it much easier to cross.
“We’ve long had the ability to do a lot of things that AI can do more easily now, like object removal and artificial lighting,” he says. Just nowadays, a property problem can disappear in seconds with AI.
White has been asked to add missing light fixtures, remove wall cracks, fix tile imperfections and erase elements from exterior views. One request involved removing large powerline structures to preserve the view of a yard.
“I said no because that’s misrepresentation,” he says.
Even seemingly harmless edits can create problems. White has been asked to remove stacks of moving boxes from a frame, but when the boxes disappear, AI has to guess what belongs behind them. “There could be anything behind those boxes—water damage, a hole in the wall,” he says.
Before AI, such requests usually prompted a discussion between a photographer and real estate agent before making the correction. Now, “you just drop the photo into ChatGPT and the boxes are gone,” he says.
White also sees problems with using AI tools to make a room appear substantially larger, adding windows or architectural features, altering landscaping or digitally remodeling spaces like a kitchen and presenting it as the home’s existing condition.
So, What Is Fair Game?
The National Association of REALTORS®’ Code of Ethics requires its members to “refrain from exaggerating, misrepresenting or concealing pertinent facts” of a property (Article 2) and to present a “true picture” in advertising and marketing (Article 12). Agents are urged to carefully review all marketing and property images prior to publication to ensure these accurately depict the home.
As AI tools become more readily available, several state regulators and MLSs are developing standards for use in real estate photography. The focus has largely been reigning in edits that attempt to hide defects, alter permanent features or materially change a property’s appearance.
A Growing Emphasis: Disclose
“Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes,” White says. “When you’re looking at reality but see something else online, it can erode trust.” As such, the industry is calling for greater disclosures around property photos that have been enhanced with AI tools.
California enacted a law on Jan. 1 requiring agents to disclose digitally altered images that add, remove or change elements of a property and provide access to the original image. The law defines digitally altered images broadly, covering changes to fixtures, furniture, flooring, walls, paint, landscape, façade, floor plans and elements outside or visible from the property, including views through windows and neighboring properties. Meanwhile, routine adjustments such as lighting, sharpening, white balance, color correction, cropping or other common photo editing adjustments are excluded as long as they don’t change the representation of the property.
This July, NorthstarMLS told its subscribers that AI-generated, AI-enhanced and virtually staged images need to be clearly identified—such as in the photo caption or directly on the altered photo—and accompanied by an unaltered image showing the property's actual condition. NorthstarMLS said in its guidance the goal is to “ensure truthful, non-misleading advertising of listing property.”
Related: Are You ‘Catfishing’ Buyers With Picture-Perfect Real Estate Photos?
Let AI Show Possibilities, Not Rewrite Reality
White’s advice isn’t to abandon AI or polished listing photography. Presenting a home in its best light is part of real estate marketing.
He also sees an important role for AI in helping buyers better understand a property by combining multiple media formats that give buyers a complete picture. For example, companies like iGUIDE can capture 360-degree walkthrough tours so buyers can see how a home flows, as well as providing detailed property data like floor plans that show the home’s layout and room relationships, actual room dimensions and other measurements that can give buyers an accurate picture of the space.
“As a buyer, I’m comparing properties and I’m looking at one versus another, and the better information I have at my disposal, the better decision I can make about which property is right for me,” White says.
Other tools can help agents disclose when images have been altered. For instance, PropMedia offers a free QR code disclosure tool that real estate pros can use so that buyers can view original photos alongside edited versions.
AI also can help buyers visualize more possibilities. A buyer may struggle to imagine what a dated kitchen could become or how furniture might fit into an empty room. AI can show those possibilities, as long as buyers understand the image is a visualization and not the home’s current condition.
“The temptation to make a listing perfect is really strong,” White says, but when a buyer arrives at a home in person, it still needs to look like the home they fell for online.
