AI Could Change Homebuying. How Listings and Negotiations Are Already Shifting

With the real estate market as hot as it has been, prospective buyers can turn to new technology to help them navigate their search.

I used ChatGPT to help me redesign my bedroomand while it was a fun process, I wouldn’t base any substantial design or financial decisions on it. It was capricious, made mistakes and contained inaccuracies.

I came across Collov AI, a tool designed to help real estate agents transform their online listings and close deals faster. It offers virtual staging, 3D tours and interior design technology. I wanted to look at it from a buyer’s perspective to see if that could help as well.

Plus, I spoke to an expert about how home buying negotiations are already changing, with buyers using AI-generated insights to guide their discussions with real estate agents and banks – and whether this approach is effective or too error-prone to be useful.

AI can help you visualize a future home

With Collov AI, you can browse images from online listings or take photos during showings and upload them to the platform to stage a space, adapt or remove items, and even get furniture recommendations from over 300 brands. You can also visualize different interior designs and style suggestions without spending thousands of dollars on professional renderings.

You can also take an AI-powered virtual tour by uploading static photos of a space to generate an interactive video tour. (Creating the tour does not require a floor plan; it is guided by the photo sequence provided by a listing agent, which helps prevent the AI ​​from randomly arranging rooms.)

These features can also help renters visualize a space in their own style, especially if they’re traveling or if a partner or roommate can’t join them for a tour.

Payton Stiewe, president of real estate brokerage Engel & Völkers in San Francisco, Marin County and Burlingame, uses Collov AI to show buyers what a property can look like when furnished in their preferred style or even empty, with the Furniture Removal tool.

“When we tour homes with buyers, one of the biggest challenges isn’t the house itself. It’s what’s in it,” says Stiewe. “Even when a home is professionally staged, or especially when sellers still have their personal belongings in the space, buyers can have a hard time seeing beyond someone else’s style.”

Thanks to Collov AI, you can see what your dream home would look like based on your style in seconds.

“If they’re having trouble imagining a room, I take a photo and instantly show them what that space would look like in their style,” Stiewe says. “Instead of asking them to imagine it, I show them. This clarity changes everything. They stop second-guessing and start making confident, informed decisions.”

Collov AI built its own delivery model from the start because, while other AI interior design tools exist, many don’t follow regulations from the Multiple Listing Service and the National Association of Realtors that prohibit AI-generated photos from changing the structure of a space, says Markk Tong, founding CMO of Collov AI.

I noticed this happening when I was “designing” in ChatGPT. This constantly changed the structure of the room – move windows and doors and even enlarge the space.

“You can’t change the window, door, or architectural features of your original photo,” says Tong. “You can, however, transition interiors and exteriors from night to day, summer to fall, rain to sun, declutter an office, fill a swimming pool, or remove a car from the driveway.”

That’s the goal, anyway. Here’s how it worked in practice.

How to Transform a Space From the Photos You See in a Real Estate Listing

If you also want to try it, follow the steps to sign up for Collov AI and choose your plan. Membership ranges from $19 to $127 per month. The virtual staging and AI interior design features are available on the $19/month model, but if you want the AI ​​virtual tour, you’ll need the $79/month tier. However, a free trial is available.

I tested the AI ​​Virtual Staging feature. Here is the interface:

I looked through property listings and chose a house I liked that was inexpensive but needed some work. I really liked the framing of this house, but the style was dull.

I uploaded six photos of different pieces from the listing to transform them into Collov AI.

After uploading the first photo, it detected the furniture, which I could manually delete if I didn’t like it.

Next, I selected the room type and my preferred design style from the premade templates. I chose the Midcentury look.

In a few seconds, it generated five styles, like this:

In one design, he added a cabinet and a small wall behind it in the house’s open archway in a style AI-powered hallucination. I used the chat function to report it.

While removing it, he then added an additional piece of furniture in the kitchen. This had already changed the structure of the house.

I tried another image. This time I chose the Farmhouse design.

Here is the original photo versus the Collov AI rendering:

I was surprised, however, to see one version completely change the structure of the piece – something Collov AI is not supposed to do.

I asked Tong about it. He said typical causes include input photo constraints, part geometry ambiguity, and model stochasticity – i.e. the inherent randomness of AI tools. Collov AI attempts to alleviate this problem by generating multiple variations so users can choose the most accurate one, as well as unlimited free regens.

It was great fun to see spaces instantly redesigned in a range of different styles. Although I didn’t use all of Collov AI’s features, it was helpful for me to visualize what a space might look like in another style, especially since many listing photos are dull.

But you still have to watch out for the AI’s quirks, because sometimes it sticks a wall where there isn’t one or changes the layout of the room.

Can AI help in home purchase negotiations?

I also spoke with Cain Cooke, president of the Real Estate Institute of South Australia (REISA), who is an expert on the Australian Institute of Business’s industry advisory board.

He’s seen a major shift over the past 18 months in how buyers are coming to initial conversations with agents who are much more informed and engaged.

“Buyers are using AI to prepare for negotiation by prompting it to identify comparable sales, understand seller motivation signals, and even develop negotiation approaches before calling an agent,” Cooke says. “The research phase has been reduced significantly, but more than that, so has the preparation phase.”

But he cautions that buyers might come to the table with too much confidence if they rely on an AI-generated strategy that they believe gives the full picture — particularly if the AI ​​searches contain errors.

“AI is a great starting point, not an end point,” he says.

In the vein of tools like Collov AI, which could eventually be integrated into real estate agent websites, Cooke says AI could be better used in the real estate market to help sellers create conversational, intelligent interfaces for live listings instead of stagnant pages like those on Zillow, making it easier for buyers to spot the home that might be best for them.

He predicts we will see more automated property valuations, AI-based rental management and faster settlements.

“When it comes to automated valuations, we’re already seeing AI-based tools go well beyond the more blunt median price estimates of a few years ago,” says Cooke. “The next generation will incorporate hyperlocal variables, school zone changes, infrastructure announcements, micro-suburb sentiment and even the quality of a specific street. Producing assessments nuanced by in-depth local insights.”

For rental managementAI will likely handle lease renewal workflows, maintenance triage, compliance tracking, and routine tenant communications with minimal human intervention.

For settlements, Cooke says we can expect AI-assisted contract preparation, automated title and encumbrance checks, digital verification of terms and streamlined communication between banks, boards and other stakeholders.

So, whether you are renting or buying, AI can be a useful tool for visualizing your future home and developing negotiating arguments. Just be aware of the limitations of AI and work on them before making specific plans.

Learn more: Your next real estate agent could be AI. But should this be the case?

Correction, 11:02 a.m. PT: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about the app’s exterior design features.