Jun 20, 2026
Think about all the people whose job titles contain the word ‘agent’: travel agents, insurance agents, real estate agents. The list goes on. But a growing number of Americans are replacing those agents with agentic AI to save time and money.
In the case of real estate, savings may be substantial. Remove commissions from transactions and you could be saving tens of thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of dollars.
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The verdict from home sellers Stuart Thompson and Robert Levine — who both used AI to sell their homes for over asking within days of listing — is that it’s a great way to go.
“I’m persuaded that AI may well transform real estate agents into something more like travel agents,” Stuart Thompson wrote in a first-person account for the New York Times. “Once essential to navigating an opaque process, they could soon become more of a nice-to-have for busy people who want a more carefree experience.”
Naturally, many real estate agents aren’t happy about the trend. Some question how much time is saved. Others warn of the legal risks, administrative errors and leaving money on the table.
Here’s a look at the debate and the pros and cons of using AI to sell a home.
$90,000 netted
Thompson is a tech reporter for the New York Times. So when he and his wife decided to sell their Hudson Valley home, he suggested they work with AI instead of a real estate agent.
Originally, the couple estimated they could get roughly $550,000 for their home — purely based on Zillow listings. And after speaking to a few agents, that was the consensus.
But Thompson was underwhelmed and didn’t like the idea of handing over 3% sales commission (up to $30,000 or more) to them. He wanted to see what AI could do.
“Just trust me,” he told his wife, admitting that deep down he wasn’t sure if the AI experiment would work.
It only lasted a few days — because it was a resounding success.
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Thompson used Google’s Gemini to craft the listing, find a photographer and stage his home. It guided him through the steps of posting his listing to the MLS.
Within 24 hours the couple had booked a weekend of showings. Soon after, they received three offers — all over asking. AI even advised on which offer to accept, the same one Thompson and his wife planned to sign back. It wasn’t the highest bid, but it was a sure thing and over $600,000.
Thompson paid a lawyer to take care of the paperwork. Even with that expense, he and his wife cleared $90,000 on the sale of their home and the buyers agreed to pay their own agent the 2% buyers’ commission, saving Thompson $36,000 in fees.
Robert Levine and his wife were just as happy when they used ChatGPT instead of a real estate agent to help them sell their home in Cooper City, Florida.
Like Thompson, Levine is technologically savvy. He’s the CEO of a company that teaches firms how to use AI. And like Thompson, he was unimpressed with real estate agents’ price estimates.
As he shared with Fortune, what started as a few casual ChatGPT prompts about selling their home turned into a full-on consultation, yielding advice on staging and when to show the home.
They had 15 viewings and five offers, selling their home for nearly $1 million — $100,000 more than agents told them they could — in just five days.
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Like Thompson, Levine opted to use a lawyer to handle the paperwork.
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Using AI to sell a home isn’t all smooth sailing
Thompson and Levine admit there were challenges using AI instead of a real estate agent.
There are some things a virtual assistant can’t do, like show prospective buyers a home, paint, move furniture or call buyers’ agents. All that work falls into the lap of a DIY seller.
In comments on Thompson’s New York Times article, one reader questioned how much time he really saved.
“You did all the legwork, calling, staging,” the reader wrote. “It sounds like a lot; how many hours did it add up to and how much would that time be worth at your normal rate of pay?”
Thompson added that there were times he needed emotional support during the nerve-wracking sales process — a big part of a real-life agent’s job.
Disturbingly, AI agents can make mistakes.
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For example, Thompson noted that Gemini originally gave him the wrong advice on paying the buyer’s agent a commission.
Meanwhile, Ines Hegedus-Garcia raised concerns about Levine’s sale, which she knew about as managing partner of Avanti Way East Miami, the realty where the buyer’s agent works.
Hegedus-Garcia told Realtor.com that Levine could have made more money with an agent, arguing that a Realtor would have negotiated a better deal in the bidding war.
She added that Levine was clearly relying on ChatGPT during negotiations and his queries exposed AI’s legal and practical shortcomings.
“He would run it by ChatGPT, come back to her and say, ‘How about this?’” she said. “And [the buyer’s agent] is like, no, that doesn’t apply in Florida.”
Still, Levine pocketed $28,000 in savings on commissions. He has no regrets about using AI in the process and encourages others to do the same.
“I’d recommend it to everyone,” Levine said of the experience. “ChatGPT is not coding. It is a conversation, and you’re going to have to have that conversation with a real estate professional if you want to go that direction anyway.”
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Laura Boast is an Associate Editor with Moneywise.com and a lifelong content creator who has reached international audiences at Discovery, CBC, Blue Ant Media, Bond Brand Loyalty and more.
