Caroline Bass, Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker at Corcoran, was interviewed by Haven Lifestyles on June 25, 2026 about how artificial intelligence is changing the way homes are marketed, searched, and sold.
Read the original: How AI Is Changing the Way Homes Are Marketed, Searched, and Sold, Haven Lifestyles, June 25, 2026.
“It’s helping people see possibilities that they may have otherwise overlooked.”
Caroline Bass, The Bass Team at Corcoran, in Haven Lifestyles
Buyers are arriving at showings with AI generated shortlists
At a recent showing for one of my Upper East Side listings, the buyer arrived holding a list an AI platform had produced for them. They had asked it for the best apartments on the Upper East Side between $600,000 and $1 million. Two of the apartments on that list were mine.
Because the search had already been narrowed before the buyer contacted anyone, both apartments could be shown in the same visit.
That is the practical change. AI is becoming an entry point into the search rather than a replacement for it. The buyer arrives further along, with a shorter list and sharper questions. The work shifts from finding options to evaluating them.
Buyers are testing layouts before they commit
A buyer I recently worked with was considering an alcove studio on Central Park South. Before closing, they used AI to build out layouts, furniture plans, curtain dividers, color palettes, and design directions for the space.
By the time the apartment closed, the buyer already had a mood board and a design plan ready to go.
In Manhattan this matters more than it would elsewhere. Apartments here are small, often oddly shaped, and hard to read empty. A vacant studio can feel limited until a buyer sees how sleeping, living, and work areas could actually be arranged.
How AI is being used on listing photography, and where the line is
AI has become part of how listings are presented. Photo enhancement, virtual staging, lighting adjustment, and view presentation are all now routine tools.
On one listing, a seller had taken a sunset photo that captured the view beautifully, but the image quality was not strong enough to market with. I used AI to recreate that sunset inside the professional listing photo, then had the seller approve the image before it was published.
Used responsibly and transparently, it can help showcase a property in its best light while still accurately representing the home. The seller approval step is not optional. An edited image that changes something a buyer would rely on is a misrepresentation, not a marketing decision.
Where AI is least reliable for Manhattan buyers
AI is weakest exactly where Manhattan is most specific: co-op board culture, building financials, renovation approval, and what a board will actually allow.
A buyer who asks an AI tool what is wrong with a building’s financials can get an answer that sounds far more definitive than it should. A line item that reads as alarming in isolation is frequently routine for that type of building. Without context, a normal detail can end a buyer’s interest in a good apartment.
The same limit applies to renovation ideas. AI can show a possibility. It does not know what the building allows, what the work would cost, or whether the design could be built at all.
AI is changing where a Manhattan search starts. It has not changed what closes a deal. Pricing, building knowledge, board preparation, and negotiation still decide the outcome.