Using ChatGPT and AI When You Buy or Sell a Home

Where AI helps

Treat AI as a patient explainer that works at midnight. It is useful for the parts of a purchase or sale that are the same everywhere.

• Explaining terms in a contract, disclosure or loan estimate in plain words (or in Chinese)
• Summarizing a long report so you know which pages to read closely
• Making a list of questions for your inspector, lender, agent or insurance broker
• Comparing two loan estimates line by line, once you paste in the numbers
• Drafting a moving checklist or a timeline from your offer date to closing

Where AI often gets the South Bay wrong

AI answers sound equally sure whether they are right or wrong, and they lean toward agreeing with how a question is asked. These are the places that most often go wrong here:

• Prices in small neighborhoods: with few recent sales nearby, AI may compare a home with sales from a different area, size or condition. Ask for the actual addresses and dates of the sales it used.
• Property tax: under Prop 13 a home's assessed value is reset at purchase, so the seller's current tax bill is not a guide to yours. See the property tax guide.
• Transfer taxes: San José, Mountain View and Palo Alto charge their own on top of the county's. The seller cost calculator uses each city's current rate.
• Inspection reports: a finding like moisture, an older electrical panel or foundation cracks can be minor or serious depending on the house. Only the inspector who saw it, or a licensed contractor or engineer, can say which.
• Offers and timing: local custom on offer dates, contingencies and rent-backs changes with the market. Ask what similar homes nearby actually closed with.
• Old or made-up facts: AI can quote rules, dates or rates that have changed, or cite a source that doesn't say what it claims. Open the source.

How to check an AI answer

A few habits keep AI useful and keep a good decision from turning on a wrong fact.

• Ask it to show its sources, then open them
• Ask the same question as a neutral question, not a worried one ("What are common causes of attic moisture?" rather than "Is this house a disaster?")
• Ask what would make its answer wrong, and what it doesn't know about this house
• Ask a second AI tool, and notice where the two disagree
• Take anything about price, repairs, loans, taxes or legal terms to the professional who handles it: your agent, inspector, lender, tax advisor or attorney

Bring it to Diana

If an AI answer worries you or seems to contradict the plan, send it to Diana. She'll go through it with you, show the local sales or documents behind the real answer, and tell you who to ask when the question is for an inspector, lender or attorney. Talk with Diana.