{"id":2500,"date":"2026-06-22T20:43:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=2500"},"modified":"2026-06-22T20:43:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:43:05","slug":"ai-virtual-staging-real-estate-apartment-listings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=2500","title":{"rendered":"Generative AI is cursing renters with the promise of impossible homes"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Joyce, a native New Yorker, didn\u2019t think finding her first solo apartment in the city would be easy. But she also didn\u2019t think it\u2019d be \u201chell.\u201d After looking at a lot of tiny, overpriced places she described as \u201cshitholes,\u201d Joyce found her dream apartment: a reasonably priced studio in Manhattan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt was big and airy, and there was a fireplace,\u201d she said. The kitchen was small but well equipped and looked like it had been recently renovated. She dropped everything to see the apartment, and when she got there, she learned that five other women, all around her age, had viewings scheduled after hers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI get in, and it\u2019s not the same apartment at all,\u201d she told me. It was much smaller than it looked in the pictures. The kitchen sink was different. The stove was missing several knobs. There was no fireplace. \u201cThere\u2019s the idea of the apartment that we saw in the pictures,\u201d she said, and then there was the apartment itself. \u201cMy friend said we should\u2019ve known it was AI because there was a plant on the gas stove in the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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New York City brokers have always had a knack for making even the most run-down apartments look passable in photos, but generative AI has given them the ability to do so with the click of a button. For renters, this means spending even more time scrutinizing every listing to avoid ending up in an apartment that looks far better online than it does in person.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Virtual staging isn\u2019t new, but AI is. Bee, a Realtor who works in Florida who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy reasons, said virtual staging often helps people envision how they could refurnish or remodel a home. \u201cYou\u2019d be surprised how little creativity a buyer or renter has,\u201d she said. \u201cVirtual staging could be anywhere from, like, $40 to $400 based on what you\u2019re having these stagers do, whereas real-life staging can\u2019t be done for under a couple grand.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She showed me a photo from one of her active listings, a house with furniture she described as \u201cdated.\u201d The living room had plush sofas, an ornate wood coffee table, a Persian-style rug, and heavy drapery. Then she showed me the way she redecorated it with ChatGPT. The white sofa, track lighting, and plain, woven rug were decidedly modern. She said the edited photo isn\u2019t going on the listing, but she does share it with clients to demonstrate how they could update the space.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Real estate agents and brokers have several virtual staging tools at their disposal. Bee\u2019s favorites are Stuccco and BoxBrownie, both of which charge per listing. But Bee said there\u2019s a difference between using virtual staging software to show what a house could look like with new furniture and a few DIY upgrades, and using AI tools to create misleading listings. \u201cThere\u2019s a lawsuit waiting to happen,\u201d she said. \u201cI think \u2018digitally altered\u2019 is not accurate. I don\u2019t necessarily put \u2018digitally altered\u2019 if I have AI make a bed, but \u2018digitally altered,\u2019 to me, says, \u2018I patched a hole.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Madison, a Queens resident, said she wanted to get a head start on looking for apartments before her lease is up in the fall. In her six years of living in New York, she\u2019s found apartments via Facebook groups and, once, through a post on the queer dating and classifieds app Lex. This time, she\u2019s been looking on StreetEasy, where she\u2019s seen a proliferation of AI-enhanced listings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Joyce, who spent months looking for apartments, noticed that AI-enhanced listings often feature a proliferation of potted plants.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI think scammy or misleading pictures for apartments have existed for as long as internet listings for apartments have, but it\u2019s really egregious now,\u201d she said. Whereas pre-AI real estate scams included photos of totally different apartments, \u201cnow I\u2019m looking at a picture of a room that more or less looks real until you start looking at the details of the furniture and things like that, where they clearly took a picture of the actual room and said, \u2018Hey, ChatGPT, can you put some furniture in this for me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Some states are starting to crack down on AI-enhanced listings. New York recently implemented a law mandating disclosure of AI in ads<\/a>, but the legislation mostly focuses on \u201csynthetic performers,\u201d<\/a> not on AI-generated furniture. But the New York secretary of state did issue a warning<\/a> last year about misleading AI-generated or AI-enhanced listings, noting that brokers are already prohibited from posting dishonest advertisements.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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California\u2019s recent Altered Image Law<\/a> goes a step further, requiring anyone advertising property to disclose when they\u2019ve used AI to alter or enhance images. But much like broker and Realtor regulations, laws governing the use of AI in listings and other advertisements vary from state to state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Joyce, who found an apartment after searching for several months, said that even the descriptions appear to be AI-generated. \u201cEverything is \u2018charming.\u2019 Everything is \u2018cozy.\u2019 You notice the same wording patterns over and over again, where everything has \u2018spa-like finishes,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cBrokers are already so dishonest, and now they have, like, the lying machine in their pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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