How buyers and sellers use AI to choose a real estate agent

Recasi team · Oct 11, 2026 · 10 min read

We reviewed how buyers and sellers use AI during early agent research and the public information those answers can draw on. In a March 2025 study of 900 U.S. adults, 58% made at least one Google search that showed an AI-generated summary. AI does not replace an interview, but it can shape the shortlist before a buyer or seller calls. This article describes the questions people ask, the sources behind an answer, and the public record agents should maintain.

The practical objective is modest. Give a careful buyer or seller enough accurate material to decide whether a conversation with you makes sense. That requires more than a broad profile or a repeated city name. It requires details that are clear, locally relevant, and supported where possible.

Why early agent research is changing

People have long combined personal advice, past experience, online research, and professional profiles when choosing an agent. The National Association of REALTORS® reports that 88% of buyers and 91% of sellers who completed a transaction from July 2024 through June 2025 used a real estate agent or broker. That makes the comparison stage consequential. A person may receive a referral, then search to check the agent's market knowledge, reviews, recent work, and specialty.

AI makes that checking stage more conversational. Rather than entering several short searches, a person can ask who to contact about selling a condo in a particular area. They can add a property type, timing, price range, or issue they need help resolving. They can then ask what to compare before hiring anyone.

The question therefore addresses a real decision, not just a broad local search. It may concern inherited homes, first-time buyers, a move from another state, or homes near a school district. An agent's public pages should answer those practical questions in plain language. Broad marketing claims rarely help someone make a careful comparison.

AI summaries are already part of ordinary search use. Pew Research Center found that 18% of Google searches in its March 2025 study produced an AI summary. People clicked a traditional result on 8% of visits with a summary, compared with 15% of visits without one. That does not show that an AI answer chooses an agent, but it shows why an agent may be encountered before a traditional result receives a click.

The questions people bring to AI

Buyer and seller questions are usually practical rather than technical. A buyer wants help sorting unfamiliar choices. A seller wants confidence that an agent can price, market, and guide a move well. Each question indicates the page or proof that would help a reader assess the answer.

Questions from buyers

Buyers often need a starting point in a market they do not know well. They may ask which areas fit a commute, what owning a particular home type involves, or how local offers work. Some questions name an agent directly. Others concern the choices an agent can help explain.

• Who are agents familiar with this neighborhood or town?
• Which agent works with first-time buyers or buyers moving from out of state?
• What should I ask an agent before signing an agreement?
• What is the difference between nearby areas for schools, commuting, housing stock, or daily life?
• How do offers, inspections, and negotiations usually work in this market?

Useful material does not need to imply that one agent suits everyone. It should explain who you help, where you work, and the situations you know well. A buyer should leave a page with enough context to decide whether a conversation is sensible. That is a more useful standard than trying to sound like the answer to every question.

Questions from sellers

Seller questions often become more specific because the home and timing are already concrete. A seller may ask about a pricing decision, preparing an older home, selling before buying, or a property with a distinctive feature. The research is usually tied to an immediate decision. That makes a clear explanation of your process and local experience particularly useful.

• Who has experience selling homes like mine in this area?
• What should I compare when I interview listing agents?
• How should I prepare before listing a home locally?
• What can affect a home's asking price in this neighborhood?
• Which agent can explain the local buyer pool for this kind of home?

The National Association of REALTORS® says sellers in its 2025 profile prioritized marketing the home, competitive pricing, and selling in a specific time frame. Public material can explain how you approach those responsibilities without promising an outcome. A local guide, a description of the seller process, and accurate client feedback can give a seller better questions to ask. They can also show whether your experience matches the situation at hand.

Questions about trust

Some research is not about a transaction step at all. Buyers and sellers may ask what others say about an agent, whether details match across sites, or whether a local organization has quoted them. Those are ordinary checks before a major decision. They are also checks that a simple bio cannot answer alone.

BrightLocal's 2025 Local Consumer Review Survey of U.S. adult consumers reports that 4% say they never read online business reviews. A person making a major move wants the details to agree. When a profile names one market, a website names another, and an old directory shows an outdated phone number, the person must do extra work. Matching information makes the record easier to assess.

What an AI answer can use

No outside observer can see every part of an AI system's decision process. Answers can also change from one question to the next. Public information still offers a useful view of what an answer may retrieve: web pages, local business details, reviews, reporting, and other supporting sources. This is evidence about possible inputs, not a formula for a fixed result.

Google says its AI features may issue related searches across subtopics and data sources to construct a response. A broad agent question may therefore lead to smaller checks about location, specialty, recent work, or consumer feedback. That is why one generic bio rarely carries the entire case. A reader needs enough detail to understand how the claims relate to a real local decision.

Start with the sources you control. Your website should plainly identify your name, brokerage relationship where appropriate, service areas, contact path, specialties, and the kinds of clients you serve. Give each important topic its own helpful page. A seller guide for a specific town usually gives more context than a paragraph naming every town in a region.

Then review proof outside your own site. Reviews can show the terms clients use to describe working with you. Local news, community organizations, and event coverage may provide independent context. Profiles can confirm basic details. None of these sources is decisive alone, but together they help readers check what is true.

What this means for public marketing

Treat AI research as an extension of the research people already conduct. Build material that someone would value after following a link from an answer. Pages written only to repeat a city name do not help a person decide. They also leave little concrete evidence for a later question.

First, state a clear local focus. Explain the areas where you actively work and the property or client situations you know. If you serve several markets, distinguish them plainly. A reader should not have to guess whether a guide applies to their part of a region.

Second, document your point of view with useful local detail. Explain preparation, pricing conversations, moving timing, area tradeoffs, or buyer strategy as your experience supports it. Grounded explanations can show judgment without claiming that every home follows the same outcome. They also give clients a better basis for an interview.

Third, make the experience of working with you visible. A clear process page gives buyers and sellers a more informed starting point. Reviews can add another perspective when used with permission and accurate context. Keep the claim and the supporting evidence close enough that readers can assess both.

Fourth, keep basic details consistent. Audit your website, agent profiles, review pages, and contact listings for former offices, old phone numbers, misspelled names, and area claims you no longer use. Then read the questions and linked sources as a prospect would. Recording what is missing, confusing, outdated, or generic is more useful than judging visibility from one flattering answer.

• State a clear local focus.
• Document your point of view with specific local detail.
• Explain what working with you looks like.
• Keep contact and market details consistent.

For a practical foundation, read how to rank in AI search as a realtor. Our guide to the proof AI looks for before naming an agent explains why public support matters. AI SEO for real estate agents places this work alongside regular search. Each resource starts with information a reader can check.

A careful way to measure progress

Ask buyer and seller questions that match your market, then save the answer, date, and linked sources. Look for a pattern rather than relying on one response. Answers can vary with wording, location, device, and available information. A record of the questions makes later comparisons more credible.

If an answer reveals an outdated detail, correct the original source. If it omits a specialty you have earned, assess whether your pages and outside proof explain that specialty clearly enough. The purpose is not to force a fixed answer. It is to make your public record understandable wherever a buyer or seller begins research.

Where Recasi Local fits

Recasi Local is our done-for-you AI search marketing service for established agents and teams. We make your name, areas, and record agree across the web. We also write pages around local buyer and seller questions and earn outside mentions that support them. We work with one agent or team in each agreed market.

We write, publish, and maintain the work, while clients provide context about their actual business. The service is not a guarantee of a particular answer because AI results change. It is a structured way to make accurate public information easier to understand. Check your market, review pricing, or talk with us if that managed approach fits your needs.

A clear principle

The most useful public record helps a person assess your fit before AI has any role in the decision. Keep it accurate, specific, and supported beyond your own claims. That is the standard we recommend for both human research and AI search.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears
• Pew Research Center: 34% of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT
• National Association of REALTORS®: 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers
• BrightLocal: Local Consumer Review Survey 2025
• Google I/O 2025: Sundar Pichai's opening keynote
• Google Search Central: AI features and your website