Passengers leave the Peaks Island ferry terminal in July. (Teddy Almond/Staff Writer)

Tom Landry had been trying to find his clients a home on one of Maine’s unbridged islands for over a year, when the listing popped up. 

It was ideal. The rustic, classic cottage with its screened-in porch was charming, but the real showstopper was the backyard. A string of cafe lights hung over a ring of Adirondack chairs and a striking stone fireplace. 

But when Landry and his clients made it to the 900-square foot house, listed for $579,000,  they did a double take. The porch was less rustic and more dilapidated. The backyard scene built for entertaining didn’t exist at all. The house’s best features had been AI-generated. 

“You arrive and it’s literally falling down,” said Landry, owner of Benchmark Real Estate in Portland. “There were parts of the house you couldn’t even walk through. It was laughable.”

It’s a concept known as “house fishing” — the real estate version of “catfishing,” or making something appear better online than it does in reality.

As AI becomes more advanced and accessible, real estate agents are increasingly using the technology to touch up photos, virtually stage a room or write listings.

Landry said agents have an obligation to make things look as good as possible for their clients, but when does it become deceptive or false advertising?

“It is a bit of an ethical quandary here,” Landry said.

AI DISCUSSIONS INCREASING

That sentiment is growing locally and nationally.

“We are definitely looking into AI and the proper ways to be using AI in real estate,” said Judy Oberg, president of the Maine Association of Realtors.

Members at the organization’s recent conference had a three-hour class about AI use in the industry, and AI guidelines will be included as a “core course” that The Maine Real Estate Commission requires licensees to take every two years, she said.

AI was the central topic of the Maine Real Estate and Development Association’s annual Forecast Conference in February, and it will also be a major focus of the National Association of Realtors “NTX” conference next month.

“Everybody is dealing with it,” Oberg said.

Realtor Tom Landry, pictured in May 2024, says the use of AI in home listings is raising ethical questions for the industry. Landry owns Benchmark Real Estate in Portland. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image

Legislators in Wisconsin and California have passed laws requiring that digitally altered photos in listings be clearly labeled and that the unedited photos also be included. Lawmakers in New Jersey and New York are considering similar restrictions.

The National Association of Realtors’ code of ethics recommends that members “refrain from exaggerating, misrepresenting or concealing pertinent facts” and to present a “true picture” in advertising and marketing.

‘OVER AND ABOVE’

Real estate agents have been known to add a little spin to spruce up a listing. A house in disrepair is waiting for “a little TLC,” from “an investor with a vision.” Creative camera angles can make a shoebox-sized living room look spacious.

It’s also commonplace for agents to touch up photos. They might digitally remove a trash can blocking the garage or some clutter the seller didn’t put away. The lights might be brightened to create an inviting atmosphere, or a sunset enhanced. A fire might even be added to the fireplace.

“Some things are up for grabs,” Landry said, “but this has gone over and above.”

A discerning buyer could have spotted that some things in the listing weren’t quite right. One porch photo looked a little shabbier, and was missing the rug, the string lights and the potted plants that brightened up the other. The aerial shots of the backyard didn’t show the fireplace.

But the porch photos weren’t next to one another, making side-by-side comparisons harder, and the listing didn’t disclose that any photos had been edited, nor were the altered shots labeled.

“People were doctoring photos before AI,” but the ease, speed and intensity with which people can change things now is “mind-boggling,” said Steve Weikal, Industry Chair of the Real Estate Transformation Lab at the MIT Center for Real Estate.

“We’ll have to figure out a way to police that,” he said. “How do we trust what we’re seeing and who we’re interacting with? … AI is opening up the Pandora’s box.”

Weikal, however, believes AI can be a powerful tool for the industry, and said it could help solve the problem as more time and money is invested in verification technology.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST

Matt Pouliot, owner of Pouliot Real Estate in Augusta, said labeling will be key moving forward.

“It’s critical that consumers know that the property they’re buying looks as close as possible to what’s online,” he said.

Trust is crucial in the business, he added, and “we need to maintain that by not putting in a swimming pool where there isn’t one.”

Pouliot said his company recently adopted an AI policy based on the National Association of Realtors’ best practices. He sees the technology as a boon, provided there are still human-centered checks and balances.

Writing listings has never been faster, Pouliot said, and AI often comes up with zippy turns of phrase that he wouldn’t have.

It can eliminate a lot of back-and-forth administrative work, help with scheduling, respond to emails or draft social media posts.

“Automate the part that’s drudgery, that prevents you from being out in the field and out meeting with people and out networking and taking people on tours,” said Weikal, at MIT.

‘A FUNDAMENTAL TRUST PROBLEM’

Not all real estate agents have jumped on the bandwagon.

Andy Mooers, owner of Mooers Realty in Houlton, said using AI in listings is not only lazy, but also dangerous.

“Anyway you slice and dice it, AI slop is a fundamental trust problem,” he wrote in a blog post on his website.

Mooers said in an interview that he’d rather his clients see “the good, the bad and the ugly” — that the house is on a busy road, that the living room is small or that there are power lines over the roof.

Choosing to show a property as it really is, rather than what it could be, ultimately saves everyone time and energy, he said.

“AI makes everything perfect … and life isn’t like that,” he said.

AGENTS OBSOLETE?

AI is also helping clients become more informed. They’re doing research ahead of time and asking more and smarter questions.

A 2025 Realtor.com survey found that of 1,000 people in various stages of the market, 82% had used AI for real estate insights.

In some cases, the technology is helping sellers cut out agents altogether.

New platforms like Ridley offer AI software packages to help people sell their homes for a flat fee instead of paying a sellers’ commission.

A New York Times reporter recently wrote about selling his house with the help of an AI chatbot, and reportedly received a higher selling price.

But Weikal doesn’t think agents are going to be out of a job anytime soon.

People thought online listing platforms like Zillow and Redfin would also put agents out of work. The job has just adapted.

“The role is changing to a more advisory role,” Weikal said.

Landry, at Benchmark, said people still want human advice.

“When you’re negotiating over the most consequential life and financial decision you’re going to face … do you really want to chance it?”

The public’s trust in real estate agents is still high, Pouliot said.

“It only stays that way if we stay dedicated to accuracy.”