Emily Ray, Real Simple
We all love scrolling through online real estate listings, which have always been designed to make homes look their best. But does your dream house actually exist?
While professional photography and thoughtful staging have long helped people mentally move into a new place, artificial intelligence and advanced photo editing tools are blurring the line between what’s possible and what homebuyers are actually getting at the closing table.
What Is “Housefishing”?
This disconnect is a growing phenomenon called “housefishing”—when real estate listing photos are edited to look dramatically better online than they do in real life. Like filters used to quickly improve a person’s appearance, AI makes it easier than ever to enhance listing photos with the addition of anything from an impractically tiny sofa to a giant swimming pool.
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The Push for More Transparency
The growing concern around digitally altered real estate listings has started to prompt lawmakers to take action. California Assemblymember Gail Pellerin introduced legislation requiring greater transparency when her former chief of staff was housefished. After seeing an online listing featuring a beautifully updated kitchen, Pellerin’s colleague drove several hours to tour the home, only to discover the property looked nothing like the images she saw online.
“Buyers should know when they’re looking at the home as it exists today and when they’re looking at it as an enhanced version of itself,” Pellerin explains. “AI is changing rapidly. We have to stay on top of it and make sure that it’s not deceiving people.”
The goal of the new law isn’t to ban virtual staging or prevent sellers from using digital tools, which Pellerin admits can be great for generating creative ideas. Instead, it requires transparency by giving buyers the chance to see unedited listing photos alongside AI-modified visions of what a home could become.
