Realtors sound alarm after 'housefishing' trend leaves homebuyers in the lurch: 'You have to be careful'

The MTV reality show "Catfish" introduced audiences to catfishing, or using a falsified online persona to hoodwink people.

Catfishing typically involves romance, but a new Business Insider article tackled a variation called "housefishing," a trend that has proved frustrating to prospective homebuyers and real estate brokers alike.

Although the housefishing label appeared to be new, social media users might already have seen egregious examples in the wild: real estate listing photos that are clearly distorted, altered, or otherwise manipulated to downplay or conceal a property's downsides.

Annandale, Virginia-based realtor Sonia Rodriguez recalled one such instance of housefishing she'd encountered after viewing listing photos of a "clean, well-lit, move-in-ready" rental unit.

When she visited the apartment, it "could generously be described as lived-in," with scuffed walls, cluttered surfaces, and cookware strewn on the stovetop.

As the outlet noted, "home staging" — preparing a property by decluttering and decorating it — is a longstanding and common practice in real estate. Housefishing is newer, and with an ever-growing number of artificial intelligence tools, increasingly prevalent.

The advent of artificial intelligence has enabled a number of digital-only quick fixes. ChatGPT can generate lifelike, idealized versions of any kitchen or living room, but without real-world effort, the images have no basis in reality.

Real estate agents and hopeful house hunters aren't the only casualties of a fast-moving AI boom; the technology has disrupted nearly every form of industry and institution.

However, realtors face another AI-related hurdle: listings near data centers.

As AI has crept into nearly every aspect of daily life, data centers began to spring up to power it, bringing incessant noise, air pollution, and other disruptions to nearby residential areas. 

Which of these savings plans for rooftop solar panels would be most appealing for you? Save $1,000 this year 💸 Save less this year but $20k in 10 years 💰 Save less in 10 years but $80k in 20 years 🤑 Couldn't pay me to go solar 😒 Click your choice to see results and earn rewards to spend on home upgrades.

At first, the issue was localized, but not for long: Data center energy demand is wreaking havoc on the utility landscape, forcing ratepayers to subsidize this boom via bills three or four times higher than normal.

In that respect, the rise of AI is complicating an already floundering real estate market on multiple levels. But realtors are on alert for listing photos of properties "spruced up" by AI to a point of being unrecognizable, and even developers have warned that AI has limits.

Software agency owner Sub Gautam developed PropertyPixel and acknowledged its limitations in downplaying a property's flaws.

"AI has a randomness to it," he told Business Insider. "You have to be careful."

Gautam also said that AI functionality was no excuse for dishonesty.

"It's OK for the AI to pick up a shirt from the bed and toys from the floor. It's not OK for an AI to put back a ripped wallpaper," he explained.

Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices — and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD's exclusive Rewards Club.