A growing number of real estate buyers and investors are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude for investment advice, transaction strategy, and financial planning. Many are relying on these systems more than their lawyers, financial planners, or even their spouses. Alexander Paykin, a New York real estate attorney and managing broker at CityFlatsNYC, says the trend is leading to costly mistakes and preventable litigation. Paykin, who represents buyers, sellers, and lenders in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester, says clients are acting on AI-generated guidance without professional oversight.
Paykin warns that AI systems provide confident answers without accountability, local expertise, or a full understanding of a client’s situation. Buyers are entering deals with a false sense of security. They believe they have done their due diligence, but the advice they received may expose them to serious financial and legal risk.
Buyers Ditching Expert Teams for AI
The process of buying real estate has changed. In the past, clients typically assembled teams of advisors — a financial planner, CPA, and real estate attorney — each offering specialized input. Now, many clients arrive with an AI-crafted plan, convinced it is fully vetted and ready to execute.
Paykin notes that he rarely works alongside other professionals on a client’s advisory team anymore. Instead, clients present a strategy developed through ChatGPT and ask Paykin to “just make it happen.” This approach bypasses the checks and professional collaboration that once protected clients from costly errors.
The core issue, according to Paykin, is that AI tools lack the context necessary for sound real estate advice. AI may provide technically correct general answers, but those answers often overlook crucial legal, financial, or market-specific details. Clients relying solely on AI risk entering transactions with incomplete or misleading information.
AI Advice Carries No Accountability
Unlike licensed professionals, AI systems carry no liability for the advice they provide. AI systems do not consider local market conditions, individual financial details, or the specific legal environment of a transaction. Yet many clients trust them as if they were seasoned experts.
Paykin warns that inconsistent AI advice is especially dangerous. AI tools sometimes offer accurate information, which builds client confidence. But the same systems can just as easily suggest strategies that are legally flawed or financially risky. Clients rarely have the expertise to tell the difference.
“It’s cool when ChatGPT gets it right,” Paykin says. “But just as often, I cringe at the results and have to explain why none of these things are a good idea.”
The lack of accountability is a significant risk. If a financial advisor or attorney gives bad advice, that professional can be held liable and carries malpractice insurance to protect clients. If an AI tool’s recommendations lead to financial disaster, there is no recourse. The client bears the full consequences of acting on advice from a system that has no stake in the outcome.
AI tools do offer real utility in the early stages of real estate research. Platforms like ChatGPT and Claude can help buyers generate questions, understand general terminology, and compare broad investment strategies before engaging a professional. The risk arises when that preliminary research replaces, rather than precedes, expert consultation.
AI Replaces Trusted Human Advisors
Paykin has observed that some buyers and investors are now discussing real estate decisions with AI more frequently than with their lawyers, realtors, financial planners, CPAs, or even their spouses. This marks a sharp departure from the traditional approach to major financial decisions, which typically involved trusted professionals and family members.
“A lot of buyers and sellers are going to go astray because of AI advice,” Paykin says. He adds that AI is now giving investment advice, and many people are discussing their real estate investments and housing intentions with ChatGPT more than with any human advisor.
“I see people make those kinds of investment decisions after talking to Claude or ChatGPT for a few hours,” Paykin says. The client’s thinking, as Paykin describes it: “It knows everything. And I asked all the important questions. I definitely want to buy this thing.”
This means decisions about large purchases, investments, and primary residences are increasingly being made with input from AI systems that do not know the client’s financial status, risk tolerance, or long-term goals. Clients often arrive convinced they have asked every relevant question and received comprehensive answers. In reality, clients have received information from a tool that lacks awareness of New York foreclosure law, insight into their personal finances, and accountability for outcomes.
AI Fueling Costly Market Mistakes
Paykin believes the real estate market is heading toward a surge in poorly structured deals, missed opportunities, and avoidable lawsuits driven by buyers who substitute AI-generated strategies for professional advice. The fallout will affect buyers who overpay, sellers who accept unfavorable terms, and investors who take on unnecessary risks.
Not all real estate professionals share Paykin’s level of alarm. Some advisors and proptech researchers argue that AI tools are lowering barriers for first-time buyers by making complex information more accessible. The debate reflects a broader tension in the industry: whether AI democratizes real estate knowledge or creates a false sense of expertise among buyers who lack the background to evaluate what they are reading.
As AI answers grow more authoritative, Paykin argues, more buyers and investors will treat them as replacements for licensed professionals rather than supplemental research tools. Critics of this view note that similar concerns were raised when online legal services and financial calculators became widely available, and that in many cases, accessible information improved consumer outcomes rather than harming them.
Human Expertise Remains Essential
Real estate attorneys across New York are increasingly encountering clients who arrive with AI-generated plans. The process now often involves explaining why those recommendations are flawed and redirecting clients toward sounder strategies. This added complexity requires attorneys not only to provide legal advice but also to correct misconceptions created by AI tools.
Paykin urges clients to treat AI as a starting point, not a substitute for professional counsel. Whether buyers ultimately rely on attorneys, financial planners, or AI tools, real estate professionals broadly agree on one point: large financial decisions carry risks that general information alone cannot address.
