By Andrew Dehan, Bankrate.com
In times of economic uncertainty — like where we seem to find ourselves today, for example — buying a house can come with heightened anxiety. The good news is that there are more tools than ever to help homebuyers make the right choice more efficiently. From AI image-matching to high-tech home inspections, new advancements can make the process easier and faster. Here are some of the top homebuying technologies being used today.
AI image searching identifies homes you’ll like
AI seems to have infused itself into many parts of modern life, and homebuying is no exception. Mortgage lenders have been using tech for decades in the underwriting process, but now AI is being incorporated into home searches, too. (And with housing inventory on the rise, help in narrowing down your choices is becoming even more useful.)
Cotality’s OneHome portal is an example of how buyers can use AI to find the right home for them. An almost Pinterest-like AI image search function is one of its main appeals: You can upload a photo of your ideal kitchen, built-in shelves you admire or a back patio you wish was yours, and OneHome will match you with listings for homes with similar-looking features.
This service, the first of its kind in the industry, was launched last summer and is only available in select markets.
Agent-matching platforms pair you with the right agent
Finding the right agent to meet your needs is crucial to getting the right home, especially in this tough housing market. And now, there are companies that allow you to shop around for buyer’s agents like you’d shop for a mortgage.
“At the end of the day, you want affordability, but you also want customization, right?” says Beau Correll, founder of Fetch Agent. The company allows you to submit custom commission offers to agents in your area — that means you could offer a flat fee, a percentage or work out a split between different agents. Beyond the money, Fetch Agent strives to match you with an agent that has expertise in the location you want to buy in.
A good agent can help you find the most appropriate listings and negotiate the best deal on your behalf. “The qualities you want [in a home] may not all come around,” says Carroll. “You’ve got to get what you can. And it’s better to delegate that to a qualified agent than you try to do it all yourself.”
The data backs him up: A full 88% of home purchases are made through a professional real estate agent or broker, according to the National Association of Realtors’ most recent Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
High-tech home inspection tools see more detail
Once you make an offer on a home, and it’s accepted, the next step is typically getting a home inspection. While an inspection isn’t free, it’s important — and it can be a crucial negotiating tool for buyers. If issues are found, you and your agent can ask the sellers to cover the cost of repairs.
Technological advancements have had a real impact on the way home inspections are done, allowing inspectors to take a closer look in places that were hard or impossible to see in the past, says Nick Gromicko, a certified master inspector and founder of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors.
“The two biggest technologies that we use regularly these days are infrared cameras and drones with cameras,” says Gromicko. “They allow us to see things we can’t with the naked eye, or can’t because we can’t get to where the drone can go.”
That translates to infrared technology being able to spot things like overheating electrical components or improper insulation inside the walls. And deploying drones to get a closer look at rooftops, chimneys and gutters, which may be prohibitively dangerous for an inspector to reach. It also translates to better and more detailed inspection reports for homebuyers.
AVMs estimate home values more accurately
Automated valuation models (AVMs) use publicly available data to algorithmically arrive at a home price estimation. They’ve been around for decades, but recent advances in technology have made them more accurate. Predictive AI and machine learning have allowed these models to combine data from multiple sources and quickly summarize property characteristics. The resulting valuations can not only aid appraisers in determining home values, but can give both buyers and sellers insight into how much a home is worth.
Real estate tech company Restb.ai (who also powers Cotality’s OneHome image search mentioned above) takes an interesting approach, incorporating their large database of listing images into their AVM to get better insights into property condition — a notoriously subjective criteria that’s hard for a data-based algorithm to parse.
These images are tagged by AI with descriptors that can differentiate between two homes that are alike in size and square footage, but very different in other respects. Think, for example, of two 2,000 square foot homes that both have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a front porch, but one is in pristine shape while the other is in disrepair, or one has a beautiful mountain view while the other faces a main road. Details like this provide a fuller picture for homebuyers.
Thanks to a new rule enacted by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, starting on October 1, 2025, mortgage lenders using AVMs to make decisions on property values must demonstrate that their models are producing fair and justifiable price valuations.
Buyers still need the finances to back it up
While tech has certainly impacted the home-shopping experience, homebuying technology can only take you so far. Buying a house is still one of the largest financial decisions you’re likely to make. And while tech can help you find listings, find an agent and bolster your confidence in your decision, in the end, you’ll still need to have your finances in order. That means sticking to some of the less high-tech basics of homebuying, including:
- Growing your credit score by paying bills on time and living within your means — buyers with higher credit scores will be eligible for lower mortgage rates.
- Saving up for a solid down payment, so that you can pay more upfront and borrow less.
- Shopping around for a lender to find the one who offers you the best deal and terms.
©2025 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Originally Published:
