Direct Answer
You can use ChatGPT to start your search for a real estate agent, but you shouldn’t let it make the final call.
AI tools are good at explaining the process and helping you build a list of questions. They are much weaker at telling you which agent is right for you, because their answers shift, their reasoning is hidden, and their sources usually have no firsthand experience with the agent.
- The same question can return different agents each time you ask.
- You can’t see why one agent was picked over another.
- Most cited sources are directories and “top agent” lists, not past clients.
- Better prompts help, but you still need to verify and interview.
More buyers and sellers are typing “who’s the best real estate agent in Hoboken?” into ChatGPT, Gemini, or another AI assistant before they ever call anyone. That’s a reasonable place to start. It’s just not a reliable place to finish. Below, we break down what these tools do well, the three biggest problems with trusting their agent recommendations, and a list of prompts that get you more useful, more transparent answers. (Getting ready to sell? Our guide to the New Jersey home selling process covers what happens after you choose an agent.)
Under the hood
How Does ChatGPT Come Up With a Real Estate Agent Recommendation?
When you ask an AI assistant to recommend an agent, it isn’t checking a database of agent performance. Depending on the tool and its settings, it does one of two things: it writes an answer from patterns in the text it was trained on, which may be months or years out of date, or it runs a quick web search and summarizes whatever pages come back.
Either way, the result is a confident, well-written paragraph that sounds like a referral from a friend. It isn’t one. The tool has never worked with the agent, never seen how they negotiate, and never heard from a client who bought or sold with them. It’s summarizing what other websites say.
Where it helps
The Pros: Where ChatGPT Can Help You Find an Agent
To be fair to the technology, there are real ways it can save you time:
Pro
A fast starting list
It can surface names of agents and teams active in your town in seconds, which gives you somewhere to begin researching.
Pro
Learning the process
It’s useful for plain-English explanations of how buying or selling works, what an agent does, and what terms in a listing agreement mean.
Pro
Better interview questions
It can help you write a list of questions to ask each agent you meet, tailored to your situation, so you walk into every conversation prepared.
Pro
Organizing your notes
Once you’ve gathered your own information, it can help you compare agents side by side against the criteria you care about.
Notice the pattern: ChatGPT is strongest when it’s helping you think, and weakest when it’s making the judgment for you.
Shifting answers
Con #1: Ask the Same Question Twice, Get Two Different Answers
AI assistants are designed to generate a fresh response every time. Ask “who is the best real estate agent in Jersey City?” on Monday and again on Tuesday, or ask it in ChatGPT and then in a different AI tool, and you may get different names, in a different order, with different reasons attached.
That variation is a feature for writing a birthday poem. It’s a problem when you’re choosing the person who will guide what may be the largest financial transaction of your life. If a recommendation changes just because you rephrased the question, it was never a strong recommendation to begin with.
Try this
Run the same prompt three times, in a new chat each time, and write down every agent named. The names that appear consistently are worth researching. The ones that come and go are noise.
Hidden reasoning
Con #2: You Can’t See How the Answer Was Decided
When a friend recommends an agent, you can ask why. When a review site ranks agents, it usually tells you whether the ranking is based on sales volume, reviews, or paid placement. With an AI assistant, there’s no way to truly know how the answer was determined.
You don’t know:
- Which sources it weighed most heavily, or whether it skipped better ones.
- How current the information is. An agent may have changed brokerages, retired, or moved markets since the source was written.
- Whether “best” means most sales, best reviews, or simply most mentioned online. Those are very different things.
- Whether details are accurate at all. AI tools can state incorrect facts about a person or business with complete confidence.
You can ask the AI to explain itself, and the prompts below help with that, but its explanation is generated the same way as its answer. It’s a reason to dig further, not proof.
Secondhand sources
Con #3: It Cites Third-Party Sites With No Firsthand Experience
When an AI tool does show its sources, look closely at what they are. Many are agent directories, “top 10 agents in [town]” roundups, and lead-generation websites. None of those sites bought or sold a home with the agent. Some lists are built from public sales data, some from reviews, and some include agents who paid to be featured.
Reviews themselves deserve a careful read, too. The Federal Trade Commission finalized a rule in 2024 banning fake reviews and testimonials, including AI-generated ones, and its consumer guidance on evaluating online reviews recommends considering the source, using multiple sources, and watching for bursts of reviews in a short period. An AI summary blends all of that together, so you lose the ability to judge each source on its own.
| What you need to know | Can ChatGPT tell you reliably? | Where to confirm it |
|---|---|---|
| Is the agent licensed in NJ? | No | The NJ Real Estate Commission licensee search |
| Recent sales in your area | Sometimes, often outdated | Ask the agent for a list of recent local transactions |
| What past clients experienced | Secondhand only | Reviews on several platforms, plus references you speak with directly |
| Communication style and fit | No | An interview or consultation |
| Availability and team support | No | Ask who handles showings, negotiations, and day-to-day questions |
Skip the guesswork. Ask us directly.
Interview us the same way you’d interview anyone else. Ask about our recent sales, who you’d work with day to day, and how we’d approach your move.
Better prompts
10 Prompts to Use When Asking an AI for a Real Estate Agent Recommendation
If you’re going to use ChatGPT or another AI assistant, the way you ask makes a big difference. These prompts push the tool to show its sources, separate facts from marketing, and give you something you can verify. Copy them as written and swap in your own details where you see brackets.
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Ask for criteria before names.
“Before recommending anyone, list the criteria you would use to evaluate a real estate agent for someone [buying a condo / selling a single-family home] in [town], NJ, and explain why each one matters.”
Gets you a framework you can apply yourself, instead of a list of names with no context.
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Make it show its work.
“Recommend real estate agents or teams in [town], NJ. For each one, link the specific sources you used and explain exactly why you included them.”
If it can’t point to a source, treat the recommendation as unverified.
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Separate firsthand from secondhand.
“For each source you cited, tell me whether it reflects firsthand client experience (such as verified reviews) or is a directory, ranking list, or advertising page.”
Directly addresses the third-party source problem.
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Ask about paid placement.
“Do any of the sources you used allow agents to pay for placement or premium profiles? If you can’t tell, say so.”
Helps you spot lists that may reflect advertising rather than performance.
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Check how current the information is.
“What is the date of each source you used? Flag anything older than 12 months and anything you aren’t sure is still accurate.”
Agents change brokerages and markets; old information can mislead.
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Ask it to admit uncertainty.
“Which parts of your answer are you confident about, and which parts might be wrong or incomplete? Don’t guess. Tell me what I should verify myself.”
Encourages the tool to flag weak spots instead of smoothing them over.
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Get your verification checklist.
“Give me a step-by-step checklist for verifying a New Jersey real estate agent, including how to confirm their license with the New Jersey Real Estate Commission.”
Turns the AI into a research assistant for you, rather than a referral source.
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Build your interview questions.
“I’m [buying / selling] a [property type] in [town], NJ, and my priorities are [timeline, budget, condition of the home, etc.]. Write 10 questions I should ask each agent I interview.”
This is where AI shines: preparing you to evaluate agents yourself.
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Test for consistency.
“Earlier you recommended [agent names]. If I asked you this again tomorrow, would you give the same answer? What would change your ranking?”
Shows you how firm, or how loose, the original recommendation really was.
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Compare your own notes.
“Here are my notes from interviewing three agents: [paste notes]. Compare them against the criteria we discussed, and point out anything I should follow up on.”
Uses the AI on information you gathered firsthand, which is far more reliable.
From list to agent
How to Turn an AI Shortlist Into the Right Agent
Whatever list you end up with, the next steps are the same ones buyers and sellers have always used, and they still work best:
Confirm the license. Every agent should show up as active in the New Jersey Real Estate Commission’s online licensee search, which also shows who they work for.
Read reviews across several platforms, not just the one the AI cited, and look at dates and detail, not only star ratings.
Ask for recent, local transactions. An agent who sells regularly in your town and price range will be glad to show you.
Talk to past clients. A five-minute call with someone who worked with the agent tells you more than any summary.
Interview two or three agents. Fit, communication, and a clear plan for your home only become obvious in conversation.
A note from our team
We’re a real estate team, so we have a stake in how people choose an agent. That’s exactly why we’d rather you verify us than take any AI tool’s word for it, whether it mentions us or not. The same checklist applies to everyone.
If you’re selling, a strong agent should also be able to walk you through what your property is worth using recent comparable sales, which is a good test of how well they know your market.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s a reasonable starting point, but not a reliable way to make the final choice. AI tools can help you build a starting list and prepare interview questions, but their recommendations can change from one question to the next, they don’t show how they ranked agents, and their sources rarely include firsthand client experience. Verify any agent it suggests and interview them yourself.
AI assistants generate a new response every time, and small changes in wording, the tool you use, or the web pages it finds can change which agents it names and in what order. If an agent appears consistently across several attempts, that’s worth noting, but it still isn’t a substitute for checking credentials and interviewing them.
Use the New Jersey Real Estate Commission’s online licensee search, run by the Department of Banking and Insurance. You can search by name to see whether a license is active and which company the agent is licensed under.
Ask it to explain its criteria before naming anyone, link the specific sources behind each recommendation, label which sources reflect firsthand client experience versus directories or ads, give the date of each source, and flag what you should verify yourself. It’s also useful for writing interview questions tailored to your situation.
Treat them as a starting point only. Many are directories, roundup articles, or lead-generation sites that have never worked with the agents they list, and some allow agents to pay for placement. Look at how each list was put together, read reviews on several platforms, and speak with past clients directly.
The Jill Biggs Group
Choosing an Agent? Start With a Real Conversation.
An AI tool can point you toward names. It can’t tell you how an agent will show up for you. Talk with The Jill Biggs Group about your plans, ask us anything on your checklist, and decide for yourself, with no pressure and no obligation.
For current local prices, see our Hoboken Real Estate Market Report, September 2026 and our Jersey City Real Estate Market Report, September 2026.
Call (973) 495-6038 · Mon to Fri 8am to 8pm, Sat and Sun 8am to 6pm
The Jill Biggs Group · hardwired for hardwork.
Last Updated: October 30, 2026.
This article is for general informational purposes. AI tools change frequently, so features and behavior may differ from what’s described here.
Sources:
- Federal Trade Commission: Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials
- Federal Trade Commission: How To Evaluate Online Reviews
- NJ Department of Banking and Insurance: Real Estate Licensee Search
The Jill Biggs Group · 331 Washington Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030 · (973) 495-6038 · jill@jillbiggsgroup.com · hardwired for hardwork.
