Is AI Changing How Property Buyers Discover Real Estate
During the Phuket Property Exchange conference, Michael Kenner, Managing Director and Co Founder of FazWaz, raised a point that strongly resonated with me as someone working daily with international property buyers in Phuket.
His argument was simple. If your property inventory cannot be discovered through modern digital channels, then in many ways it cannot be found at all.
The way buyers discover property has fundamentally changed.
Traditionally, buyers would start their journey by speaking with an agent, browsing a portal, or physically visiting areas to see developments. Agents were usually the first point of information.
Today that process has shifted.
Tools such as ChatGPT and other AI driven platforms allow buyers to research markets, ownership structures, and investment potential long before they ever speak with an agent. Kenner joked during the discussion that even his father now uses ChatGPT to look things up, which perfectly illustrates how mainstream these tools have become.
And from my own experience in Phuket, I can confirm this shift is very real.
Many buyers now spend several days researching before they contact an agent. They read about leasehold versus freehold ownership, look at rental yields, compare developments, and try to understand the wider market dynamics.
By the time they reach out, they often already understand the fundamentals.
This naturally changes the role of the agent.
Instead of acting purely as a source of information, the agent increasingly becomes someone who helps interpret that information and apply it to the real world.
AI can explain concepts and summarise data, but it cannot replace experience. It cannot tell you which developers consistently deliver quality projects, which areas perform best for rental demand, or which properties genuinely suit a particular buyer’s lifestyle.
That still comes from working within the market.
Personally, I see this shift as a positive development.
Education has always been one of the most important elements in real estate, particularly in international markets like Thailand where legal structures and ownership models can initially feel unfamiliar to foreign buyers.
A more informed buyer usually leads to better conversations, clearer expectations, and ultimately better decisions.
In many ways, AI is simply raising the baseline level of knowledge that buyers bring to the table.
And when that happens, the conversation between buyer and agent moves away from basic explanations and towards something much more valuable.
