AI and Real Estate: Opportunity, Speed, and the Need for Guardrails

Hoge Fenton recently hosted the Silicon Valley Real Estate Breakfast at Hotel De Anza, where panelists discussed how artificial intelligence is changing the real estate industry. The panel included Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty; Bobby Elam, Managing Partner of the Thorinson Family Office; Kriti Rajput, AGC at Qualia; and KP Reddy, Founder and CEO of Shadow Ventures.

The conversation made one point clear: AI is no longer just a technology issue. It is already affecting how real estate professionals identify opportunities, evaluate risk, manage data, market properties, and serve clients.

The panelists described the current AI boom as larger and more sustainable than the dot-com boom, with significant capital flowing into AI companies and related opportunities. For real estate, that growth matters because AI is changing not only the companies driving demand for space, but also the tools real estate professionals use to compete.

One theme was opportunity. Real estate has always depended on information, but that information is often fragmented across platforms, listings, public filings, diligence materials, financial records, and market sources. AI may help professionals organize that information and spot opportunities that would otherwise be missed. For example, AI tools may be used to monitor public company filings, track industry changes, identify possible off-market opportunities, or improve the way listings are prepared and presented to consumers.

Another theme was speed. AI may allow smaller teams to do work that previously required far more people, particularly in research, underwriting, market monitoring, listing preparation, and deal sourcing. Panelists discussed how AI tools can help professionals evaluate more information, track more opportunities, and move more quickly.

A final theme was around necessary guardrails. The panel also emphasized that AI should not replace professional judgment. The better use case is not simply asking AI to produce generic output. The more valuable use is training tools to support the way a professional already thinks and works. A broker, developer, investor, property manager, attorney, or construction estimator may each look at the same facts differently. AI becomes more useful when it supports that expertise rather than flattening it.

AI adoption also creates new legal and business questions. Companies should think carefully about privacy, vendor use, data accuracy, confidentiality, disclosure, and responsibility for AI-assisted work. In leasing, development, transactions, property management, and disputes, AI-generated information may be useful, but it can also create risk if no one verifies the data or understands how the tool reached its output.

The panel’s practical message was not that AI will replace the real estate professional. It was that AI will likely reward professionals and businesses that know how to use it thoughtfully. Good data, careful contracts, clear internal policies, and experienced judgment still matter.

Practical Next Steps for Real Estate Professionals

For real estate owners, developers, brokers, investors, property managers, and business clients, the panel highlighted several practical steps:

1. Use approved, enterprise-level AI tools for sensitive work.
   Real estate work often involves confidential deal terms, client communications, financial information, diligence materials, lease information, and business strategy. Before using AI for that work, companies should confirm which platforms are approved and what information may be uploaded.
2. Ask vendors how they use your data.
   Many real estate businesses already rely on AI-enabled software vendors. Companies should ask whether vendors use customer data to train AI systems, how data is stored, who can access it, and what contractual protections apply.
3. Keep a human in the loop.
   AI can assist with drafting, research, summaries, analysis, and organization, but it can still miss context or produce inaccurate information. Businesses should verify AI-generated work before relying on it, sending it to clients, or using it in a transaction.
4. Create internal AI guidelines.
   Companies should consider policies or approved prompts that explain what employees may use AI for, what information they may share, and when legal, management, or IT review is needed.
5. Use AI to improve process, not just output.
   AI may be most valuable when it helps teams work faster and more consistently, such as tracking deal flow, reviewing diligence materials, preparing first drafts, monitoring market changes, or organizing information for decision-makers.
6. Build AI use into contracts and diligence.
   As AI tools become more common, parties should pay attention to vendor agreements, confidentiality provisions, data-use restrictions, disclosure obligations, risk allocation, and accuracy concerns.

Hoge Fenton will continue following these developments as AI reshapes real estate, business operations, and legal risk. Real estate and business clients considering AI tools should think strategically about both the opportunity and the guardrails needed to use those tools responsibly.

Please contact us with questions about AI use, vendor agreements, privacy, diligence, contracts, or risk management in your real estate business.