AI Is Changing How We Look at Our Homes. And It Might Change How We Buy Them Too.

I’ll admit something right up front: I use AI.

Sometimes it does something that genuinely makes me wonder how we ever worked without it. Other times I spend 20 minutes trying to get it to make one simple change to an image of my backyard redesign, and I wonder if throwing my laptop out the window would be easier.

But there’s one area where AI is getting really interesting for homeowners: figuring out what a home could become.

A new 2026 Houzz study found that 22% of homeowners doing renovations are already using AI as part of the process. Among those homeowners, 64% are using it to gather renovation and design ideas, 58% are using it to visualize concepts, and half are comparing layouts, products and finishes.

That’s not some future prediction. People are already doing it.

And I think it could have some interesting implications for real estate.

The Ugly Kitchen Problem

Anyone who has looked at homes with me knows I say some version of this all the time:

“Don’t let the paint color scare you.”

Or the cabinets.

Or the flooring.

Or the light fixtures somebody installed in 1997 and apparently loved enough to leave there for the next 29 years.

The problem is that not everyone can mentally renovate a house while standing in it.

I can walk into a dated kitchen and picture different cabinets, counters, flooring and lighting. A contractor or designer can usually do the same thing. But for plenty of buyers, what they see is what they see.

And sometimes they walk away from an otherwise great house because of it.

AI visualization tools are starting to change that.

Take a picture of a dated living room and you can experiment with different flooring, paint colors, furniture, lighting and styles almost instantly. You can do the same thing with a kitchen, bathroom or even the exterior of a house.

It doesn’t mean the AI version can necessarily be built exactly as shown.

But suddenly that ugly kitchen isn’t just an ugly kitchen.

You can actually see the possibilities.

That Could Matter Even More in Our Current Market

Around South Snohomish County and North King County, buyers frequently have to make tradeoffs.

Maybe the house in Lynnwood has the location and yard you want, but the kitchen needs work.

Maybe the Shoreline house has a great floor plan but an interior that hasn’t been updated in 25 years.

Maybe the Bothell home checks nearly every box, except somebody made some very questionable design decisions along the way.

Historically, homes like these have required buyers to have some imagination.

Now technology can provide some of that imagination for them.

And in a market where a beautifully updated home may command a significant premium over the dated house down the street, being able to look past cosmetics can potentially create an opportunity.

Sellers Can Use This Too

There’s another side to this.

One of the most common conversations I have with sellers is about what they should do to their home before putting it on the market.

Paint this?

Replace that flooring?

Update the kitchen?

Change the light fixtures?

Leave everything alone?

AI can be incredibly useful for exploring those possibilities before spending any money.

Want to see what your kitchen might look like with white cabinets instead of cherry?

Easy.

Wondering whether a warmer wall color would work better with your floors?

You can see it.

Thinking about changing the exterior color?

You can experiment with ten versions before buying a gallon of paint.

That part is fantastic.

But this is also where I think people need to be careful.

AI Can Show You What’s Possible. It Can’t Always Tell You What Makes Financial Sense.

This may be the most important distinction.

An AI tool can create a gorgeous rendering of your remodeled $70,000 kitchen.

That doesn’t mean you should spend $70,000 remodeling your kitchen before selling your house.

Those are two completely different questions.

What makes sense depends on the home, the neighborhood, the price point, the competition and what buyers in that particular market are actually responding to.

Sometimes new flooring and paint make a huge difference.

Sometimes changing a few fixtures is enough.

Sometimes a larger renovation makes sense.

And sometimes my advice is going to be: don’t touch it.

That’s where technology still needs human judgment.

Interestingly, the Houzz study seems to show homeowners understand that distinction.

Even with AI becoming more common, 80% of renovating homeowners still hire a professional. AI use also drops significantly once homeowners move beyond brainstorming and visualization into things like budgeting, timelines, permitting and contracts.

In other words, people are using AI to help answer:

“What could we do?”

They’re still turning to people with experience to help answer:

“What should we do?”

I Think That’s Where This Is Going

I don’t think AI is replacing contractors, designers, architects or real estate brokers.

I think it’s becoming another tool.

And for homeowners, it may be a really useful one.

It can help someone visualize a renovation before committing to it. It can help a buyer see beyond an outdated interior. It can help a seller experiment with improvements before spending money. And it can make conversations with contractors, designers and real estate professionals much more productive because everyone can actually see what is being discussed.

The technology will get better. Quickly.

But whether you’re renovating a home, preparing one for sale or considering buying a house that needs some work, I’d still separate two questions:

What could this house become?

And does it make financial sense to do it?

AI is getting remarkably good at helping with the first one.

For the second one, there’s still a lot to be said for knowing the local real estate market.