Every AI vendor has a great demo. That’s their job.
Your job is to figure out what happens after the demo ends. Where your clients’ data goes. What you’re locked into. Whether the company will still exist when your contract renews. That’s why I built a free AI vendor checklist for real estate agents and brokers, and it’s embedded right here on this page.
Key Takeaways
- Before you pay for any AI tool, ask the vendor which AI model powers it and what they add beyond that model.
- Get a no-training-on-your-data promise written into the contract. A verbal promise doesn’t count.
- Make sure you can cancel within 30 days and export your data in a usable format.
- Call three current customers, plus one who left.
- Compare two or three vendors side by side with the same questions, never just one.
AI made vendor shopping harder, not easier. A two-person startup can now build a slick real estate tool in a weekend, wrap it around someone else’s model, and sell it to you for $99 a month. Some of those tools are terrific. Some are a liability with a logo. From the outside, they look identical.
I teach AI to agents and brokers across the country, and here at home in Fredericksburg, Northern Virginia, and Richmond. The same question comes up in every room: how do I know which of these tools is worth paying for? This guide is my answer.
Free AI Vendor Checklist: Agent and Broker Considerations When Choosing an AI Vendor
Trouble viewing it? Open the full-screen flipbook here.
Inside you’ll find a five-question gut check, seven section checklists you can read out loud on a sales call, a reference call script, a glossary, and a vendor scorecard for comparing tools side by side. Here’s the short version.
What Questions Should You Ask an AI Vendor Before Buying?
Start with the Five-Question Gut Check. A vendor that can’t answer all five clearly isn’t ready for your business.
- What’s under the hood, and why can’t I just use that directly? If the answer is “proprietary AI” with no detail, keep your wallet closed.
- Do you train on my data, and is that promise in the contract? A sales rep’s verbal promise is worth exactly what you paid for it.
- Can I leave in 30 days and take my data with me? If your contacts, content, or history are held hostage, you’re not a customer. You’re a captive.
- Who are three customers I can call, including one who left? Happy customers are easy to find. The one who left tells you the truth.
- What happens to me if you go out of business or get bought? Startups fold and get acquired all the time. You need a plan for your data either way.
What Is an AI Wrapper, and Should You Pay for One?
An AI wrapper is an app built on top of someone else’s AI model, usually from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or an open-source project. Most AI tools sold to real estate agents are wrappers.
That’s not automatically bad. Most good tools are wrappers. The real question is whether the wrapper adds enough to justify the price over going direct. Integrations with your CRM and calendar. Real estate specific training. Compliance guardrails. Actual hours saved.
So ask it plainly: what do you do that I can’t do with a business ChatGPT or Claude seat and a good prompt? If they can’t answer clearly, that’s your answer. While you’re at it, ask whether they can swap the underlying model without telling you. Quiet switches to a cheaper model change output quality, and you’ll be the last to know.
AI Vendor Contract Red Flags
You’d never let a seller sign a listing agreement without walking through it. Give your own software contracts the same respect. The red flags I see most often:
- Auto-renewals with 60 to 90 day cancellation windows hidden in the fine print.
- “Pricing subject to change” with no cap on increases.
- Credit systems that make your real monthly cost impossible to predict.
- No clean exit. If you leave, you should get your data and content back in a usable format.
- Ownership grabs. The vendor claims the right to reuse content the tool creates for you.
- All liability shifted to you if the tool causes a privacy or copyright claim.
- Demo only, and “this price expires Friday.” A real vendor will let you run a real pilot.
How to Protect Client Data When Using AI Tools
Your clients trusted you with their finances, their address, and their deadlines. Every tool you add is one more place that information can leak.
Ask whether the vendor, or the model provider behind them, trains on your inputs, and get the answer in writing. Ask for a SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 report. “We’re working on it” is not a security program. Confirm the data is encrypted and that two-factor login is required. The FTC’s Protecting Personal Information guide for businesses is a solid baseline for what reasonable safeguards look like. And for the tools you already use, my AI Privacy Lockdown guide walks through the privacy settings in Claude and ChatGPT.
Real Estate Compliance Checks for AI Tools
- Texting and calling: automated calls and texts fall under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and the penalties are per message.
- Listing data: anything that displays listings online has to follow your MLS’s IDX rules.
- Recordkeeping: messages and documents need to be exportable so you can keep them for required periods.
- Broker approval: check whether the tool is on your brokerage’s approved list and fits your AI policy. Your broker is on the hook too. (Brokers, here’s why your agents are already using AI, approved list or not.)
Fit Beats Features
A great tool that solves the wrong problem is just an expensive distraction. Before you buy, answer three questions honestly:
- What specific problem does this solve, and how am I handling it today?
- Does my CRM, my brokerage platform, or an AI plan I already pay for already do this?
- Does it connect to my CRM, calendar, and transaction system, or will I be copying and pasting all day?
If the honest answer is “it looked cool at a conference,” walk the expo floor one more time and keep your card in your pocket.
How to Use the AI Vendor Checklist
- Run the Five-Question Gut Check. If a vendor fails any of the five, stop there.
- Bring the seven section checklists to the sales call. Read the questions out loud. Write down the answers.
- Fill out the Vendor Scorecard before you sign. Compare two or three vendors side by side, never just one.
Keep the Human in the Loop
None of this is anti-AI. I use these tools every day and teach agents to use them well. But technology should amplify your judgment, not replace it. Even KITT needed Michael Knight behind the wheel.
The best AI vendors understand that. They’ll answer your questions without flinching, put their promises in writing, and let you walk away with your data if it doesn’t work out. The rest will tell you the price expires Friday. Want more? Browse my AI resources for Realtors.
Frequently Asked Questions
An AI vendor checklist is a set of questions real estate agents and brokers ask before paying for an AI tool. It covers vendor viability, which AI model powers the product, data privacy, contract terms, references, real estate compliance, and fit with your existing systems.
An AI wrapper is an app built on top of another company’s AI model, such as one from Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google. Most real estate AI tools are wrappers. Judge them on what they add beyond the model: integrations, real estate training, compliance guardrails, and time saved.
Ask whether the vendor or its model provider trains on your data, whether that promise is written into the contract, whether the company holds SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 certification, and whether you can export your data in a usable format if you leave.
Watch for auto-renewals with 60 to 90 day cancellation windows, uncapped price increases, unpredictable credit-based pricing, no data export on exit, vendor ownership of your content, and liability shifted entirely to you.
Compare at least two or three vendors side by side using the same questions, call their references (including one former customer), confirm the tool is on your brokerage’s approved list, and run a real pilot before you sign anything.
About the Author
Matthew Rathbun is a national real estate instructor and speaker with about 20 years in the classroom, Executive Vice President of Coldwell Banker Elite in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and an AI consultant who teaches agents and brokers how to put AI to work without losing the human side of the business. He teaches designation courses including CRS, CRB, and ePRO, along with AI certificate programs for REALTOR associations and brokerages nationwide.
This guide is educational and isn’t legal advice. Have your broker or attorney review any vendor contract before you sign.