As AI systems begin to interpret real estate catalogs through both structured data and storytelling, listing copy is regaining strategic importance, not only for marketing but also for discovery and search relevance. Troy Palmquist talks about how the story is changing.
For many agents, listing descriptions are a marketing afterthought, useful but second only to structured filters, photos, and floor plans. As AI LLM adoption increases, even those who prefer thorough, well-written property descriptions may have gotten into the habit of adding output by incorporating a list of features as a finishing touch to their marketing.
But now, with the announcement of the rollout of Orpi’s real estate catalog, which has been optimized by proptech company Kleio to be read natively by agent AI systems, property descriptions have taken on new importance and become part of how properties are interpreted, collated, and displayed in conversational search.
As home searches become more automated, AI will do more than just read property information. I will continue to read and understand the story of the house.
Migrating from filter-first search
On a recent trip to Paris, I saw firsthand how different real estate discoveries are made outside of the United States. In the absence of a dominant MLS-style system funneling listings, buyers and agents must navigate a fragmented online landscape to find listings.
No matter which side of the pond you’re on, real estate discovery, whether through U.S.-style MLSs and home search portals or European-style brokerage listings, has traditionally been built around rigid input.
Number of bedrooms Number of bathrooms Price Location
But AI systems want more than that. They are interpreting intent and nuance, changing the meaning of “searchable.”
According to Philip Wellens, co-founder and CEO of Kleio, AI agents are looking for more than just structured information, so the narrative content in property descriptions becomes data that AI can use to fulfill searches.
philip wellens
Wellens gave specific examples of how AI uses narrative. Let’s say a potential buyer is looking for an apartment “built in the ’70s” in a “very luxurious-looking building designed by a particular architect.” Most of these details would be irrelevant in a traditional filtered search from the portal, but with AI matching, these details are meaningful.
Today, architectural history, building characteristics, qualitative descriptions, and neighborhood context are no longer “color copies.” Now searchable.
Resurrection of human writing
In my conversation with Wellens, I pointed out that I don’t really like describing AI properties. I think they are fairly common and rarely convincing. But as AI search becomes more integrated with home search, the quality of the input determines the quality of the output, and a one-size-fits-all AI-generated copy will no longer be sufficient.
Wellens said detailed, well-structured input, combined with the personalization potential of AI, is a selling point. Kleio’s system allows for individual user’s personal property descriptions, moving key details important to potential buyers to the top.
In other words, descriptive writing becomes a hybrid of marketing and data design, allowing agents to collect and communicate richer lifestyle and intent data, increasing discoverability within AI systems. This includes the following captures:
Lifestyle intentions (distance measurements, maintenance and condition, multi-generational or investment potential) Not just numerically contextual details, but emotionally important features that the AI system can actually use.
amber tkachuk
“Hiring a professional copywriter to describe the property was one of the best listing decisions I made,” said Amber Tkachuk, a team leader in Omaha, Nebraska. “It frees up my time to focus on what I do best. Honestly, the quality of my writing shows that.”
“My copywriters keep me up to date with compliant language requirements, so I never have to worry about what I can and cannot say in my description,” she added. “The result is listings that are not only legally sound, but actually compelling — copy that makes buyers stop scrolling and start booking showings.”
As AI becomes increasingly important as a way to connect buyers with properties, property descriptions will no longer be the last item on your marketing checklist. This will be one of the key inputs that determines whether a property will show up in an AI search.
This elevates one of the oldest content areas in real estate to something newly strategic.
Troy Palmquist is the founder and president of HomeCode Advisors. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
