ListingPrompt / Guides
Real estate field guideExplain a real estate contract with AI
First-time buyers get a stack of documents and a deadline. You can't review every clause for them, and you shouldn't give legal advice, but you can help them understand what they're reading and what to ask. This playbook uses Claude, which handles long documents well, to turn a dense section into a plain-English summary with questions for their attorney or inspector.
The prompt
Explain this [inspection report / purchase agreement section] to a first-time buyer in plain English: [paste]. Highlight the 5 items that matter most, deadlines, and questions they should ask their attorney or inspector. Add a note that this is not legal advice.
Step by step
- Paste one section at a time rather than the whole contract; summaries stay more accurate.
- Remove personal details the task doesn't need, such as account numbers or signatures.
- Read the summary against the original yourself before sharing it.
- Send it with a clear note that it's an explanation, not legal advice, and point them to their attorney for legal questions.
- Put the deadlines it surfaces into your transaction calendar, after checking them against the document.
Where this helps most
Inspection reports are long and alarming to new buyers. A plain-English list of the five items that matter most helps them focus on the real issues and ask the inspector good questions. For contract sections, the deadline summary helps buyers understand why you keep reminding them about dates.
Limits you must respect
AI can misread a clause or miss one. It does not know your state's law or local practice the way an attorney does. Use this to prepare questions, never to replace professional review, and follow your brokerage's rules on what you can advise.
Mistakes to avoid
Sharing an AI summary as if it were your professional opinion.
Trusting a deadline the model extracted without checking the source document.
Pasting entire files with sensitive personal information into a tool your brokerage hasn't approved.
Save it as a reusable assistant
Retyping prompts is where most agents give up. In ChatGPT, create a project or custom GPT for this task, paste the prompt into its instructions, and add one or two examples of output you were happy with. In Claude, a project with the same instructions does the job. From then on you only paste the facts. Keep a short note of what you changed each time you edit the instructions, so you can go back if a change makes the drafts worse.
A two-minute review checklist
Before anything AI-drafted leaves your hands, run through the same five checks. Is every fact, number and feature in the draft something you supplied or can verify? Does it describe the property and the service rather than the kind of person who should buy? Is it the right length for where it's going: MLS field, text message, email or caption? Does it sound like you, or like an ad? And does it include anything your brokerage or state requires, such as brokerage name, license number or a staging disclosure? If any answer is no, fix it or ask the model for a revision with that specific instruction.
Keep a running list of the fixes you make most often. After a week or two, add them to the prompt itself. That's how a generic prompt becomes your prompt, and it's the single biggest improvement you can make to AI output.
Before you use it
Every prompt on this site is a starting point, not a finished product. AI drafts fast, but you are the licensed professional: check every fact against the MLS and your own notes, keep Fair Housing rules in mind, and follow your brokerage's and your state's advertising rules. Treat the output as a first draft from a quick junior assistant who has never seen the property.
Frequently asked questions
- Can AI review a real estate contract?
- It can explain what a section says in plain language and suggest questions. It can't give legal advice. A licensed attorney should review legal questions.
- Why Claude for this?
- The playbook uses Claude because it handles long pasted documents well. Other assistants can work too.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. The prompt explicitly adds a not-legal-advice note, and you should keep it.