Does AI recommend real estate agents in New York?
More and more clients skip the search results and simply ask an AI assistant to recommend a real estate agent. When someone in New York does that, the assistant doesn't hand back ten blue links, it replies with a short list of names. If you run a real estate agent in New York, being on that list is the whole game.
So we asked ChatGPT and Gemini the questions clients actually use, 12 answers in all, and recorded every business named and every source leaned on. Together they named 20 real estate agents. Here are the ones recommended most, how the two assistants differ, the sources shaping their answers, and what it takes to be one of them.
The real estate agents AI recommends most in New York
Ranked by how many of our 12 answers named each business, across ChatGPT and Gemini. AI answers shift over time, so treat this as a snapshot, not a fixed ranking.
Across 12 answers, ChatGPT and Gemini named 20 different real estate agents in New York. Brian Lewis of Compass came up most often, in 4 of 12 answers, followed by StreetEasy Experts and Compass. 10 real estate agents appeared in more than one answer, which means the assistants keep returning to a recognisable short list rather than picking a different business every time. Breaking into that list is the goal. Beyond the names above, 10 other real estate agents were mentioned once or twice across the answers. That long tail is what an assistant reaches into when it varies its reply, so being in it is the first foothold, and being named consistently is the goal after that.
ChatGPT vs Gemini: they rarely agree
We asked ChatGPT and Gemini the same questions. They named entirely different businesses, with no overlap in their top picks. Being recommended by one assistant is no guarantee of the other, so it pays to check both.
What ChatGPT actually said
Asked “Who is the best real estate agent in Manhattan?”, here is how ChatGPT opened its answer, in its own words:
There isn’t one objectively “best” Manhattan agent—the right choice depends heavily on whether you’re **buying or selling**, your budget, neighborhood, and whether it’s a **co-op, condo, townhouse, or new development**. If you mean **most recently top-ranked individual agent by verified Manhattan sales volume**, **Brian Lewis of Compass** is the strongest single answer: RealTrends’ 2026 Manhattan ranking (based on 2025 sales) places him **#1**, with **$188.9 million** in volume across **125 transaction sides**. ([realtrends.com](https://www.realtrends.com/ranking/best-real-estate-agents-manhattan-new-york/individuals-by-volume/?page=-2&utm_source=openai)) But I’d choose differently by use…
Where AI gets its answers
ChatGPT and Gemini's answers don't come from nowhere. They leaned most on realtrends.com, cited in 5 of 12 answers, alongside streeteasy.com and dos.ny.gov. These are the directories and review sites that quietly decide which real estate agents in New York an assistant will name. If your business isn't listed there, or isn't well reviewed there, you simply aren't part of the answer.
Look at what those sources are, not just their names, and a pattern shows up. For real estate agents in New York, ChatGPT and Gemini leaned mostly on other business pages such as realtrends.com and streeteasy.com, with reference sites such as dos.ny.gov and ag.ny.gov. That particular mix is specific to this market: the sites that decide who gets named here are not the same ones that matter in another city. Getting onto the ones that carry the most weight, and being well reviewed there, is what moves a business into the answer.
Want to know where your business stands?
This page shows the market. To see whether AI names your business, across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, and exactly what to change, run a free Peekl check.