Use it to learn — not to decide. As a former software engineer with a computer science degree, I'll tell you plainly: AI tools are great for understanding the landscape, but they confidently state outdated or wrong mortgage rules, and they can't see your actual file. Before you make a decision based on what an AI told you, run it by a licensed loan officer who knows current guidelines. Sam Timlick, NMLS# 2776469, will sanity-check it for free.
A lot of people are asking ChatGPT, Claude, and Google's AI their mortgage questions now. I get it — it's fast and free. And as a former software engineer with a computer science degree, I'll be straight with you: I love these tools, and I don't trust them to give you a final answer on your mortgage.
Why “confidently wrong” is the real risk
Mortgage qualifying is a maze of specifics and exceptions — program overlays, county-by-county loan limits, manual-underwrite paths, documentation rules that change. AI is trained on general patterns and older information, and it will state a wrong or outdated rule with total confidence. It doesn't know your file. It can't see the one exception that changes your answer. In something this consequential and this fast-moving, “confidently wrong” isn't a quirk — it's a real risk to your money and your timeline.
Coming from the software world, this doesn't surprise me at all. These models predict likely-sounding text; they don't verify it against today's underwriting guidelines or your specific situation. That gap is exactly where buyers get burned.
How to actually use AI for mortgage questions
Use it to learn the landscape and ask better questions — what's a funding fee, how does PMI work, what's the difference between FHA and conventional. That's great. Then, before you make a decision based on what it told you, run it by a real loan officer who knows current guidelines and can look at your actual numbers. The difference between a general answer and your answer is the whole ballgame — and that conversation is free.
Got an answer from AI you want to sanity-check? Send it my way — I'll tell you what's right, what's outdated, and what actually applies to you. Not sure where to begin? Start here.