An AI sales agent in real estate needs clear rules about what it can say, where its answers come from and what it should leave to your team. Some of those rules are built in, and the rest you write yourself in plain language. This guide covers the rules Path's concierge follows out of the box, how to add your own and how to test them before buyers see the tour.
Why an AI sales agent needs rules
A buyer who asks a question inside a virtual tour treats the answer as coming from you. If the agent guesses a fee, gets a finish wrong or promises something your team cannot deliver, that lands on your sales team later.
Rules keep the agent useful and safe for your brand. They decide which facts it can use, how it handles a question it cannot answer and which topics it should hand back to a person. Good rules also make the agent sound like your project instead of a generic chatbot.
If you are new to the idea, our guide to what an AI concierge for real estate is explains how the concierge works inside a tour.
The rules Path's concierge follows by default
Path's concierge is called Ella, and each property can give its agent its own name. Before you write a single instruction, the agent already works under these rules.
No made-up facts: the agent is instructed that it cannot fabricate information.
No invented numbers: it is told never to invent a number. Price and fee math is answered from the figures it has.
Answers from your property: it answers from the property's own information and the conversation so far.
No false claims about the buyer: it must never claim that a visitor did something they did not do.
Every tour also shows a short disclaimer that AI may provide inaccurate information and that important details should be verified. Keep that line in mind when you decide what the agent should and should not discuss.
Where the agent's answers come from
Each Path property has its own knowledge base. Knowing what goes into it tells you where to put your rules and your facts.
Your website: Path reads the property website and uses what it finds.
A property details file: you can upload a document with specs, fees, finishes and anything else buyers ask about.
Custom Instructions: the rules and guidance you write for the agent.
Nearby places: schools, parks, gyms, transit and more from Google within 5 km of the address.
If the knowledge base has no answer, the agent can fall back to a web search. That is useful for general questions, and it is one more reason to put the facts you care about in your own files so the agent finds them there first.
How to write your own rules in Custom Instructions
Custom Instructions sit in the property's General Info settings. They are plain text, so write them the way you would brief a new sales associate on their first day.
A few examples of rules sales teams often add.
Pricing: "Do not quote prices. If a buyer asks about price, offer to book a call with our sales team."
Incentives: "Do not discuss incentives or discounts."
Availability: "Do not confirm which units are still available. Suggest booking a viewing instead."
Tone: "Keep answers short and friendly. Use the project name, not 'the building'."
Focus: "When buyers ask about the area, mention the beach and the new school first."
Write one rule per line and keep each one specific. "Be careful about money" is hard to act on. "Do not quote prices, offer a call instead" tells the agent exactly what to do. Do not assume a rule like this is already in place. If you need one, write it.
You also set the target audience for each property, such as buyers, investors or renters, and you pick the agent and voice buyers meet. You can choose one of Path's agents or a voice clone of someone on your team.
Give the agent a clear next step
Rules about what not to say work best when the agent has somewhere to send the buyer instead. In Path, buyers can book a viewing from inside the tour. That opens your own scheduling link, such as Calendly or Acuity, or sends your team a meeting request by email, and the buyer gets a confirmation.
So a rule like "do not quote prices" can end with "offer to book a viewing," and the buyer still leaves with a next step. Before the tour starts, every visitor also enters a name, email and phone and agrees that their information will be shared with the listing agent. Your team has a way to follow up on anything the agent hands back.
Test your rules before buyers see them
Rules only matter if the agent follows them in real conversations. Test every property before you share the link or embed it on your site.
Ask the hard questions: open the tour and ask about price, fees, availability and anything else you wrote a rule for.
Try different wording: ask the same thing three ways, the way a real buyer might.
Check the numbers: compare every figure the agent gives with your property details file.
Test by voice and text: buyers can type or hold the mic to talk, so try both.
Fix and repeat: if an answer is off, tighten the instruction or add the missing fact to your file, then ask again.
After launch, keep checking. Path saves each visitor's conversation history, and Property Insights shows what people are asking most. Read through real questions every week or two and update your instructions when you spot a gap. Our article on voice AI in real estate virtual tours has more on testing the spoken side.
Sales teams at developers and brokerages can see how this fits their projects on those pages.
Frequently asked questions
Can an AI sales agent make up facts about a property?
Path's concierge is instructed that it cannot fabricate information and must never invent a number. It answers from your property information, and every tour shows a disclaimer that AI may provide inaccurate information.
Can I stop the agent from talking about prices?
You can add that rule in Custom Instructions, for example "Do not quote prices, offer to book a call instead." Do not assume a pricing rule is already in place. Write it yourself and test it.
What happens when the agent does not know the answer?
If your property information does not cover it, the agent can fall back to a web search. To keep answers on your facts, add the missing details to your property details file.
Can the agent hand buyers to a person?
Yes. Buyers can book a viewing from inside the tour, which opens your scheduling link or sends your team a meeting request. Every visitor also leaves a name, email and phone before the tour.
How do I check what the agent told buyers?
Each visitor's conversation history is saved in Path, and Property Insights shows the top questions people ask. Review them regularly and update your instructions when needed.
See the rules in action
Book a 30-minute demo and we will open a live tour, ask it the hard questions and show you how to write Custom Instructions for your own projects. You can also try a demo tour first.
See what buyers ask inside your virtual tours
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