One of the most difficult parts of beginning a home improvement project is comparing bids from various contractors. It’s almost impossible.

The reason: Contractor quotes are rarely “apples to apples.” One might be incomplete, leaving out critical information, while another is so detailed that you can’t nail down the scope of the project. One might be casually scrawled on the back of an envelope, while another comes on formal letterhead. Yet they’re all from reputable firms that do good work.

Here comes BidCompareAI, a new tool powered by artificial intelligence that analyzes and compares multiple contractor bids. In minutes, it generates a clear, line-by-line report that standardizes each proposal so you can avoid expensive confusion. It identifies missing items, unrealistic allowances and other red flags before any work begins.

On the flip side, it allows contractors to quote with confidence, negotiate smarter, close deals faster and protect their bottom lines. Best of all, it is free!

Every year, renovation projects are derailed by hidden blunders, vague language and inconsistent contractor bids, pushing 78% of jobs over budget and forcing two-thirds of homeowners into debt, according to Clever Real Estate. Even pros like property managers and flippers struggle to assess and compare bids.

BidCompareAI promises to turn confusing, inconsistent bids into clear, side-by-side insights. It allows homeowners to upload multiple bids and get a quick, detailed report comparing the scope and pricing of each one. No sign-up or payment is required.

The platform “adds instant transparency and clarity ... saving people from costly mistakes before a project even starts,” brags Jon Grishpul, co-founder of GreatBuildz, the Los Angeles-based company that developed the program. It also serves as a “credibility tool” for contractors that streamlines communication, builds trust and helps win more business, he says.

BidCompareAI is still in beta testing, but is up and live on the GreatBuildz website. Homeowners have to upload the details of each proposal separately to the site, but it’s not as cumbersome as it sounds: All you need to do is take screenshots of the bids, turn them into PDF files and upload them.

From there, the platform “reads” through the quotes, compares each one and pinpoints what’s missing. Then, if you are still interested in a particular proposal, you can ask the contractor to fill in the blanks.

Eventually, Grishpul hopes, the system will become even simpler to use. “It’s going to be a constant journey to make the platform as easy and as effective as possible,” he promises.

While GreatBuildz is a homeowner-contractor matching service operating solely in California, BidCompareAI is national in scope with no humans in the loop. Grishpul promises the tool is “thoroughly reliable,” having been vetted by numerous contractors.

One issue with many contractors’ proposals is that they omit key parts of the job -- sometimes purposefully. If you are remodeling your kitchen, for example, what’s the charge for removing the old cabinets, taking the debris to the dump and cleaning up afterwards?

BidCompareAI catches these and other omissions so you’re not hit with an extra (and often hefty) charge when the work is complete.

Then there’s the fine print: You never read it, but it can come back to bite you in the end. For instance, what if you buy the materials on your own at the local big box store? Who’s going to pay to have the stuff picked up or delivered?

Vague, ambiguous terms are another difficulty: “Fixtures” and “materials” can mean almost anything. The AI tool flags such terms so you can ask for specifics upfront -- specifics you may not even have considered in the beginning.

Sometimes one proposal comes in at a much lower price than all the others. Lowball bids often mean the contractor will cut corners or catch you later with numerous change orders or other charges they “failed” to include in the original bid. BidCompareAI exposes such offers so you can make the contractor come back with more details.

Moreover, contractors sometimes quote different prices for the exact same product -- say, a shower enclosure from the same manufacturer. The AI platform compares each item side by side so you can see what kind of profit margins, if any, the contractor is adding to their cost.

Quality is another discrepancy found in many competing bids. One might specify top-of-the-line cabinet doors, for instance, while another fails to mention their quality at all. The AI tool flags the differences so you know exactly what you are paying for.

Hidden fees lurk in many proposals. Fees to secure the necessary building permits, for example, are sometimes left out or bundled with other charges. But BidCompareAI reveals them in its line-by-line summary reports.

“Lots of things are lumped together under the heading of ‘profit and overhead,’” says Grishpul. “But sometimes they are separate charges. You’ll want to know who is responsible for them.”

The platform also finds duplicate charges that mysteriously make their way into a bid so you won’t be paying twice for the same work or product. And it identifies vague or missing timelines that, if left unaddressed, can lead to costly delays and overruns. “If timelines aren’t priced,” Grishpul warns, “there is no accountability.”

The fact that Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook have been accused by the Trump administration of lying on their mortgage applications should serve as a warning and a reminder to everyone looking for a home loan: Always tell the truth.

The charges against Schiff and Cook seem to be politically motivated. Still, it’s a federal offense to lie on an application for financing. Even if it’s doubtful you’ll be prosecuted, lying on an application is fraud, and fraud is a crime.

Your loan officer might hint that you should say you earn more than you actually do, or whisper that it’s OK to fudge your employment history. But don’t do it. If you are caught, the consequences can be severe. How does up to 30 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines grab you?

Even if you are not prosecuted, if your lender finds out you equivocated, they can call your loan due and payable on the spot. You can be required to pay back what you borrowed -- immediately.

The lies we’re talking about aren't grand schemes organized by crime syndicates to defraud lenders out of millions of dollars. No, we’re talking about little white lies -- the kind that everyday people tell to obtain funding for a house (or a lower rate on that funding). They fully intend to make their payments as promised, and they usually do. Nevertheless, it's fraud.

Unfortunately, with today's ever-increasing housing prices, stubbornly high mortgage rates, rising property taxes, and soaring insurance premiums and homeowners association fees, more and more wannabe borrowers are seeing the need to fib on their applications.

According to property information and analytics firm Cotality, mortgage fraud has been "gradually rising over the last year." In this year’s second quarter, about 1 in 116 applications contained at least one instance of fraud.

Loan application fibs are likely to be caught during the underwriting process. Lenders employ all manner of verification methods, including the review of pay stubs, W-2 forms, tax returns, credit reports, bank statements and appraisals.

Still, only 58 offenders actually drew federal sentences in fiscal year 2021, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Here are some of the lies people tell:

-- Job details. Maybe the applicant is due for a raise, so they write down what they'll soon be making instead of what they currently bring in. Others claim to have been on the job for longer than they really have. Some even go to the trouble of creating fake documents and pay stubs to back up their claims.

Sometimes these fabrications slip through, but you’re likely to be caught when the underwriter goes over your application. They'll be looking at your recent tax returns and seeking verification from your employer, so your fibs will likely get you nowhere. And the underwriter will then wonder what else you've lied about.

-- Residency. The house is the basis for the loan, and your lender will want to make certain it is your principal residence. If it’s not, you’ll have to qualify as an investor -- and those loans have more stringent requirements and higher rates.

Some people try to deceive their lenders about their residency to obtain better terms. Others might do so to help a relative or friend -- the person who will actually occupy the place, but who can’t qualify for the loan on their own.

The allegations against Schiff and Cook state that they violated the principal residency requirement. While you’re not likely to face such scrutiny, the consequences can be severe if you are caught.

-- Money source. Lenders want to see that you are putting up plenty of your own money as a down payment. After all, studies have shown that the more cash you have in the deal, the less likely you will be to miss payments and ultimately walk away from the house.

That’s why they want to document exactly where your funds came from. In particular, they will be looking to verify monetary gifts, which are treated a little differently from your own savings. They’ll also want to know if those “gifts” are actually loans, which have to be repaid.

Instead of lying about where your funds come from, it’s better to be upfront and document your sources.

-- Other accounts. Any other current loans, along with any previous bankruptcies and foreclosures, must be reported on your application. They affect how much you can borrow -- or whether you can secure financing at all. “Forgetting” to include them won’t do you much good, because they are part of your credit history and will remain on your record for years.

Your lender will pull your credit report as part of the underwriting process. But even if they somehow fail to do so, all you'd "win" is a mortgage for much more than you can afford.

-- Status. Don’t misrepresent the fact that you are married, have dependents or are (or aren't) a first-time homebuyer. Lenders check all of this. If they find out you were less than forthcoming, your application will be turned down, and your chances of obtaining financing elsewhere could be jeopardized.

Real estate may be the basis of all wealth, but a growing number of millionaires are forsaking homeownership and renting their residences instead.

"Between 2019 and 2023, the number of renter households with an income of $1 million or more grew from 4,500 to 13,700 -- a staggering increase," reads an analysis from RentCafe, an apartment search engine.

The lion’s share of millionaires still own their homes. But the much faster growth rate among millionaire renters marks an inflection point, RentCafe says: “Affluent individuals are increasingly drawn to the flexibility and amenity-rich offerings of high-end rental properties.”

Buyer beware: Recent Federal Trade Commission actions show that scam artists are still out there, trying to separate you from your money.

In one instance, the FTC is sending checks to nearly 40,000 consumers taken in by scammers who pitched real estate-based get-rich-quick schemes. And in another, the consumer watchdog agency is returning money to almost 1,000 homeowners swindled by door-to-door contractors pitching a home improvement financing scam.

In the get-rich-quick case, which includes $2 million in refunds, the FTC charged several people with peddling kits and coaching systems that dealt with real estate. But they failed to deliver as promised, the agency found. “In fact, consumers often lost money after paying for the kits, monthly subscriptions, and expensive coaching programs,” the agency said.

In the other case, the agency is returning $2.9 million to consumers harmed by a home-improvement financing company that made false claims about the potential financial impact of its services. It deceptively sold financing by claiming the loans would not impact the sale or refinancing of their homes, and often used high-pressure sales tactics, even forgery in some cases, to sign up customers.

People change their minds all the time, even when they’ve inked contracts to buy a house. In June, though, a whopping 57,000 sales agreements were canceled nationwide, equating to approximately 14.9% of homes that were under contract at the time. That's the largest share since 2017, according to Redfin.

Usually, buyers get cold feet because their financial situations change. But lately, more buyers are calling off their deals to look for better ones. With the inventory of houses for sale growing, and more sellers willing to negotiate, some buyers think they can cut better deals on houses that are more closely aligned with their needs, Redfin data journalist Dana Anderson explains.

“There are hundreds of thousands more U.S. home sellers than buyers, giving buyers more options to choose from and more negotiating power,” Anderson says. “Buyers have room to be picky; they may back out during the inspection period if a better home comes up for sale or they discover an issue they don’t want to fix.”

Some lenders are now able to figure out if you’re a strong candidate to refinance before you even consider it.

With a new program from Optimal Blue, a capital markets platform, lenders are able to scrub their portfolios to identify who among their clientele could benefit from turning in their current mortgages for a new one. The platform also spits out what it would cost to refinance, giving borrowers a full picture of the benefits.

For lenders, the program eliminates much of the legwork involved in finding borrowers likely to refi. When it spots a possible refi customer, it displays the probable savings -- and costs -- under various loan scenarios and creates outreach emails to borrowers, all without loan officers having to lift a finger.

The program “enables loan officer(s) to automatically respond swiftly and precisely,” the company says. They “can initiate communications with recommended borrowers and assess their current loans by entering referral information directly” into the program.

One more piece of evidence that the housing market has slowed significantly: The supply of developed building sites is at its highest level in five years, according to research and marketing firm Zonda.

But even with the increase -- 20% from a year ago in the second quarter -- the national market remains “significantly undersupplied,” the company reports.

The rise in build-ready lots means builders have scaled back on their starts. That’s a 180-degree turn for builders who, at the beginning of the year, had planned to increase production in 2025.

Zonda also found that the pipeline of developed building sites also is growing. The number of lots in various stages of development increased almost 8% from a year ago, with something on the order of 400,000 alone in the excavation stage. These lots should be ready for builders sometime in next year’s first half.

Finally, a new research study from Moody’s Analytics warns that policies based on national figures counting the shortage of houses “are almost inevitably misguided.”

While opening public lands for development in remote parts of the West may increase supply enough to close the gap at a national level (at least nominally), as the Trump administration wants to do, “it would leave untouched the vast majority of local shortfalls driving the availability and affordability crises,” the report's authors maintain.