Okay, I get it. The seller wants his house presented in the most favorable fashion possible.

But DAMN, SON!

Went to look at a house with my older daughter today. Looked okay, even decent-ish on Zillow.

In person? What a shithole. Dark, dirty, 50+ year old paint, Kitchen about the size of a big broom closet, dinky little bathrooms (of which only one even had a freakin' door!) dry-rotted and scarred trim and carpets I wouldn't walk across in bare feet at gunpoint.

Asking $210xxx and expecting a bidding war. Wiring is a complete joke, one 6 breaker box in the garage, and a 4 breaker box and one disconnect in the basement. Not a GFCI in the place and I'd be willing to bet most of the 3 prong outlets were stuffed into a two-wire box. Roof will need replacing sooner rather than later. 10,000 square foot lot.

Fortunately, she had the sense to giggle at the agent and walk away.

Haters gonna hate

I’ve made some good coin over the past 6 years with my side gig.

Just cause it looked like the top photo the day I took the pic doesn’t mean it can’t look like the bottom photo with a little yard work and better weather.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
Haters gonna hate

I’ve made some good coin over the past 6 years with my side gig.

Just cause it looked like the top photo the day I took the pic doesn’t mean it can’t look like the bottom photo with a little yard work and better weather.

I'd dare say rewiring a shit house would be a bit more work and $$$ than planting some grass and using a better camera or filter on your image...

Real Estate Agents have got to be one of the most over paid and dishonest professions around.

I am due a break sooner than later.

The last one kept my analysis of the lot, adjoining sold properties and letter from interested party. I was lucky to get the key to the gate back.

We experienced this when house hunting a few years ago.

A house we really liked, on an acre.
Arrive to look st it & from the outside it was as expected.
Walk inside & almost immediate disappointment. The place was a cave, the listing photos obviously were lightened significantly & there was some interior damage that was not shown via photo angles.

Luckily, we passed on it, as I'm sure it likely got significant water damage from Hurricane Harvey.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:

Just cause it looked like the top photo the day I took the pic doesn’t mean it can’t look like the bottom photo with a little yard work and better weather.

or with Photoshop

I was shocked how good the photographer made my grubby old “needing quite a bit of work” fixer-upper I just sold look. A lot of it was the angles he shot the rooms from. Listed, sold and closed in two weeks.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
or with Photoshop

Don’t go giving away the trade secrets!

The ones who take pics of rental cabins are the best.

In the ads it looks like the cabin is in a remote wilderness with no neighbors within miles and the bedrooms are giant. Get there, and you have 16 neighbors within whispering distance watching you get in the hot-tub and the bedroom makes the weekend a tad more crowded than "romantic."

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
Haters gonna hate

I’ve made some good coin over the past 6 years with my side gig.

Just cause it looked like the top photo the day I took the pic doesn’t mean it can’t look like the bottom photo with a little yard work and better weather.

As someone who made his living in this line for a little longer than you did, gotta agree. Not all of us are dirtbags. I had a policy that Photoshop was used purely for lighting issues and for stitching video walkthroughs together, and my job is to present the house in the best yet most honest way possible. If it takes more than half an hour to edit the photos of the entire house it's taking too long.

I developed that system in part because the company I worked for sold a lot of properties to folks in Australia, and they have a truth in advertising law. Thus, I didn't want to get us sued.


I'd actually point the finger at the agent and/or owner. I've seen where they used photos I took 2 tenants ago (immediately post rehab) for the advertisement, so my photos are pristine but it looks nothing like that now.

Use a wide angle lens and shoot from a high corner, guaranteed to add a couple hundred square feet to any room. Cruise lines learned this decades ago, in order to make a coffin sized cubicle look like a suite.

Drone videos are a little more helpful than stills, at least for exteriors, people don't seem to fool with them as much.

I have seen photos where they went into the neighbors yard to take a back yard pic. I thought the yard was huge for a subdivision until I went on google maps.

The worst broker has to be Long & Foster.

At one place I caught the agent trying to get into a shed. I thought he was going to tear the door off. When I told him to stop, he continued to pull on the door. Only after I told him to get the hell off my property did he stop. When the people with him tried to apologize, I told them it was not their fault but they should find an agent that knew the property boundaries.

Later, some other people bought the house even thought I had stated that the lot behind the house was not for sale. The people wanted to use the lot to have access to the river. I later told them no due to liability.

At another place, the listing agent was not always showing the house and sometimes people would stop by without an agent and trespass on my property. One time I caught a couple that had driven over into my field. Not knowing who they were, I approached the car with caution since the windows had a heavy tint. I knocked on the window which must have scared them because they were hesitate to roll the window down. Only after I told them they were trespassing, did they leave.

Even agents showing the property sometimes trespassed even thought the property boundary is properly marked.

I am shopping for a home now over 1000 miles away. I too have figured that out. In certain rooms, you can tell it is not as big based on logic. Using pictures and other shots, you can figure that out. Also, as someone else pointed out…google map is your friend.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
Real Estate Agents have got to be one of the most over paid and dishonest professions around.

I am due a break sooner than later.

The last one kept my analysis of the lot, adjoining sold properties and letter from interested party. I was lucky to get the key to the gate back.

Kind of an inaccurate blanket statement. My wife make a great living. She is also working 18 hours a day. She showed a property on thanksgiving morning and had to be on the phone and computer most of the day. She rarely gets to sit down to a full meal without a phone call interrupting. I’ve never seen anyone work so hard. I’m in a stressful quality assurance role in biotech and my job is a walk in the park compared to her.

That being said there are bad seeds and unethical people in most professions and I’ve seen my share of shitty agents over the past few years. But the shitty ones aren’t making much money. Word gets around.

Your wife may be a hard worker but the skill set required to do the job is no comparison to your biotech education or my engineering education.

Two of my cousins sold real estate after being teachers for a number of years. Their main objection to the profession was sharing the commission with others that provided no support to selling the property.

In my last job, I worked over 3000 hours over a 11 year period for which I received no pay. I am still finding reports that I did released under the Freedom of Information Act that has someone else's name on the report.

The problem with Realtors is that it's far too easy to become a licensed realtor.

Take 90 hours of class followed by a proctored exam and presto, you're now a licensed realtor.

An awful lot of people get into it because it's easy, fast and cheap and they get to be somewhat self employed.

Lot of shysters out there, so choose wisely.

Your post explains the problem.

I know a HS friend that was a real estate agent and bought a lot without having it perked.

When he went to dig the foundation for the house, he hit an underground stream. He was lucky to be able to sell the lot without losing his shirt.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
The problem with Realtors is that it's far too easy to become a licensed realtor.

Take 90 hours of class followed by a proctored exam and presto, you're now a licensed realtor.

An awful lot of people get into it because it's easy, fast and cheap and they get to be somewhat self employed.

Lot of shysters out there, so choose wisely.

In Florida it is stupid easy.

Realtors are making a killing with how hot the housing market is.

If you work for a new home builder, you're not really a salesperson, you're an order taker, homes are selling themselves due to the high demand and low supply. One lady I know made $250k last year in commission. Is she a skilled salesperson? Hell no, right place at the right time.