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One of my friends has an elevator to the basement... just a regular house but his father in law owned a elevator service company... no need to lug heavy items up and down the stairs.
If the basement is finished and is really nice, I've seen pictures of them. But, the pictures online are meant to entice you to come look at the house. Unless the basement is unusually nice, it's not going to be an enticement for people to decide that it's a house they must see. I don't see why a realtor/seller would add a picture of a lackluster or underwhelming basement.
What I find frustrating are listings that say no basement or don't even mention it and then when you look at the pictures of the outside of the house, a basement clearly exists. I want a basement and it doesn't help when listings deny having them.
It's fairly typical to see at least a few pictures of the basement on real estate listings in Pittsburgh--even if it's unfinished. Generally the pictures include the water heater/boiler/furnace (especially if they are new-ish), laundry appliances if they're being included with the sale of the house and, where applicable, a picture of the infamous Pittsburgh potty. :-)
around here, there are NO basements. We're on solid lava rock, so houses are built above ground. The best ones are built on tall piers that give you open-air living space under the house and let you park and hang laundry and entertain large crowds of people. Kind of above-ground basements.
If the basement is finished and is really nice, I've seen pictures of them. But, the pictures online are meant to entice you to come look at the house. Unless the basement is unusually nice, it's not going to be an enticement for people to decide that it's a house they must see. I don't see why a realtor/seller would add a picture of a lackluster or underwhelming basement.
A seller would post pictures of an underwhelming basement to indicate its size and its ceiling height. Properly taken such a picture would show location and condition of utility and laundry equipment and orientation of water and sewer lines as well as areas generally unusable for occupation due to low beams, piping and ductwork. It could also show location of stairs and outside access and location of windows.
Foundation construction and evidence of water intrusion could be seen as well as the presence of a sump pump, if any. A dry bar, wet bar or simply built in storage shelving could be seen. Need I go on?
But I understand what OP is saying. If you're shopping online at homes you want to see certain things. If you don't, you quickly go on to the next house to see. It's easy to see the better photographers vs the so-so ones.
May I add. . . I don't want to see the great looking table settings. I want to see the dining room floor, ceiling, walls, and windows. If the photos are done right I can look at the outside and see which windows match which rooms and understand the flow. And drones taking an overhead view of the property - Those are awesome!
I'm in the Boston area and 99% of houses around here have a basement.
If the basement is finished, I'll see photos of it in the listing 90% of the time. If the basement is unfinished except for the occasional photo of the heating system or maybe the laundry machines (if they're down there) I don't think I've ever seen anyone put in a photo of an unfinished basement.
Without a doubt, this is the first time I've ever heard anyone say they'd like to see a photo of an unfinished basement in the listing. While basements can certainly vary in construction (cinder block, fieldstone, poured cement, etc.) and also pour depth aside from that if you've seen one unfinished basement you've pretty much seen them all. I know at least in my MLS there are fields you can fill in to answer some of these questions up front.
I would guess aside from the uniformity of unfinished basements, the aesthetics are another reason why you don't typically see photo of them in a listing. It's a bunch of pipes, concrete, and insulation along with a whole slew of people's junk that they're storing down there. It's just not pretty. Plus, basements are typically very dark so not great for photographing.
Occasionally in online used car ads you see photos of the engine. Or the trunk with the original tool kit. Or the owner's manual in perfect shape (usually for older cars).
Home sellers may do this to show that it's super pristine. I agree that most basements are really horrible sights and any photos would be strong negatives. But recently I was in a basement of a home probably about 25 years old. It had an absolutely perfect basement (unfinished). No weird stains on the cement, no cracks, just perfectly clean and bright looking concrete. The furnace and all the pipes and electrics, etc were extremely neat and tidy.
While few people are excited by an unfinished basement, I think that an exceptionally pristine one (like a very clean engine, etc in a car) suggest that the home is well taken care of. This, in addition to the obvious points that a photo might show the potential to furnish the basement. I believe that showing the potential to furnish the basement might be very important if the home is not very large and might be in an area of family homes (like a little charmer in Belmont, for example). If it's a 4000sf newer home in Franklin (for example) then that would probably be less important to buyers.
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