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you routinely buy homes without actually seeing them in person? If not you, what % of homes do you think sell under normal market conditions (ie, not distressed, bank-owned, auctioned, a tear-down, etc) where the Buyerr never goes in the property until closing?
Google street can be years old. When I googled my apt. building last year it showed a totally different view than what is there. I had huge planters outside my apt. about 5yrs ago and those were what was on google street.
Also, when I look at photos of homes for sale and then google it can look very different, as in if someone selling the home redoes the landscaping, takes trees down etc. So, even though I look at google street I don't always take it as current. It would be impossible for all streets to be current.
Or am I missing something?
you're not missing anything. you should always, when possible, look at real life in real life. You can do satellites/birds-eyes with Apple and Google maps and Bing, and get 3 very different views. One of them is probably the most correct, or provides the most info (for example, a reasonably-wooded lot that only 1 of the 3 has a winter satellite shot).
If a buyer and their agent don't know which homes to eliminate based on photos, measurements, layouts, features, and then map views for the biggies - corners/backs on a major road, backs to an electrical substation, etc - then that's on them, not the listing agent who is representing the Seller.
If a Buyer chooses not to have their own agent and then wants to whine to the listing agent about the house not looking as good as the photos, then that's on the Buyer; you chose not to have experienced eyes helping you. If a buyer has an agent who tells them "Oh yeah, that's a great house! We should see it, you'll love it!" only to find out the house is awful and you're only getting "sold" ... then switch buyers' agents.
I love when you see an awesome place then google map and it's next to an industrial area or junk yard or something.
Our current house has a property behind it that will probably never sell - not for the asking price. The guy bought it before the bubble burst and put in a well, septic and set power poles. Then he did the unthinkable. He poured his own "foundation". I'm not sure what he was thinking but it's a fiasco. Anyway, he also purchased a bunch of junk boats for a great price and there are now 3 junk boats on the property, an old cement mixer and a camper which he stays in on his infrequent visits to the property. If he'd move his junk (boats, trailer) it would be much better for the sale of our house.
When we first looked at Google Earth we were squinting and asking "what is that??!!" *sigh* At least he lets me walk the dogs through his property. It really is nice with a little stream he spent a fortune building a bridge over. And it's got protected wetlands on it....
As far as photos for advance planning, I appreciate google aerial and google street view. Always check the image date though. Recently I'm seeing aerial images 2018 but, go to google walk it and it could be 2015 or, if off the beaten track, much much earlier and not updated.
I look up the parcel viewer or gis or whatever to check the lot too.
And call the agent.
A couple days ago I saw advertised a property with five acres. Found out there's a deep slope behind the 2 acres the property is on and the remaining 3 acres are far below. Nice property but would want to be able to look out at what I want on those 3 acres.
When looking for our current house, I relied on internet pictures as the homes in question were thousands of miles away. The house we are now in had several pictures and I came to know the house well based on the pictures. I never did get to see the house in person, my husband flew out to see it and made an offer that same day.
When I finally did get to see it I knew it from those pictures.
This house had been unoccupied for ten years before we bought it and another five before we moved into it.
It was known as the big old haunted house one the corner.
One really blatant house comes to mind. Of course the realtor and I were only "fooled" until we missed the driveway turn a couple of times due to the overgrowth. It wasn't that the photos were distorted or edited, they were simply dated incorrectly....antiques without that sepia tone. What showed a charmingly-terraced small garden was in actuality a sea of 4+ year's growth of invasive weeds and Douglas fir saplings. Surrounded by a tall plank privacy fence (an asset here for gardeners in our marauding moose country) except that the entire fence wobbled as we unlocked the gate which promptly fell off its hinges into our arms. My realtor was quite short...she almost vanished underneath the thing. The property was described as having a detached garage. OK, there was an actual building, but no approach apron that would allow a vehicle any heavier than a moped to reach the door. Understandable, as the door was too narrow for anything other than said moped...probably the one sitting inside already. The plywood floor buckled under human weight too. The shop's heater was surrounded by a halo of diesel. I suppose they were trying to create that aura of optimistic potential. It was only a garage, right? On to the house itself.
A pleasant little log structure in a nice area. No one had paid attention to the place in decades most likely. The double-pane front window was cracked, full of condensation, and sitting somewhat unhappily in its frame. The front wall shook when the door was pushed open. The kitchen, true to the pictures, was modest and compact, but not an actual permanent installation. Wiring snaked along the walls. A bucket under the kitchen sink drain. That euphemism described as "baseboard" heat was provided by portable electric plug-ins sitting squarely next to the walls. Photos, even sepia-toned vintage couldn't convey the cigarette-impregnated atmosphere. Door frames tilted, plywood sub flooring under pieces of loose carpet moaned. We didn't tour the upstairs at all once we put a hand on the drunken banister. Oh well, no great loss...I wouldn't have been able to get all the way up the stairs without ducking anyway. Still, to be fair, I am rather tall. We had a bit of bother setting the free-wheeling gate back on its hinges as we locked the place up again.
Sad; it probably was a snug cute little place during its heyday. Out of curiosity I watched the listing for about a year...the price never wavered at all. I happened to drive down that road some months after that. Still for sale, even more hidden by brush, slowly moldering back to the earth once more.
Last edited by Parnassia; 04-22-2018 at 02:50 PM..
And what the heck is the point of taking photos of an item on the table or something that the owner will remove?
I've seen lots of listing photos showing odd corners of rooms; not even with windows or closet doors, just walls. Never did get that. Or of wall art, furniture closeups that show hardly anything of the room its sitting in. What's the appeal of giant lettering decor anyway?
I have to admit, I'm thinking "staging" as my time here dwindles. My son moved out and I'm trying to find a cheap but not cheap dresser and chest of drawers to fill the space. Our bedrooms are small (back when you just used them for sleeping and dressing) but the living room and kitchen areas are wonderful. Anyway, I don't want people to wonder if their stuff will fit.
The largest has a dresser, chest of drawers and two night stands with a queen.
The smallest has a day bed, a dresser and an armoir.
The remaining one I want a dresser, chest and one night stand. I have a full size bed in there.
I have a farm sized table in the kitchen/dining area. I think that's a great fit.
Anyway, all these threads about selling really help me plan. The realtor is going to be taking the pictures. He said just move my personal little items for the pictures, then put them back. I'm excited.
I have seen it go that way, but sometimes it goes the other way and the listing looks much worse than the property. We had a really pleasant surprise with that in the house we just purchased - dingy, dark pictures from weird angles, and none showing the neighborhood or yard.
The house was MUCH bigger and cleaner and brighter than the pictures suggested, the neighborhood was absolutely beautiful, and the road approach and front of the home were fantastic. We almost didn’t go to the open house (it was. FSBO) because of the cruddy look of it, but ended up loving the house and getting it for about 15k under the comps because it didn’t get good MLS exposure and looked like nothing special. Our gain
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