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With Google Maps/Earth/Street View, you can tell where the home is located, size of yard, anything desirable/undesirable nearby. Type of street/neighborhood, etc. You also obviously get a full 360 degree view of everything.
Then inside...
In my market, floor plans are the norm so you can see all room sizes and the full layout and flow. From the pics, you can usually tell with a high degree of accuracy:
-Is it neglected?
-Is it taken care of but not updated (e.g. older people with pride and money to keep it up but just not updated)
-Updated - and you can usually tell the quality pretty well and adherence to the history and original design.
Often I don't know the age/quality of the systems, etc but that's not a matter of photos so another topic.
The floor plans, which could be SO HELPFUL, are rarely presented in NC. If only they were available we could get so much better impressions of the house and how well it would work for us. Agree totally with you on this.
P.S. What is your market? Maybe I should look there.
The floor plans, which could be SO HELPFUL, are rarely presented in NC. If only they were available we could get so much better impressions of the house and how well it would work for us. Agree totally with you on this.
P.S. What is your market? Maybe I should look there.
I agree! The only time you see a floor plan here is if it's new construction, but not for existing. Good photos can make a home look fantastic online, but in person it could still look terrible.
When we looked for our new home two years ago I always looked at photos first. If I didn't like the kitchen or something else, then I typically didn't even go look at it. No photos at all, I didn't waste my time.
The floor plans, which could be SO HELPFUL, are rarely presented in NC. If only they were available we could get so much better impressions of the house and how well it would work for us. Agree totally with you on this.
P.S. What is your market? Maybe I should look there.
A good floor plan costs $100-$150. More on large homes.
Listing agents can sell the house every day here, twice on Sunday, without a floor plan.
So why spend the money?
What gets me is agents who pay $100--$125 for a measurement and only give a perimeter outline of the house.
No partitions in the plan. Gee... That costs another $20, but is the most helpful bit of marketing, IMO, from a floor plan.
A good floor plan costs $100-$150. More on large homes.
Listing agents can sell the house every day here, twice on Sunday, without a floor plan.
So why spend the money?
What gets me is agents who pay $100--$125 for a measurement and only give a perimeter outline of the house.
No partitions in the plan. Gee... That costs another $20, but is the most helpful bit of marketing, IMO, from a floor plan.
My county's tax assessment office has a floor plan outline of the perimeter of houses online that can be searched for free. It even shows enclosed porches, or unenclosed and other property features. For my home my front porch is more like a deck and they call that a Stoop and give it's measurements too like a cement slab in the backyard they would measure as a patio.
We have a great system set up that you can search by address. Up north I have only been able to find the system where you can only find a property by the owner's name.
My county's tax assessment office has a floor plan outline of the perimeter of houses online that can be searched for free. It even shows enclosed porches, or unenclosed and other property features. For my home my front porch is more like a deck and they call that a Stoop and give it's measurements too like a cement slab in the backyard they would measure as a patio.
We have a great system set up that you can search by address. Up north I have only been able to find the system where you can only find a property by the owner's name.
That is state-specific.
Our tax rolls and building dimensions are so wonky, the NC Real Estate Commission says they are not acceptable for advertising square footage.
No competent agent will list the tax roll square footage in a listing.
If we advertise SF, we are expected to support it with accurate measurements. Agents can be disciplined for advertising inaccurate SF.
The state does not require SF in ads, but the MLS I am in does require SF, so the measurements better be accurate to state requirements.
Yes.
One home that had the perfect layout and divine kitchen. But it didn't show much of the outdoor area. Turns out the home had a very steep driveway. There was no way my car would make it up that hill in the winter time. Ice/snow ...blah.
Anytime photos have the drapes drawn,I know it's not from photoglare but rather to not share with prospects that the view is of a powerplant or an airport ...
To be fair, there are plenty of places that do back up their advertisement. I never had a five guys burger I didn’t like
After hearing a lot of hype, the wife and I finally went to Five Guys a few weeks ago. We were...severely disappointed, to put it mildly. It was edible, but that's about as far as it goes...over-priced and nothing to write home about. Frankly, I think a Mickey D's burger (ordered with no salt) tastes much, much better...at a fraction of the price. Red Robin was much better...but if I want a *really* good burger, I'll make it myself, at home.
On topic:
I once drove 600 miles to look at a house. The photos looked great. Actually being there told a whole 'nother story...the whole house was canted at such an angle that the toilet needed a 3" block in the front to level it...somebody who is better than math than I am can calculate how much of an angle that is. It also had a stream running through the basement, literally, the water flowed out through a gap in the fieldstone foundation, across the whole width of the house and out under the door.
The photos of the interior looked great, reality was substantially different. Pictures can lie.
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.
A few months ago an old property I previously owned had imagery dating to 2011 (can tell due to a car I had plus a power pole that was replaced in early 2012.
I just looked again and it’s newer, but no newer than 2014. Yet the data says 2018. Odd.
That is state-specific.
Our tax rolls and building dimensions are so wonky, the NC Real Estate Commission says they are not acceptable for advertising square footage.
No competent agent will list the tax roll square footage in a listing.
If we advertise SF, we are expected to support it with accurate measurements. Agents can be disciplined for advertising inaccurate SF.
The state does not require SF in ads, but the MLS I am in does require SF, so the measurements better be accurate to state requirements.
Here that detail with the building foot print measurements drawing may be county specific.
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
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Love the photo shopped exterior photos that show a dazzling green lawn when, in reality, it's more brown than green. I know listing agents want to show the properties in the best possible light, but buyers become skeptical about what else isn't real when agents get heavy handed with the coloring and editing (such as taking out power lines....).
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