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A saw a house that clearly had a fake fire in the fireplace photos and taken in the summer and the seller disclosure revealed that the firebox was cracked and in person I could see the chimney was missing quite a bit of grout/motor visible from the outside.
My question is, is it legal to represent the fireplace as working in the pictures when they had no intention to fix it since it would be sold "as is."
A saw a house that clearly had a fake fire in the fireplace photos and taken in the summer and the seller disclosure revealed that the firebox was cracked and in person I could see the chimney was missing quite a bit of grout/motor visible from the outside.
My question is, is it legal to represent the fireplace as working in the pictures when they had no intention to fix it since it would be sold "as is."
They should certainly have a disclaimer that the house has been digitally enhanced. I saw one last year where the photos showed chandeliers when there actually weren't even electrical boxes in the ceiling. Yuck.
Unfortunately, many agents don't look for flaws in their listings.
And, this may be a case where they used a professional photographer who did their own thing without recognizing the need to disclose.
Many agents don't even attend photo shoots on their new listings, if you can believe that.
I hate this trend of "digitally enhanced" photos in listings. But at least they are usually pretty easy to spot, because the people doing it just can't restrain themselves enough to keep it looking realistic.
My wife and I were just talking about listing photos the other day. We often make fun of the terrible photos we see. But it's almost as bad for the photos to be too good, because then when you see the house in person, it's a let down. We've had that experience several times over the past few weeks. Best to find the balance where the photos look good enough to attract showings, but not so good that the reality can't live up to the expectation.
My favorite is the giant McMansion down the street, built on a tiny weird pie shaped lot. There's one house next to it, separated by maybe 20 feet; one house behind it, also separated by maybe 20 feet (!) and the other two sides are a street corner. When they put it up for sale it was described as an "Estate" and all the surroundings were photoshopped out so it looked like it was up on a hill with nothing but sky and trees all around.
I'm sorry, but unless you have tenant farmers, or you can keep a herd of livestock, it certainly isn't an "Estate". And I'd be pretty brassed off if I came in from out of town and agreed to see this multimillion dollar monstrosity based on that manipulated photo and then found out that my back yard was a spacious 10 feet deep.
My favorite is the giant McMansion down the street, built on a tiny weird pie shaped lot. There's one house next to it, separated by maybe 20 feet; one house behind it, also separated by maybe 20 feet (!) and the other two sides are a street corner. When they put it up for sale it was described as an "Estate" and all the surroundings were photoshopped out so it looked like it was up on a hill with nothing but sky and trees all around.
I'm sorry, but unless you have tenant farmers, or you can keep a herd of livestock, it certainly isn't an "Estate". And I'd be pretty brassed off if I came in from out of town and agreed to see this multimillion dollar monstrosity based on that manipulated photo and then found out that my back yard was a spacious 10 feet deep.
But you know how it is with sales people.
Sometimes Google Maps Satellite or Street View can be your very best friend.
Article 12 of the NAR Code of Ethics states: "REALTORS® shall be honest and truthful in their real estate communications and shall present a true picture in their advertising, marketing, and other representations."
Some of the things mentioned here appear like they could be considered a violation of the COE.
There seems to be a tendency to enhance pictures, descriptions, measurements and whatever to attract potential buyers. Near the beach/water (our area), an entire set of 'code phrases' are employed to paint this unrealistic picture.
I've concluded that the offending realtors are simply hoping to attract potential buyers they can direct to "other" properties -- OR hoping they can 'sell' the listed property, even though it differs from the pics and description. (It's sort of a 'bait and switch' approach to real estate).
When you think about it a "fake" photo could simply be a matter of age. While searching for a potential home in a new town of course I picked properties to visit based on listing photos. Of course we toured them in person. One listing showed a lovely modest older log home with a well established fenced garden and detached shop that was large enough to convert to a garage.
Reality was so utterly different from the photos we kept bypassing the place thinking it couldn't possibly be the house we were looking for. The cute manicured garden was waist high weeds and brush. Alder and spruce trees at least 10 years old. The driveway itself was barely visible through the grass. That "shop" had a flimsy rotted plywood floor that wouldn't support the weight of a moped. The gate in that fence was held up by the padlock...the gate collapsed as we unlocked it. The house itself was a wreck...the wall in the front room shook as we shut the front door. Floors flexed, exposed wires snaked everywhere. Windows fogged, stairway to the second floor looked so unsafe we didn't risk it. Photos obviously couldn't describe the stink of mildew and cigarette smoke. My realtor was stunned. I actually felt sorry for what had probably been a nice little house.
Those listing photos might have reflected the condition of the house accurately...back in 1985.
A heads up for buyers: inspect very carefully and pay for a well qualified inspector to go over the house before you buy.
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