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I am looking to move to another state. Minnesota to Arkansas. I am finding the same issue as when I moved from Oklahoma to Minnesota. Awful listings. Moving to another state, I rely a lot on online listings and it troubles me seeing pictures that turn me off on a home.
One listing included a picture of a stop sign and close up shots of the current owner's nick knacks. Many showcase decor that would not come with the house. So often the current owners have counters full of dirty dishes and trash. Bedrooms full of piles of dirty laundry. A few were obvious hoarders. Do they let people come and see the home when it is in this condition?
Do realtors not require people to clean up a little before they come to photograph the home? I don't understand the reasoning for so many pictures that do not showcase the home. I had thought about getting into realty but now I wonder, is it poor jobs of the realtor or are these most likely supplied from the seller and realtors are just stuck with it?
They can suggest, but they won’t require. Because they’d rather have the listing then tick off a listing and not get it.
I had one resident who was selling his unit, and he was packing up to move across country. And there was no way for the guy to get good pictures because there was just a wreck everywhere you looked in this place. There was also an incredible lack of decor. We’re talking sheets on the windows stuff. He apparently got away with it because he was in a corner unit on the top floor and nobody noticed.
They can suggest, but they won’t require. Because they’d rather have the listing then tick off a listing and not get it.
I had one resident who was selling his unit, and he was packing up to move across country. And there was no way for the guy to get good pictures because there was just a wreck everywhere you looked in this place. There was also an incredible lack of decor. We’re talking sheets on the windows stuff. He apparently got away with it because he was in a corner unit on the top floor and nobody noticed.
Amazingly, he sold for top dollar. Shocking.
I have seen even some nicer places with sheets on the windows, I assumed they were hung for the pictures due to lack of curtains to block out the light for the pictures I may have been wrong haha. I guess they are cheaper than curtains.
This is one of my biggest complaints with listings! Why did you just take SEVEN pix of the same wall (all blurry, and three of them had your reflection in the mirror). The ones with the agents friend/helper peeking through a far doorway. The ones with the dog in every other picture (I do love animals but....). I've been looking at rural properties and it's bad enough that many barely show the interior of the house, but 3 of the 10 photos are of horses in a muddy corral. I'd rather see a map of the lot lines, or hello, maybe the actual barn.
Or the listings with over 50 photos..... of trees.
If I was selling my house and still had all my stuff in it, you better believe I'd be right there moving things out of the way so the agent can get the shots they needed.
The HDR photos also drive me crazy - so fake!
I have some friends who do real estate photography and one of them is super artsy. A picture of an original doorknob in a historic house is one thing, but as said above, closeups of knickknacks and other items that will be going with the owner are a waste of bandwidth.
Then again, if it keeps others away.......
ps - OP, I have 2 windows with towels for shades haha! My shades shredded and I miscounted when I bought new ones and had to keep the sun out somehow.
(remember the days where we grabbed those little real estate books in a restaurant and poured over the tiny pictures of the front of the houses?)
This is an area in which my agent was fantastic. He personally dictated every item that was to be included in the listing pictures. Days before the photographer was coming, he had me remove all the art from the walls and totally declutter the table tops- no knick-knacks or photos- all packed. When his photographer arrived at my house, the agent had two strong men who moved furniture around for the pictures. Sometimes they removed the furniture and the lamps to another room; sometimes to the garage! At the end, everything was put back into place.
I sold in a hot market (NYC suburb), but he didn't let anything slide.
My pictures were fantastic. And that is why he is a top agent and has been for thirty years.
They can suggest, but they won’t require. Because they’d rather have the listing then tick off a listing and not get it.
I had one resident who was selling his unit, and he was packing up to move across country. And there was no way for the guy to get good pictures because there was just a wreck everywhere you looked in this place. There was also an incredible lack of decor. We’re talking sheets on the windows stuff. He apparently got away with it because he was in a corner unit on the top floor and nobody noticed.
Amazingly, he sold for top dollar. Shocking.
Almost anything can be sold. The price is usually better if the seller engages some effort.
Now they want 5mm and the pics are whacky........look at #77. Then notice what appears to be a Christmas tree in the house (in July???). House is furnished but it looks like a lottery winner did it
The houses in that are aalways seem to have the worst decor. My inlaws live in Palm Coast, so I always like to look up the beach houses along A1A that are for sale. So many seem like they blew their decor budget in the 80s and could never afford to remodel.
I'd still buy one of those houses though, as long as they took all their stuff with them.
They may be a bit wild with their decor, but they look like some good parties have been had there.
Yeah the outside pictures aren't bad, but like OP was saying there are about 4 photos of a wall with a piece of furniture and some photos or pictures on it.
Overall, I agree with some of the prior posts that if you can look past stuff like that you might be able to get a bargain. Or in today's market, maybe only be competing with 3 or 4 offers instead of 10. That house is a FSBO (so maybe it's being "blackballed" :-) ) but it's been on the market for 2 months even though it is 3500 square feet with 6 bedrooms on almost an acre less than 10 minutes from the beach for $450K (I'm not that familiar with that market, but that does still seem to be pretty rare there.
Although it is annoying when the pictures make it hard to determine concrete things that should be easily determined from the listing photos which could be a dealbreaker.
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Solly says — Be nice!
