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That's so funny because the house we are selling is in Southern NJ and it's an older home (1926). We are fanatical about getting it showroom ready for every showing. We probably spend 2 hours getting it just right. I simply cannot imagine showing a home with clutter, laundry and mess all over the place.
When we take pictures of our listings, we move things out of the photos that we don't want there. Like trash, clothes, etc. We do make sure to put them back though. People don't want to see a house that is dirty. Pictures of homes are the first thing that buyers see.
Our house is currently on the market so over the past couple months, I've been browsing a lot of real estate listings, keeping my eye on the inventory in several of the towns we are interested in and familiarizing myself with what's available in these areas.
I am frequently amazed by how realtors list many of the homes. First of all, they post photos of a home that is in complete disarray - beds unmade, junk all over the place, massive amounts of clutter. Why don't these realtors coach their clients about staging or if they are not staging experts, at the minimum instruct them to clean up the place and declutter? How could they snap these photos and post them in a listing and not realize that photos of a home that looks like a disaster area are not going to attract buyers? I mean, I'm not a realtor and I know this. Isn't this real estate 101?
I've seen photos of bedrooms painted in flourescent colors, photos with pets in them, homes with personal photos all over the walls (which by now everyone knows is a no-no), PEOPLE in the photos (watching t.v. or hanging around), back yards cluttered with plastic kindercrap - all things that would be easy an easy fix.
The other things that drive me crazy about real estate listings are listings that have no photo of the exterior front of the house (what are they hiding?), or instead of a photo of the exterior, they'll post a closeup photo of the front door only. WTF?
And then they list twins as single family homes ALL THE TIME. This is rampant. And it's deceiving because many twins LOOK like single family homes from the front photo.
Sorry, just had to vent. If you have any comments about why realtors do these things, I'd love to hear them.
Hi Sassygirl,
As a realtor, I can only apologize. Also, as a realtor, it aggravates me, too. I so often see some pretty sad pics in MLS listings and wonder what the agent was thinking. In defense, sometimes you quickly determine that to confront the seller about something like that is only going to be a waste of time and will alienate your relationship with them. Often, it is a tenant who occupies the property and most tenants DO NOT want the house sold, and are not cooperative.
Often we are limited to a certain # of photos we can put in an MLS system for a listing, so sometimes we have to choose the photos that better "sell" the property...which means sometimes the exterior front shot is not a good sell...no curb appeal. Mostly, though, you are right. The agent just isn't doing a good job.
The issue of the twinhome things seems more serious to me. It sounds like an attached home that you are describing, but I could be wrong. I always check the tax record to be sure that I am classifying the home correctly.
Anyway, not much "resolution" but I saw your post and related to it.
Sean
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We crazy realtors...
