Impish Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Wolf and I are looking at real estate, hoping to buy this summer. Over and over again, we're seeing the same 'mistakes' that strike us as being easily corrected, and wondering if a) its just us, b) ppl don't check up on their real estate agent or c) something else we can't figure out. First of all, before listing a house, do yourself a favour. As much as you love the neon green/orange/hot pink colour scheme, not everyone is as creative as you are. Repainting to a somewhat neutral colour scheme would likely go a long way, and prevent temporary blindness on the part of potential buyers who are looking through the real estate sites. If it blinds us online, we don't want to risk it irl. 2nd, check out the pics your agent posts. Some of them are just plain crapola. Some have no pics of bedrooms, etc. If there are no pics, or poor ones, buyers suspect that there is something wrong with the glaringly absent rooms, and strike it off their lists. I'm constantly amazed by what seems sheer laziness on the part of the agent/photographer. I mean, really...how hard is it to have the pics NOT blurry? A snow covered yard tells me diddly, show me pics of the bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen, etc. Mounds of snow...I'm Canadian. Its not an interesting sight, honest. Oh, and landscaping. Mow the lawn before taking pics. Hose down obvious signs of mud, etc. Nothing makes me ick more than a place that looks like a mudpit/cesspool for a yard. If the yard is a disaster, looks completely unmaintained, how bad is the house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HayesW Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I agree Imp. We just closed on a house yesterday, HOORAY, and I was amazed at some of the tings I saw, even for very high priced listings. Houses that literally had so much stuff I couldn't figure out what some of the furniture was or what color the walls were. Kitchens with so much stuff on the counters I wanted to scream. Dirty laundry piles in photos, I mean put it in the closet or something! Cut the grass, make up the beds, tidy up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalypso Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I SO agree with you. We are looking for a home right now and I can't believe some of the pictures that are posted in some cases and the lack of decent pictures in others. I also get amazed by the pictures of cluttered messy rooms. In one listing there were pictures of a bedroom with an unmade bed. While I know an unmade bed or a messy room doesn't really take away from a home, it does give you an impression that the owner didn't care. So, you think what else did the owner not care about while living in the home. We just sold our home a few months ago and I would never dream of putting a picture like that in the listing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 I honestly wonder how many vendors check out the listings by their agents. To me, it would be the FIRST thing I'd check, the min the listing went up. And considering real estate is commission, why wouldn't the agents do a better job? I mean, it costs them money, they don't get pd unless it sells, you'd think they'd be a lot more careful. Sloppy pics makes me wonder what else the real estate agent doesn't pay attention to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mama2cntrykids Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I honestly wonder how many vendors check out the listings by their agents. To me, it would be the FIRST thing I'd check, the min the listing went up. And considering real estate is commission, why wouldn't the agents do a better job? I mean, it costs them money, they don't get pd unless it sells, you'd think they'd be a lot more careful. Sloppy pics makes me wonder what else the real estate agent doesn't pay attention to. We sold/bought a home in the last year and checking my agents listing was the FIRST thing I did. For us there was nothing to worry about, but you never know. In fact, I looked at the pics she took and thought, "Oh, I don't WANT to move". LOLOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeannie in NJ Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I am looking at houses and when I look online at I want to se the kitchen and the bathrooms mostly, really as many rooms as possible. I also want a nice yard with trees so any houses that don't show at least one picture of the yard, I don' bother with. Some listings only have 1 picture total, come on. yesterday I went to look at a house, the owner, an elderly woman had passed away and her adult dc want to sell the house. Well, we could not even walk into most of the rooms. there was wall to wall furniture. The walk in closets were crammed full, could not get into garage, there was so much junk. The dining room had a huge table with 12 chairs that took up the entire room. It seemed like every inch of floor had furniture on it. The realtor for the owners dc said she has been trying in vain to tell the adult dc to get rid of everything so the house will show well but they are not listening to her. I am tossing 90% of the stuff in my house preparing us to move, for example when you walk into my house you enter a huge living room. We already cleared out the furniture and only have a couple of bookcases there and a desk, the room now looks huge and the hardwood look great. I have a couple of storage bines there but my realtor said that is fine, that it looks like we are packing up which is okay, said that does not turn off buyers as long as it is only one or 2 small bins which it is. Another thing I am doing is packing away most of our books and storing in the garage as I realize most people do not love books like homeschoolers do so to most people it would just look like too much with bookcases in every room full of books. So most books are going into storage bins stacked in the garage along with some of the bookcases. I am leaving a couple of the really nice bookcases in the living room just not crammed with books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herbalgirl Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I agree with all of you. I wonder honestly what people are thinking (not thinking?) when they post photos on a real estate site of their house for sale. My personal favorite was a photo of a man sitting at the kitchen table, drinking his coffee. On the real estate site. :confused: My dh said, "I hope he doesn't come with the house!" :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeannie in NJ Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 also our realtor took some amazing pictures of our house. He also saw a couple of photes that my dd took of the sunset and the meadows which is our backyard and he asked to post them. They look amazing. The rooms look pretty good, he even took one of a room showing items being packed into storage bins, he said that shows that we are serious about selling and moving so we would be serious about working with buyers on a price. LOTS of people here list their houses for YEARS with really no intention of selling, I know it is crazy right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 Yeah, the stuff I'm talking about isn't $$$, or would take a lot of time and effort, but would make a huge difference in first impression. I look at the kitchen. That makes or breaks the listing for me. I'm willing to entertain some remodelling, but not kitchen or bathroom. Too $$$. But, with the number of listings available, stuff like blinding colours, lousy pics, messy/dirty/cluttered...its way easy to simply click 'next'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 When no indoor pictures are available, I assume the photographer was just working with what they had. When sporadic, important shots are missing, I assume the rooms were too cluttered to photograph well. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalypso Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I agree with all of you. I wonder honestly what people are thinking (not thinking?) when they post photos on a real estate site of their house for sale. My personal favorite was a photo of a man sitting at the kitchen table, drinking his coffee. On the real estate site. :confused: My dh said, "I hope he doesn't come with the house!" :lol: :lol: I really get turned off by the pictures with pets in them, too. We do not keep animals in the house and seeing a big, hairy dog lying on the carpet or a cat on the bed makes me stop looking any further at the listing. Pets in the house wouldn't necessaily stop me from buying a home, but please don't put your pet in the pictures. geez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Imp, I completely agree with you. Here are some more complaints I have as I am looking at houses. Tell me what I am looking at- it really isn't always obvious. Let me give a good example- I am currently looking for a four bedroom or larger home with a basement. It should have a nice kitchen, a bigger room in the basement for exercise equipment and area for teen gatherings, three bathrooms with at least a full bath if not a bath plus shower for Master bath. We have other requirements too like with the yard but I'll leave those for this example. So what kind of pictures do I see, five of the kitchen but none of the bathrooms, or maybe all the bathrooms in a row with no designation which bathroom is for what-like what floor and which is Master bath. Others talk about other rooms that are never shown. With regards to colors- I really hope that painting is not the first thing we have to do. But it will be if we buy some of these houses. YOu are absolutely right that it is hard to imagine yourself in a room that is decorated completely wrong for your purpose (example I don't want my office in a deep purple room. None of my daughters would want such a room for themselves either.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 I have to disagree. I don't want to see bedroom pics - I really don't want to invade the privacy of a child. What I need is a size - just tell me the dimensions of the bedrooms and the location in relation to the master bdrm and family room. What bothers me most in looking through listings are the number of homes where the basement sq footage is used to make the house seem bigger - and it's not a bi-level. Sorry, but you are wasting my time. I"m not giving you $350,000 for a 1500 sq ft 60's ranch in a flood zone that you call a 3000 sq ft home because you want to count the basement as living space..nice you threw a rug over the oil stains from parking your car down there and added a couch and big screen tv ...but I can go right down the road and get a much newer home that really is 3000 sq ft for 400K and has an attached two bay garage and doesn't need a dehumidifer going all the time. I have problems visualizing measurements without pics. I don't look at it as invasion of privacy, but at the house that I'm considering purchasing. Plus, I've seen bdrm pics with water stains on the walls. Good grief! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 That's something we'll do once we're working with an agent, absolutely. But for now, we're looking to narrow down whats out there, while waiting for Worker's Comp to wind up my case. I can't move until thats done. Also, pics show me where windows are, how low, carpeting or not...there's just a lot to it, imo, beyond size. I don't want to waste my time travelling to view places that simple pics would tell me 'no'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mejane Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Sellers: Please clean. I mean, really clean. Deep clean. If you don't want to do it, pay someone to do it for you. I can't tell you how many houses we looked at that had black mold in the showers, smelled of pet urine, and hadn't been dusted in years. These were not the homes of elderly people, either. Filth can be overlooked, but a clean, fresh-smelling house really does show better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 The market is just flooded right now. Pics are a handy pre-screening tool. Believe me, when we're out looking in person, we'll be looking for everything and anything. I just want to narrow down some options, not spend months viewing place after place after place. I get cranky when I feel like my time is being wasted, not to mention $. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 My personal favorite was a photo of a man sitting at the kitchen table, drinking his coffee. On the real estate site. :confused: My dh said, "I hope he doesn't come with the house!" :lol: :lol: That needed a drink warning! I'm with y'all though. Neutral, or at least a tasteful color, goes a long way. And yes, take the pics that show the best of the house. A nice exterior shot (and update it if the house is on the market for a while), an uncluttered kitchen shot, other highlights of the house. I have seen some shots that really tell you nothing. Definitely check the listing too. With our last house, we bought it in decent shape, but since the guy was selling it for his deceased mother, it needed updating, and he sold it to us at a discount. We did update it, including removing an old fence and such from the front yard, and doing some landscaping, but somehow the shot from when we bought it was the one on the MLS site. Fortunately, I checked it and had the agent put in the new exterior shot right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plucky Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 And please take the naked pictures, yes those framed 8x10s, down. Yes, she is lovely in all her naked pregnant bloom, but not everyone needs to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I have to disagree. I don't want to see bedroom pics - I really don't want to invade the privacy of a child. What I need is a size - just tell me the dimensions of the bedrooms and the location in relation to the master bdrm and family room. When I worked in real estate, we generally focused on the master bedroom, not so much children's rooms. Exterior, yard, kitchen, master bedroom, and one or two other shots that showed particularly nice areas of the home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 And please take the naked pictures, yes those framed 8x10s, down. Yes, she is lovely in all her naked pregnant bloom, but not everyone needs to see it. Oh geez! :smilielol5: Personal...err...items should be put away as well. I really don't need to see your...toys...out in the open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 My pet peeve on realtor photos has to do with the toilet. Will you please shut the lid before you snap the photo. I seriously don't want a peek inside the bowl, please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 Whats with leaving mold/mildew in the bathroom? Seriously, clean. it. up. :ack2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanne in MN Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I also like to see "clues" in the pictures that tell you where the rooms are in relationship to each other. If you can see a wee bit of kitchen cupboards or the fridge through the doorway in a picture of the dining room, you can figure out where both rooms are in relationship to each other. Or if in a picture of the kitchen you can see a bit of the front yard out the kitchen window, you know the kitchen is in the front of the house on can even figure out which side of the house. Sometimes I would love to hire myself out to take pictures of house for realtors, because man they miss some important stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pax Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I agree with all of the above. We were looking to buy for 2+ years (we wanted a LOT and had little money). At one house we went to, the elderly homeowner left her underwear on the floor upstairs. When she was showing us the house, she didn't notice them and my husband and I tried to just pretend we hadn't seen them but that was AWKWARD! An open house that we attended where it was just the realtor there and it had crumbs all over the counter top, spilled coffee and a sink full of dishes. Why wouldn't you take the two seconds to wipe up your morning mess and put your dishes in the dishwasher or even in the oven? I could tell some serious horror stories about foreclosures that we went to. One house was obviously used by a bird breeder. Bird feces and urine ALL over walls and on the floor, in the grates on the floor, feathers everywhere. You could tell where the cages were. It was bad. It even had a detached basement that reminded me of Silence of the Lambs. It had some weird shower thing down there and plexiglass cages. We finally found a fantastic foreclosure where the old owners even left manuals for us. The paint was terrible (orange stripes in the kitchen, neon green bedroom, purple bedroom, horrific cabbage roses wallpaper bathroom) but that wasn't a problem considering the price! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Look carefully at the details of the pictures that are posted, so you don't end up with something like this: the third picture down. :lol::lol::lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandymom Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 2nd, check out the pics your agent posts. Some of them are just plain crapola. Some have no pics of bedrooms, etc. If there are no pics, or poor ones, buyers suspect that there is something wrong with the glaringly absent rooms, and strike it off their lists. I'm constantly amazed by what seems sheer laziness on the part of the agent/photographer. I mean, really...how hard is it to have the pics NOT blurry? We bought a foreclosure home. It was 4 years old and on the market for 6 months listed at a price that was more than 28% below the market value of the house. It was in almost perfect condition (esp considering it was a foreclosure) and in a very sought after neighborhood. The ONLY thing that we can figure out as to why it was still available after 6 months (we put an offer on as soon as we looked at it), was that the listing was HORRIBLE, esp the pictures. I guess that no one even came and looked at it. For instance, it has a wonderful two story entry with a beautiful curved wrought-iron staircase (very popular here). Not a single picture of it online or even a mention of it. It has a HUGE pantry and TWO even larger storage closets in the game room. No picture or mention of those. The master closet is as big as a bedroom. Again, no picture and no mention. It's got a great stone fireplace with remote control gas logs. No mention or picture. Honestly, I had already decided on another house (not anywhere as nice as the one we bought) and didn't even want to go look at this house. I was so absolutely floored when I walked in the door because it was SO different than the pictures and description. We are VERY thankful the bank's realtor did such a lousy job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4wildberrys Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 What you are all suggesting are GREAT ideas!!! And guess what? It's the Realtor's job---really----to help the sellers do all of this. But unfortunately, it seems many people are hard pressed to find Agents that do anything more than take the listing, snap a few photos (rarely good ones!) and then just sit there and wait to collect their 6% commission when it sells. I guess we should know because our house has been listed at a GREAT low price for 10 months. Without one look since the first month we listed it. Frankly----for how cheap we are selling and the fact that as time goes on, it looks like the agent is going to make more money than us IF it ever sells----there are things we WON'T do----like repaint, scrub like fiends, put too much time or effort into the yard etc. I wonder if some of the gross things you ladies have seen are due to people doing a short sale and having basically thrown in the towel as far as maintenance and cleanliness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 (edited) Here I am - living proof that one should do everything you say -- we have been killing ourselves for weeks, but we know that in the end, it will be worth it. The landscaping is the last thing, and the landscaper and his crew have been here since 8am. The grounds look totally different than they looked when he arrived. Our realtor comes in Monday with the photographer and when they are through the lock box goes on. The realtor has also told me that even though we signed the listing agreement for a certain amount three weeks ago, now that we are totally done and staged, he thinks we are underpriced. Everyone should take the time to declutter, CLEAN, look with a critical eye, and do the hard work.:) Edited May 1, 2011 by MariannNOVA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 First of all, before listing a house, do yourself a favour. As much as you love the neon green/orange/hot pink colour scheme, not everyone is as creative as you are. Repainting to a somewhat neutral colour scheme would likely go a long way, and prevent temporary blindness on the part of potential buyers who are looking through the real estate sites. If it blinds us online, we don't want to risk it irl. 2nd, check out the pics your agent posts. Some of them are just plain crapola. Some have no pics of bedrooms, etc. If there are no pics, or poor ones, buyers suspect that there is something wrong with the glaringly absent rooms, and strike it off their lists. I'm constantly amazed by what seems sheer laziness on the part of the agent/photographer. I mean, really...how hard is it to have the pics NOT blurry? A snow covered yard tells me diddly, show me pics of the bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchen, etc. Mounds of snow...I'm Canadian. Its not an interesting sight, honest. I sooo agree. We've been browsing MLS listings online. We're not to the point of picking an agent, listing our house and visiting houses for sale. We're window shopping at this point. I don't get why a house that appears to be empty has so many pictures of the yard and main living areas, but no bedrooms (and sometimes no bathroom, either). I've also seen pictures of occupied houses with several shots of the same room, sometimes only slightly different angles (two is enough if you have to show different angles), and pictures of the house that include someone in the shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 The windows you need to look at up close. You want some insulation value. Most folks are aware that they have cheap windows and they won't show them in the room shot....or they'll clean up the mold and you wont know they have serious ventilation issues until you get there and start checking out the roof and HVAC design and condition. We actually would rather see pics of the furnace, roof venting, A/C, heating system, panel box and the exposed wiring&piping rather than bedrooms...tells you a lot more of what you need to know. Carpeting is cosmetic...assume it is either cheap and newly laid with the thinnest or no padding or so worn that it'll be an asthmatic's nightmare. The market is just flooded right now. Pics are a handy pre-screening tool. Believe me, when we're out looking in person, we'll be looking for everything and anything. I just want to narrow down some options, not spend months viewing place after place after place. I get cranky when I feel like my time is being wasted, not to mention $. :iagree: That's why I want to see pictures. If the room is covered in wallpaper, it's unlikely we want to go through the agony of removing it all. We're not big wallpaper fans, so it's more likely we'll not like the wallpaper than like it. Flooring is important too, and pictures are a good way to narrow down the choices. If the bedroom is tiled, I'm unlikely to want it. If it's hardwood floor, hmmm....maybe. I'm used to carpet. If it's obviously old carpet, and especially if it's colored carpet and not neutral, I don't really want to got through replacing it right away (or living with something I can't stand). Etc. The pictures are for narrowing things down, so I don't have as many houses to go visit. When we bought our first house, in 2001, we went to a realtor, and she found all the houses that she showed to us. We went with her to visit each one until we found one we liked. When we found this house, in 2005, we found it ourselves, online. We searched online until we found a few houses we wanted to visit. We visited this one first, and it was the one. That's just how important online pictures are of houses. Mess it up, and someone will likely pass on even visiting the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 When I worked in real estate, we generally focused on the master bedroom, not so much children's rooms. Exterior, yard, kitchen, master bedroom, and one or two other shots that showed particularly nice areas of the home. I don't know how it is on other MLS sites, but the Cincy MLS allows 15 pictures to be posted. That's usually enough to have one of each room, plus some exterior shots. Then you can see who the realtor is, go to their website, and they often (or should if they don't) have extra photos there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-FL Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 One thing to consider, esp in the current market, is that people are having to sell. By the time you reach short sales & foreclosures, you're emotionally detached & don't care how much the bank makes on the sale. They may be in the middle of packing on the one day the realtor can take the pics--instant clutter! Also, if it's a rental, the tenants usually are not all that wild about the place selling & have no motivation to clean up ("I have to find a new place & I'm not even making $$ on the house.") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punchie Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I'm with ya regarding pictures. Please, please, PLEASE!!! Make sure there are no hairy,shirtless men standing behind the wet bar. Please also take the time to pick up the beer cans from your front porch, and put away the half-empty bottle of rum that's on your nightstand. You might also want to take down your extensive collection of Spawn action figures you have nailed to the wall (still in their boxes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuntieM Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Like Mariann, our house is now on the market (1st showing today!) and we have been busy super cleaning evey little detail. We have not done any *major* renovations, but things were somewhat close to market ready anyway since it's only a six year old house. Our realtors made it clear from the beginning that if they were to get our listing, we would have to allow their professional photographer to come in and take pictures. He did an outstanding job. As far as secondary bathrooms, and even kids' bedrooms, sometimes those aren't pictured because they are just too small to get a good shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Look carefully at the details of the pictures that are posted, so you don't end up with something like this: the third picture down.:lol::lol::lol: :smilielol5::smilielol5: :smilielol5: funniest thing I've seen all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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