Doctored Photos and Nonexistent Views - Buyers Resent the Deception

There's a phrase we sometimes like to use in our office that goes something along the lines of, "It's better to under-promise and over-deliver" than vice-versa. Sometimes I wish we would remember this when taking photos and creating the marketing for our listings.

It's understandable to want to point out every single feature of the property and highlight their benefits. It's our job as real estate agents and marketing specialists to do what we can to make the property as appealing to potential buyers and their agents as possible.

However, I believe that often times we can be guilty of not looking at the property through the eyes of a potential buyer. By not doing this we risk offending the buyer and his/her agent, possibly to the point of not being able to see past the embellishments, or even to the point of venturing all the way out to your listing only to feel so deceived that they choose not to go inside.

Why do I bring this up? I was showing properties on Saturday to a client, whose one and only must-have is a decent view of the water and mountains. I had previewed several homes and ruled out the ones that boasted, "View!" in the marketing remarks but that indeed did not have one. Late Friday night, I found four price reductions on the Hotsheet. The marketing remarks and photos led me to believe that we would be rewarded with decent views once we got inside their listings. I kept them on the list, and we went out to see them the next day.

Out of those four, only one had a view that was accurately described by the agent...it was awesome...and the house was gone by Tuesday. The other 3 homes had NO VIEW WHATSOEVER. Yes, they were one block away from Alki Beach, but, alas, no views from any window anywhere in the houses. You had to stand on the roof to see that kind of view. This is how they've been marketed for months; alas, they are now subject to short sale. Why wasn't it enough to just say that they were a block away from the beach?

Also over the weekend, I spoke with another agent in my office who was out showing homes. One of the homes had the most amazing photos; it looked absolutely stunning from the outside. The photos had so much brightness and color that they looked like oil paintings. But when the agent and buyer got to the house, they were shocked to find that though they did have the right address, that the real house looked nothing like the one in the MLS photo. The buyer was angered, and insisted on going on to the next property without even going inside that house.

When I heard this agent's story, it made me remember a time a few years ago when my husband and I thought that we wanted to move. We also saw a house that looked absolutely stunning from the picture; the yard looked like a neverending prairie, and the exterior of the home had not one single flaw. We got in the car and drove over there, and were so disappointed to find that the house looked a hundred times worse than the picture that we didn't even bother to go inside.

This is really happening out there...don't let it happen to your listings. If you advertise a view, buyers expect to see that view, while sitting down, from the main floor windows; they don't want to have to stand on a coffee table on their tip-toes and peer over a neighbor's roofline. And taking Photoshop to the point where the house doesn't look like itself anymore is pretty much like putting lipstick on a pig...no one will fall for it.

Happy Selling!

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Thanks for stopping by my blog!

You can reach me at 206-595-5866, or e-mail me: LisaBosques@PNWRealty.com

Or visit my website: www.98146online.com

I am an Associate Broker and Marketing Specialist with Prudential Northwest Realty Associates. I specialize in homes located in the Burien/North Highline/West Seattle area, and I am here to serve all of your Real Estate needs.
Your success is my goal!

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