Terrible real estate agent photographs • Hacker News Board

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#181

Post by ethbr0 » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:55 PM UTC

pksebben wrote: post #167

jhony1104 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A youtube video from the buyer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbbwv-ZbXDk

Man, that's actually pretty fascinating - to watch that then the 10th video in the series (from a month ago) where the roof is getting shingled. I'm usually turned off by the "broadcast yourself" lifestyle but I'll admit this one is pretty cool. HGTV, eat your heart out.

Pt 10 link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebagb6zxZuU

If you're in the business of making content and advertising yourself... I could see how buying a burnt mansion would be compelling.

At the end of the day, my perspective is that builders like decreasing risk.

Anything saved after a fire is a risk. What's still structurally sound? If so, what are its new limits?

Custom = time and money. And everything in a post-catastrophic damage rebuild is custom.

Sure you can do it, but it might be cheaper (from a total cost perspective) to demolish and rebuild from scratch.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#182

Post by poulsbohemian » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:58 PM UTC

msluyter wrote: post #154

WHYLEE1991 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Weird, having bought/sold a number of houses in the last ten years (our family moved several times), I can't say I've ever run into a real estate agent that seemed like a "high pressure" salesman. Perhaps its just the market so they don't really need to try, but IME the best real estate agents -- on the buyers side, at least -- were the ones that listened carefully and did a good job of finding houses that matched ou…

A year ago when our market was much hotter, I listed a property that I knew would sell quickly. Where I added value though was in knowing exactly when to list it, the price to list it, how to build pre-market interest, how to bring it to market in a way that would force buyers to compete only on price, and ultimately, I got the price up another $200k (and other concessions) for my sellers because of how I negotiated once offers were on the table. So even in a hot market, your agent’s skill does matter in yielding an optimal rather than just a “good” outcome.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#183

Post by mauvehaus » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:59 PM UTC

Having just gone through a year and a half long search for a house, I'd like to add another good rule:

If the listing lists a room, but there isn't a picture of it, there's usually a good reason.

Real life example: saw a house listed with four bedrooms, listing had pictures of two. The remaining two were unfinished to the point of not having drywall on the ceiling or finished floor materials on the floor.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#184

Post by janeerie » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 2:59 PM UTC

candyman wrote: post #121

This reminds me of a site that I miss that was called Regretsy and I often had tears in my eyes because it was so funny. Bravo!

Oh I haven't thought about Regretsy in ages! That was a good one.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#185

Post by grimjack00 » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

jahsome wrote: post #96

smugma wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Realtor top credentials? That made me LOL.

I mean to say that among Realtors he was pretty elite, whatever that means. Put another way, he dealt in million dollar listings, not just average family homes.

Depending on the location, soon enough million dollar listings will be average family homes.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#186

Post by onlyrealcuzzo » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 3:00 PM UTC

rplst8 wrote: post #83

WHYLEE1991 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The reply was a bit harsh, but let's not act like the real estate industry isn't riddled with skeezy practices. 1) Home inspections that aren't really "inspections" and are just there to grease the skids 2) Buyer's agents don't have a fiduciary duty to protect the buyers. 3) Pricing "knowledge" that is typically public info, just locked behind access restrictions 4) predatory lending practices It's a very incestuous…

> The reply was a bit harsh, but let's not act like the real estate industry isn't riddled with skeezy practices.

Let's not pretend like this doesn't apply to almost every industry either...

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#187

Post by js2 » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 3:01 PM UTC

poulsbohemian wrote: post #143

rplst8 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reply was a bit harsh, but let's not act like the real estate industry isn't riddled with skeezy practices. 1) Home inspections that aren't really "inspections" and are just there to grease the skids 2) Buyer's agents don't have a fiduciary duty to protect the buyers. 3) Pricing "knowledge" that is typically public info, just locked behind access restrictions 4) predatory lending practices It's a very incestuous…

>Home inspections that aren't really "inspections" and are just there to grease the skids I hear this a lot on here and I wonder what state people are in or if the laws are somehow different elsewhere. In the states where I do business, there are state mandated checklists of systems and inspectors could be held liable if they don’t show reasonable care and professionalism in gathering the data for their report. The i…

Real life example from Chatham County, NC. Family built a new house. Passed all inspections. House is not structurally sound and they've been advised the house needs to be completely rebuilt. They won a suit against the home builder, but the builder hasn't paid.

The county inspector was fired, but the county is not taking financial responsibility.

https://abc11.com/chatham-county-forever-home-dream-nightmar...

https://www.wral.com/family-says-chatham-county-inspectors-m...

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#188

Post by _ea1k » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 3:02 PM UTC

afavour wrote: post #32

hospitalJail wrote: post #7

About 10 years ago, me and my wife took LSD on a vacation, and the sheer uselessness of a real estate agent appeared to us. What does a real estate agent do? They unlock doors. Who are real estate agents? We can all think of a few real estate agents, none of them are top performers. They are usually on their ~4th career before the age of 30. They are the type of person to wear a suit in public to pretend that it make…

Having been through buying a home I think I’ll push back on that a little: our agent knew what was a fair price, what we’d likely be able to push the sellers down to, advised us through the whole process. Rental brokers on the other hand… now they’re absolutely useless and you can sometimes pay astronomical brokers fees just so they can sit between you and the landlord.

> our agent knew what was a fair price, what we’d likely be able to push the sellers down to, advised us through the whole process.

I've seen cases where the sales agent knew the seller's minimum and basically told that to the buyer. They didn't negotiate on the seller's behalf so much as negotiate to get the deal done quicker.

I'm sure the buyer's agent looked good to the buyer. This scenario and the one you describe are almost indistinguishable, depending on which party you are.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#189

Post by LanceH » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 3:02 PM UTC

zirgs wrote: post #142

dreen wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it got sold! I happen to remember this https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64389615 I suppose leading with a picture of it actually on fire is better than a post or pre fire photo.

Of course it got sold. The seller was completely honest about the condition of the property.

You're going to have to disclose the fire. May as well use it to get lots of people looking if you're confident in the rebuild.

I do like imagining trying to sell it during the fire based on apparent damage done and the perceived capabilities of the fire dept. in stopping it.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#190

Post by spi » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 3:02 PM UTC

kleiba wrote: post #59

In my opinion, if anything, what makes these pictures less than ideal is the property itself which has nothing to do with the real estate agent. It's actually a net positive for potential buyers seeing all aspect of the object - what else should the agent do, hide unfortunate corners? Right, like anyone who actually cares to go and look at the property before buying it (so almost everyone) would not see these things…

I'm not sure we're looking at the same photos... for some of them, sure, you're right. But many are bad photos like those you mention, except more egregious (hence they deserve the place on that site). The "garden" in one picture is rather awful, but why put that plastic chair facing against the wall to make it creepy on top of that? Why take a picture half naked (or not half - thankfully we'll never know) in front of a mirror? Why the cheap Christmas tree? Why those two sad soft toys in the corner of an empty room? Why a mower in the living room? Why include an old man watching TV in your photo?

As for the points you say, I'm not into real estate, I think often it comes down to limitations from reality. You know, actual _people_ live in those apartments you're trying to have pictures of. Maybe they'll just deny you entry (it's their place, after all, they might be renting and thus not give a damn about you willing to sell the property), in which case all you have to show is pictures from the outside. Or they might only agree to send you pictures themselves, in which case blurry pictures is all you get.

Of course, in general it's mostly incompetence, but hey, if everybody were perfect at their job the world would look totally different, in more important sectors than real estate...