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Terrible real estate agent photographs

terriblerealestateagentphotos.com

211–220 of 346 posts

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#211

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…

> 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 makes them important.

Let's not pretend the software engineering world isn't full of hubris. Even the title itself is illegal in parts of the world because our career isn't a real engineering field.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#212
Real estate photos have some bad incentives.

It's a lot of work to visit a house you might want to buy, but there's about 0 percent chance you buy one without doing so. So the agent must optimize to get you there, essentially by lying with photographs.

This sets wrong expectations, and it's always disappointing to visit because it's never what the photos told you.

You get used to it as a buyer, but setting you up with wrong expectations isn't really what the buyer or seller wants.

Some of these aren't really bad photos, they're just a hard thing to sell. And some others are bad only because they're too honest.

Many are just bad of course. But the fire one is brilliant.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#213
post #86
post #4

Finally, somewhere to share my a list of dubious property listings! In Norway agents hire house stylists to make a house look good. Airbeds dressed up to look like somebody just got up, magazine pictures on the wall, etc... often to a farcical level in a rundown house. On a similar theme is Zillow Gone Wild https://twitter.com/zillowgonewild and McMansion Hell https://mcmansionhell.com/

I viscerally dislike McMansion Hell. It's so mean-spirited and snobbish. People build themselves homes in the suburbs for their families to live comfortably and safely, and some jerks on the internet act all superior about how they have better taste. It sucks.

I immensely enjoy McMansion Hell!

Kate Wagner does a fanastic job of distilling the history and language and sensibilities of architecture down into something that anybody can appreciate.

And quite the opposite of snobbish, she presents her critiques in a raw, geeky, low-brow format that would probably feel at home on 4chan or SomethingAwful.

She is not knocking down regular suburban homes and families -- she critiques the top few percent who live in ostentatiously monstrous homes.

Kate is a treasure and her site is a pleasure.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#214
post #9
post #2

Interview with the author https://www.digitalesbild.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/inexplicably-b... "KP: Is it important for you that the photos actually originate from real estate marketplaces? If so, how do you verify their origin? AD: Yes, that’s actually really important, otherwise the blog is just unverifiable user-generated content. If an image is submitted without a link, or no agent’s logo on the image, or I can’t find…

This is incredible given some of the listings. The fact one of the pictures is the house on literal fire, coupled with this context, goes to show that some people really don't belong anywhere in marketing or sales.

https://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/post/7073623358404...

For anyone else who wanted to see that one specifically.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#215
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve seen this happen many times in LA. Never in SF, and once in Oakland. I don’t have much experience outside California but helped friends in Chicago buy a condo. It definitely helped that they didn’t have an agent and leveraged the listing agent. Not having an agent is generally a big asset when buying a home, much more than anything an agent will bring to you.

>definitely helped that they didn’t have an agent and leveraged the listing agent. Ooof. Gotta be careful with this one and understand agency law in your respective state. That listing agent may not actually be working for you the buyer, even if they help you fill out the paperwork.

They're not working for the seller either, they're working for themselves. They are not a fiduciary to any party. You can get screwed by an agent regardless of who hired them.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#216
post #31
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is incredible given some of the listings. The fact one of the pictures is the house on literal fire, coupled with this context, goes to show that some people really don't belong anywhere in marketing or sales.

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.

Would that not be a total writeoff, given that it's a timber building?

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#217
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I viscerally dislike McMansion Hell. It's so mean-spirited and snobbish. People build themselves homes in the suburbs for their families to live comfortably and safely, and some jerks on the internet act all superior about how they have better taste. It sucks.

I love McMansion Hell. It’s hilarious and I’ve learned from it. People with atrocious taste and enough money to impose it on the world should be exposed to ridicule.

The British seem to have a well-established culture of "taking the piss" out of one's superiors, whereas the US seems to have zero tolerance for biting the hands of the corporate overlords who feed us.

I'm saying that as a Canadian who is exposed to both cultures. Also sorry.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#218
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You do not need an agent to know a fair price lol

I don't need a mechanic to repair my car, either. I could spend hours doing the research, risk maybe being wrong and fix the thing myself. Or I could hire a professional.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#220
post #62

It's one of those websites that have a shelf life of five minutes. It's hilarious! I can't believe those are real pictures taken by real realtors! It wears off pretty quickly. And as is typical for these websites, eventually they get under pressure to keep producing new content even when they don't have any actual bad realtor pics on hand, so they start reaching. What do you expect them to do if the property is still…

Relax. Just have a chuckle. No one's asking you to invest in their IPO.

Certainly not until I see a business plan that includes NFT and LLM. /s
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