Terrible real estate agent photographs • Hacker News Board

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#291

Post by mike50 » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 6:26 PM UTC

hattar wrote: post #161

poulsbohemian wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

Colorado here and that wasn't the case for me. There were many, and varied things missed in my inspection. The biggest was the entire HVAC system being messed up. The furnace was incorrectly installed, improperly sized for the house, and didn't even have any return ductwork installed. The air flow seemed really bad in the bedroom and so one day I decided to climb up into the attic and take a look. The problem with th…

Those issues would require engineering judgment to assess. An inspector would be qualified to verify function and presence of the heating system.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#292

Post by alistairSH » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 6:29 PM UTC

PawgerZ wrote: post #237

alistairSH wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't whether they find a problem. Even the best inspector will miss things occasionally. The problem is they have zero legal liability for that miss. The buyer is making the biggest purchase of their life on a report that cost ~$1000 and has no legal backing (beyond maybe recovering the ~$1000 inspection fee). And then you have home insurance which isn't a whole lot better. They might fix the problem or…

When dealing with Home/Property insurance, always talk to a reputable public adjuster or general contractor. I worked at a general contractor construction company in a state where contractors can also act as public adjusters. We routinely caught insurance adjusters overlooking damage, lying, or straight up committing fraud. The laws for insurance are very complex, and all of the material standards are locked behind p…

Sorry, I was thinking of home warranties. You're exactly right on home insurance.

Two very different products, the former being a borderline scam much of the time, the latter being a requirement for financing (and common sense).

Current example for me... house is 50+ year old, with copper pipe for water supply. We're starting to get pin-hole leaks on some pipes. AFAIK, insurance considers this a maintenance item. They'd probably fix a major burst and the damage it causes (after the fact) but have no interest in even subsidizing preventative work to avoid the costly repair.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#293

Post by _ah » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 6:30 PM UTC

MiddleEndian wrote: post #74

When I moved to Seattle back in 2011 and was looking for a place to rent, I noticed that almost all the photos across multiple listings looked like they were paintings or architectural renderings or something. I could not figure out what was off about them. A friend pointed out that the lighting was off because every single one was photoshopped with one of a few pictures of a sunny blue sky with just a few clouds in…

This is the famous "Czech Sky". https://seattlebubble.com/blog/2010/09/30/real-actual-listin...

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#294

Post by mike50 » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 6:36 PM UTC

pg5 wrote: post #21

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…

I disagree with this. You pay a realtor because a good one stays up to date with what's happening in the market, has a network of vetted contractors/potential buyers/other connections, has up-to-date frameworks for handling the processes and timing of tricky situations that can arise. Sure, you can do all that yourself if you want, but for the average person, they are providing value.

A Rolodex and a limited understanding of the real estate market. If they really had expert housing market knowledge would they be working as a real estate agent?

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#295

Post by rcme » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 6:40 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 seller is paying the buyer's agent so I'm not sure why they'd have a fiduciary duty to the buyer. Agents aren't about representation at all. That's what your lawyer and lender are for (the lender acts in your best interest in their own self interest). The purpose of the agents are to make the transaction happen. The seller's agent handles this on the seller side, e.g. showing the house, making it available for inspections, etc. The buyer's agent makes this happen on the buyer's side, e.g. makes sure the buyer schedules the inspections, has their lender lined up, etc. The agents are there to make the deal happen. That's their only purpose.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#296

Post by notahacker » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 6:43 PM UTC

junon wrote: post #9

mtmail wrote: 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.

The worst ones aren't the funny ones where the homeowners have terrible taste, or the one on fire which was brilliant marketing for a home nobody was going to buy under the assumption it hadn't been on fire.

The worst ones are the subtly bad ones that just manage to make perfectly adequate rooms look much dingier or more cramped than they actually are because they settled for the first cheap snap they could manage without caring at all about the lack of lighting and didn't even move stuff like clothes drying racks that fill up floor area.

There's a particular flat I might actually consider buying that's on the market for a third less than the identical flat upstairs for over a year without selling. One of those listings has a "view" photo that shows extensive river estuary views on a sunny day. The other has the basically identical view on a day so wet and grey all you can see is the road and warehouse roofs.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#297

Post by wpietri » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 6:45 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #278

jahsome wrote: post #16

An acquaintance of mine is an FBI investigator and moonlights as a higher-grade Realtor. He would use the same memory card and high end camera both during "stakeouts" for surveillance photos as well as listing photos for the homes he was selling. One day he uploaded the entire contents of the memory card to the MLS on one of his public listings, surveillance photos and all. I'm pretty sure everything was up for a few…

He would use the same memory card and high end camera both during "stakeouts" for surveillance photos as well as listing photos for the homes he was selling. This really surprises me. I would have assumed that an FBI memory card used for taking surveillance photos would have all kinds of security and encryption on it for chain-of-custody purposes. Otherwise, the photos won't stand up in court. The healthcare company…

Why would you say it wouldn't stand up in court? As long as the agent shows up to say, "Yes, I took these photos of real things that happened," that strikes me as the heart of the evidence.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#298

Post by itronitron » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 6:57 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #275

avalys wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, whoever chose that photo knew exactly what they were doing - they chose a photo that will appeal to their target market, which is people looking to get deal on buying a house that they will repair and flip for a profit. The picture simultaneously shows that it is a nice, stately house, and also that it suffered significant damage which it needs to be repaired. It's the perfect choice. There is zero chance that a…

IIRC that's not a flip house. That's in a wealthy, desirable area and what is really being sold is the land. It's not nearly affordable enough to make flipping a good business plan.

That's just flipping for wealthy people.

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#299

Post by slim » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 7:05 PM UTC

xyst wrote: post #137

jhony1104 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I don’t know what compels people to live in these McMansions. Perceived status? Second vacation home? Fuck you money? American lifestyle is so wasteful. It’s disgusting. Climate change is impacting everyone and these rich assholes continue to waste resources on shit like this.

The guy will pump the mansion and sell it for $5M in 3 years

Re: Terrible real estate agent photographs

#300

Post by Zak » Fri, Jun 30, 2023, 7:06 PM UTC

timcobb wrote: post #261

Zak wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> fish-eye lenses (or similar) enlarging the space What focal length would you like the photos to be taken at?

28mm full frame

Because most smartphones are similar to that and most people will think of it as the standard camera field of view, or some other reason?