ning
Elite Member
It's not just using a wide-angle lens - they definitely stretch the pictures horizontally to make rooms appear more spacious. You need the wide-angle lens to get the whole room in the pic, yes, but it's not enough.
Online real estate pictures
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buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
I'm looking at land again, might do a land swap, sell one and buy another. I'm finding a lot of drone only shots for land, which shows a nice view from above the trees, but there is no view from the ground.
Realtor I asked to put an offer in for me, tried to slip in a 4% buyers contract that I can only buy thru her, or I still have to pay 4% if I use someone else. Not signing that.
Realtor I asked to put an offer in for me, tried to slip in a 4% buyers contract that I can only buy thru her, or I still have to pay 4% if I use someone else. Not signing that.
paulsharvey
Elite Member
Didn't want to drift too much from original post, so I started a generic rural real estate thread in related topics.
plowhog
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The entire real estate transaction market was recently upended by a major court decision. As of July sellers can no longer offer a commission to the broker on the buyer's side. So expect a lot of new demands from "buyer's" agents such as up front commission or paying hourly fees.
This was a major landmark decision/stipulated agreement that is upending the way real estate business is done. It is hard to overstate the sweeping impact it will have, and is already causing. It may take some time before it shakes out and a "new normal" is figured out. If you are a buyer right now, that is not a very good spot. Lots of uncertainty.
plowhog
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If it is for the same property that you would switch to another broker on I believe her expectation is reasonable. (not sure I would agree with 4% though!)
If I take the time and trouble to show a property, do research, negotiate, review deeds, etc. and then have my prospective buyer cut me out to write an offer through someone else I still would expect a commission since I did the upfront work. Presuming I got such an agreement in writing, of course.
plowhog
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I don't know of any RE photographers who do that. But maybe they do?
Seems that "stretching" photos to present a false impression is fraud.
buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
she's the listing agent, so she will get her cut. And I think the seller is a relative, like maybe her husband. I asked and she ignored my question. But the 4% is for any property I buy, so if this one falls thru, I will have to pay her if I buy another piece of property with another agent that doesn't involve her.
ning
Elite Member
Look at practically any professionally done photos of house interiors on zillow and look at the door width to height ratios.
At first glance you don't realize why rooms look so big but once you see it you'll get it.
Here's an example from a house mentioned above:
From this picture my impression is that that's a 42-48" wide door. Really though who puts in single doors that wide? Probably 30-36".
Check out that 2-gang switch plate. It's wayyyyyy to wide.
Also look at the window "panes"; they're way too wide as well.
If it was only the wide-angle lens, the height/width ratios should stay reasonable.
Here, I shrank the horizontal by about 20%. IMO the wall plate looks like it's in better proportion; the door now looks like it's 36" to me. Window panes look better too
But honestly it's probably still stretched too much. Here's an exterior shot of those windows:
I probably haven't un-stretched the horizontal enough from that view, the interior shot is still way too "oversquare" - looks much wider than it is tall while the actual window is taller than it is wide!
Here's a similar pic:
That inset space on the right is for a washer & dryer (though they seem to have forgotten the dryer vent?). Looks super wide to me. Also note that the stretching affects how long that toilet looks - it's likely a standard bowl but it looks like a very long bowl.
Using the same settings as the previous pair, I un-stretched:
Proportions are better.
The most obvious stretch comes from the kitchen:
If I stretch the outside shot to have the closer to the ratios as kitchen window in the above inside shot here's what the house looks like (this took a 50% stretch):
Unstretched outside shot of kitchen window looks normal:
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paulsharvey
Elite Member
Well, locally, I can't tell you how many homes/properties that butt upto a mud puddle pond, use stock photos of a very large, nice, lake (few thousand acres) about 10 miles away. I think their argument is, those pictures are of what's available in the area, but sure seems misleading. Stretching photos seems the same. Probably not illegal, but sure bordering on dishonest.
ning
Elite Member
Strong agree. The "in the area" is more obvious when there's picture of a farmer's market in the local town before you get to the physical features that are 10 miles away, but IMO they still don't belong on the photo roll of the house features.
Stretching photos IMO is absolutely dishonest; the fact that they had all of that view in the original wide-angle lens but then manipulated it to look different - not just increasing the brightness or HDR so you can see features, but literally change the perception of what you spend the most to buy - square footage.