Online real estate pictures

[MossRoad]

There are many houses around here where the owners converted the garage to a living or bedroom(s). Then added another garage to the side or front of that. Sometimes it was planned in advance and done to save initial construction costs. Sometimes they had more kids than expected.

Best example I know first hand is this house... it belonged to my Confirmation sponsor, good family friends of my parents and mine.

They built the house with no garage. Then they added a garage to the left end of it years later. Then they added another garage in front of the garage and converted the original garage into more living areas after they had their 7th child.
(click to enlarge)

 

[BigGG]

Two rules
1 Realtors live to sell, whether they're the listing agent or the 'buyer's' agent. If a house doesn't get sold (or bought) nobody gets paid.
2 Nobody looks out for you like you do. Home inspections serve as a second set of eyes, but you should look it over carefully yourself. At least drive by after a rain, does the street or yard flood?

 

[2manyrocks]

In my area, many of the homes for sale are the less desirable homes that are either estate properties that need updating but the heirs won't spend the money or flips that have undergone a lot of cosmetic fluffing and now priced pretty high. People that own desirable homes are holding onto what they have because they don't see anything on the market that appeals more to them at a price they are willing to pay.

And yes, always check the street photos and flood maps.

 

[plowhog]

Yeah. Realtors are very good at taking/cropping photos

They are paid by their client (the seller) to market the property in the best way possible. Not including fraud of course.

If they did not do this they would not be doing their job. A typical RE agent also now invests in drone pictures of property for added appeal.

I've heard property photos are squeaky clean compared to what single people do to post "their" picture on a dating site ....

Fortunately I am married and too old to be personally disappointed with that, but oh boy have I heard some stories ....

 

[Sigarms]

Some of you guys are good LOL

Original house before the remodel...

The back view of the house from the current listing

If you look at the first photo, what you can't see in the picture with the car is there is a set of brick steps on the side of the house that lead into nothing. My wife commented it was really kind of stupid looking.

End of the day, any house that can have a rock thrown through it's front window by a moving car passing by neither my wife or I are interested in.

It's just interesting how they use the wide angle lens view to kind of distort the actual distance from the road.

This house had 1.5 acres, and apparently it's pending at 375K! They listed it as 1,500-1,900 sq ft. Not certain how you're off by 400 ft unless it's the garage.

Housing market is definitely hitting my little rural area.

 

[Sigarms]

They are paid by their client (the seller) to market the property in the best way possible. Not including fraud of course.

Roger that.

My wife reminded me how many houses and properties we looked at and walked away from because the pictures didn't show "the whole" picture of the house and or property.

We found our current house online, no pictures, only a description of the land and house (the description did hit all of our check boxes in what we were looking for). Was only about 20 minutes from were we lived so we took a drive on a Sunday to at least check out the area. For sale sign by the road, couldn't see the house from the road. I was going down the driveway and my wife was freaking out asking me what I was doing. I told her I wanted to look at the house. She asked "what if people living there don't want people coming down their driveway?". Told her we're seriously interested with our finances in order, and since we took the drive, if the homeowners were there, I'd be willing to risk it to talk to them. Turns out the house was empty for 8 years (owner had no reason to sell it, and none of his children wanted it). We really were blessed on that purchase.

 

[CliffordK]

Ok, so the shutters are purely cosmetic.
The top half of the chimney was removed.
And red bricks were painted white. Going back to red will be a nightmare.

What is that pad that looks like a front porch/entry? With no access path? Is that where you put your barbecue on the street side of the house?

No driveway to the garage.

It looks like the sellers really went half-baked on this one.

 

[MossRoad]

...



End of the day, any house that can have a rock thrown through it's front window by a moving car passing by neither my wife or I are interested in.

...

Our front door is about 50' from the road. In 28 years we've only had 1 rock through a front porch window, and that was the neighbor kid. He got a few others that night as well.

 

[newbury]

And yes, always check the street photos and flood maps.

Also if you are in tornado country check maps of previous tornadoes.
link
Some areas seem to get hit more frequently.

 

[paulsharvey]

We drive by this house to church every Sunday. The did a major overhaul on remodeling the place and went up for sale.

My wife guessed 250K when the for sale sign went up, I said most likely around 350K. I was pretty much on the nose. Couple months later, price is now at 299K. Issue in our opinion options on where to park any cars.

Wife said this had to be a pic of the back of the house. I said I think it's the front. Last night coming back from a church group by myself, I decided to measure the distance from the road to the house. To the double doors on the right (where I pulled in) to the white line off the road, would you believe it's about 13 yards from the white line off the road?

Right up from the middle and high school for multiple rural areas, lots of traffic on that road due to the school.

Remember when we bought our home 20 years ago and the amount of places we thought we were interested in looking for a home and land. It's amazing how realtors only show you the positive per a photo. Like you never see your neighbors who are 10 yards to your left and right.

Sooner or later we're downsizing since it's just me and wife now, just starting to keep my eyes open and not wait until the last minute LOL


View attachment 862487

Couple observations; based on our looking locally (north east north central FLa).
1) I don't see where you mention acreage, and that has Often been an issue for us, now, it's not hard to find out with the address and either property appraiser or base map, but to me, it should be Very clear the rough acreage in the ad, not worried about exactly 4.981 acres vs 5.1; but in the listing it should show the approx property
2) That would be a Smoking deal around here if it was on 0.5+ acres. Not unusual for a 20 y/o good coniton double wide on 2 acres to go for $300+
3) I'm on 220lfx440lf, with house about centered. Buddy down the road is on 155 lf x 810 lf, with house 495 lf from front of property to front of the house. We where discussing, and I said, I wish my house sat further back for more privacy, he said he wished his was like 100-150 from front, because the house provides the privacy to the back yard. That kinda is a good point, the front yard is the 'public' facing part, and the back yard your private part; ie smaller public in front, means more private in back
4) an annoying one for me, is What County is a property in? Maybe that doesn't matter to somepeople, but around here, it matters a Lot too me. And many town addresses can be in 2, 3, or 4 counties; and one of those countries (looking at you Alachua) has very intrusive code enforcement, where others dont; some might have impact fees, some don't, and then schools...