Here's this morning's scenario:

You make an appointment for a property.  And the photo in the MLS is the one you see on the left.  A nice looking home, no?

You haven't shown this house before, in fact haven't even driven past it, but on paper, at least according to the MLS listing sheet it says:

"Magnificent new construction home, in XXX school district. Craftsman home, [doesn't look Craftsman to me!] offers gracious living, walk distance to XXX Park, preschools and downtown Evanston. Hardwood Floors thru out, 9 foot ceilings. This is a pre short sale, a perfect project or the creative buyer. No showings after 5 pm please."

Sounds nice, no?  (although I don't know why you'd mention "pre-short sale" in the description... maybe in the agent remarks... and the no showings after 5 seems limiting, unless there's no electricity!!).   And it IS nice... but it looks nothing like the photo... I took this photo of the actual house yesterday! (photo on the right and bottom left).  They photoshopped the heck outta this house.  And I would have been okay with that, if the photo said "artists' rendering", or somewhere in the listing it said "photo has been retouched to show potential".

Since the property is pre-foreclosure, you can presume that the seller is not going to "finish" the house, so it's not going to look like the house in the upper-left photo.  In fact it's never going to look like that, they've already installed face-stone on the lower half (see next photo)... see all the stone on the lower half of the house, and around the entry?  (the porta-potty is a nice touch, but it's not included in the sale).

Being a graphic-designer from a former life, I'm a Photoshop Wizard.  I could easily do what they've done, and add all that "blue-ish stucco-like material" to the house... but I would have put the word "rendering" on the photo.

But I hesitate to change anything in a listing photo... I don't want to misrepresent a property.  I do "sharpen" the image, and sometimes color correct, but I don't overcorrect.  I don't make a brown lawn - green.  I don't remove high-tension wires in the photo (although I'll try to take a photo from an angle where they don't show).  I don't remove cracks from a sidewalk or driveway, I don't remove drooping gutters, or cracked windows.  I just don't feel it's right.

Am I being too picky here?