Should realtors Photoshop houses?

Zeta,

I don't see photoshopped furniture as a material concern.  It isn't any different than a nicely furnished home being shot before the Sellers move out with their belongings.

I think it better that the house photos are better than the product, better than the listings I see that say, "Please disregard the mess...."

I would have a serious problem with an agent photoshopping out material issues, like power lines, dead trees, etc.

That's a good question.

I suppose it's the same as photoshpping your headshot.

A little, very slight "enhancement" to make you look nice is cool.

But too much and you are correct, when viewed live, there will be a huge dissappointment.

I'm in agreement with Mike Jaquish.  Our jobs are to get the potential buyers to come see the home, right?  If staging a home via photoshopping helps the buyers to envision what the home can look like when it's in its prime, then it should be done... for sure.  Material issues though is a completely different story. If we tried to "hide" those with touched up photos, that would certainly be a violation of license law.

I believe our MLS prohibits photoshopped tours just for the reason that it is not accurately reflecting the property.  But I personally don't have a problem with an agent who photoshopped furniture in the rooms as long as it is scaled properly.  So if they put two couches in the living room and two couches would actually fit.

My biggest complaint is the use of extreme wide angle lenses to make the rooms look bigger.  Almost all of my buyers complain that the rooms looked so much bigger on the tour.  I now tell buyers when I send them the first set of listings to watch for certain things to see if wide angle was used.  The first give away is the dishwasher - if it looks really wide then a wide angle was used.  I explain that it may have been used to be able to get the whole room in a picture, but beware that the dimensions are off.  This has stopped a lot of the complaints once we get out and starting going into homes.

Zeta -  hmmm...I agree with you that the Photoshopped pictures look slightly "off"...however it is a very clever idea.  Quite ingenious of the listing agent, actually.  What is really the difference between pictures of a house that was staged for the photos but is now empty and photoshop pictures of "staging?"  In either case, the house is still empty when viewed live.  I think that if potential buyers are prepped that the house is empty before they view it, there is no problem with photoshopped pictures.

Touched up material flaws is a big no-no.