Good photos sell houses. Good photos cause houses not to sell.

Show the house as it is.  If it isn't, sellers need to make corrections.

Doctoring photos or otherwise misleading is not smart.

Previewing helps more than anything if possible

So glad Kathy shared this!  It's so true....the home must live up to the photos. The written description too. Otherwise you just end up with disgruntled potential buyers!

Mike Cooper, If photos do not depict the true condition of a house, that can cause buyers to be frustrated and often the frustration is aimed toward the agent who is showing the house.

I use a professional photographer. He never doctors the photos but we always shoot the house in optimal conditions. We consider weather, time of day, etc. If buyers see a house on an overcast day, they may not think the house lives up to their expectations.

Mike, hmmm.  Do you think that at the end of the day that it's good houses that sell houses? 

Maybe good houses with good photos.

I agree. I showed seven listings on Saturday. One I thought for sure would be it according to the photos....NO WAY, it was downright awful, and even the yard was pitiful.

Mike, thank you for posting this article! With $10/month and little bit of Photoshop and Lightroom knowledge, even photos taken with point-and-shoot cameras can be over-processed. Just last week I had three showings where it felt as if we were in the wrong house.

Yes, I can see how this is a big disappointment - lots of showings but no offers.

Have to agree with you Mike Cooper .  Went to a showing, where the photo was taken with a wide angle lense and it looked bigger than it actually was.  Buyer was upset.  She said "why didn't agent take REAL photos."

I have had buyers make offers sight unseen and even some close sight unseen.  Mainly investors, but some relocation buyers too.  But buying a home on line is like internet dating.  You need to be careful and get an honest assesment.  btw  I met my wife on line so it can work - just be careful.

I think you have a point. There is too much overdone HDR. I hope the trend reverts.

So many sellers get the house in pristine condition for the photos and then don't maintain it for the real purpose, which is the buyers

Fun post Mike - I've seen this happen also: buyers will make an appointment based on photos, but they will get disappointed when the property doesn't live up to the hype.

"The houses didn't live up to their photographs."   Boy is that true... just showed a home and photos looked great.. .they just forgot to include the HUGE power lines at the rear of the home and across the street.  Sort of hard to miss when we got to the house.  

Mike Cooper The biggest problem I see with RE photos is when a photographer embellishes the photo shots and adds or subtracts components fixed in the home that cannot be removed. Shure; remove the trash cans from the driveway, but not the evidence of roof leaks, etc.

I'm not sure I'd call those misleading photos "good." 

Absolutely! Good photos, whether home selling or our headshots (or online dating photos), can be misleading. 

VERY good point! It's one of the posts that really stick with you.

Great article and I'm finding similar issues here in Las Vegas.  I recently had a buyer be very disappointed by the home as the pictures looked so great on the 'interweb", lol.  Those long angle shots made some rooms seem 3 times the actual size soo....on to the next.    And, btw, when the agent ask for feeback, I did let them know why.

Makes sense.  I can't believe though there are still agents out there who don't use photos!

It's very true.  Obviously, in our marketing photos we are going to show the house in the best light possible (well, at least, most of us are - we've all seen the MLS photos that are a horror show) because the photos are the first step toward attracting someone enough to come look.  But there's a big difference between that and actually photoshopping things. 

When I'm on the buyer side, I tell my clients, "nothing beats "boots on the ground".  You can look at photos and videos from now until doomsday and you will still not have an accurate picture of what houses in your price range offer."