Bad MLS Pictures

May I just throw this out here... Why? Why? I ask, is it so difficult for agents to take pictures of homes to show them in the best light? Sellers are actually paying agents to take pictures like these. And real estate agents wonder why the general public thinks the real estate profession is full of snake oil salespeople.

What does this photo really tell a potential buyer? The place has electricity? There is no landscaping? And is that an open sewer clean-out?



I consider it a pet peeve when an agent is too lazy to actually get out of the car to take the picture. I mean, shouldn't there have been some effort made on the agent's part to make this home look like it wasn't a shanty in potential gang territory?



How about this one? The least the agent could have done was hide the fact there isn't a roof.



Here's one for you? Is this room a bedroom or a kitchen?




Same house. Is this the kitchen or the shed?



Another random home (I swear, I don't put that much effort into finding these pictures) where potential buyers can scour the internet looking at stuff like this below. What is the message the buyer is left with? There is a shower? Running water? Or an avocado green-retro vibe in this home? Or perhaps the buyer is being forewarned the seller can't be bothered to caulk the shower head.



This begs the question: Was the agent too lazy to crop the photo or was the seller too lazy to get off the couch so the agent could take the picture?





This next one is from a $237,000 home in the west valley. At least I hope there is a home that comes with this picture.




Lovely view, don't ya think? Don't you want to live near high voltage lines? If you do, hit me up and I will get you a showing.



I don't think the car comes with the property, but who knows?



The home is listed for $299,000 and THIS is what the seller is paying the agent for??



Here's a tip: just because you can take the picture, doesn't mean you have to publish the picture in the multiple listing service. Garages, especially when a home is for sale, tend to be messy and cluttered. But that doesn't mean the agent has to let every looky-loo on the Internet know what is being stored in their client's garage. Especially when their client's address is also published on the Internet.



Just when I think I have exhausted all possible pictures for the day I run into more. This is from an $800,000 listing. Yes, that's right folks, eight-tenths of a million dollars. This is one of the seven pictures showing this property (there is a house). By the way, there are no interior photos and this is not only the first picture that comes up on the listing, it is probably the most attractive.



And finally, this last photo comes from a $499,000 listing in Mesa. It is one of only six pictures. That's right, the agent felt that the first five pictures sold the home sufficiently enough that it was ok to add this one.