Bad Pics, A Few More

I just can’t resist doing a few more bad real estate pictures - because they’re there.

Just to be clear, bad real estate pictures is not my original idea. Athol claims that right. That’s all right by me because she posts one picture a day, and there are just too many for her to keep up with. I won’t be doing a series, and I’ll try to make this my last post on the topic, but, as stated before, there are just too many, and new pictures are coming up all the time.

Hot Topic: Real Estate Listing Pictures

I had a new listing last week to get on the MLS, so I took some pictures. I get nervous about pictures because I’m not a photographer, so I run everything through a photo editor program and hope to get the best exposed and cropped piece of the house that I can. It turns out there are a lot of really bad real estate pictures posted around the internet. Once I discovered that, I looked with interest at the bad picture postings – and I’m very relieved to say that no Team Patereau photos were posted!

There’s a great blog posting about Rules for Real Estate Photography, and I think it is good information for me, an agent, as well as you – a seller/potential seller. If you’re a buyer/potential buyer, get what you can from the photos, but plan on visiting the home before you make your final decision.

The rules state that not every room is “photographable.” Bedrooms without any architectural interest, just square rooms with the seller’s furniture, don’t make good photo statements about the house. The only thing they show is what the seller has done with the room, and all that stuff is going to move with the seller.

Same goes for bathrooms, but even more so. However, the author, Athol, states in Rule Nine of Good Real Estate Photos, “Show that it’s not nasty.” Bathrooms are very difficult to photograph because they are small, confined rooms with great big mirrors to reflect the flash, or the reflection of the photographer with a camera in their face. If I can get around the mirror thing, I’ll put in a bathroom picture, but I have to say I really don’t like to do it. After I’ve got a good Front, Close-Up Front, Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room, Kitchen, Back, Another Back, possibly the Master Bedroom, and any Special Feature, then, and only then, will put in a Bathroom picture. But, I’ll never, and I mean never, put in a picture of a bathroom with the toilet lid up. It never ceases to shock me when I see an MLS picture of a bathroom with the toilet lid up.

Here are some bad pictures from currently "Active" Gilroy listings, in the specific category of my pet peeve, "Open Toilet Lid."

There were many more bad pictures, but I've spent enough time on this. I assure you that if you choose me for your agent, I will not post a bad picture. I will take plenty of them, I just won't post them.