Estate agents photos highly deceptive

We had a viewer yesterday who told us the photos of our house undersold it. It wasn't the internal photos, more the exterior photos and those of the large workshop at the end of our garden.

I was already not entirely happy with our photos. I will be out first thing tomorrow when the sun comes out to re photograph the garden and, what the French call, 'dependance' tomorrow to revise our profile unless, of course, yesterday's viewer puts in an offer!

I need to downsize and am always on rightmove but I have the best location so nothing can quite match.
I've looked over 4 recently.
Two were pretty on the outside but poky inside.
One was better inside than out but no garden and one was right on a busy road, double yellow line although very high spec.
It's hard isn't it.

It's not only when you're buying and for me it worked in reverse. I rent, have moved a lot and always look for a flat with some outside space but I can't afford a place with a proper garden. This time I wanted to be above a town centre shop while I experimented with not having a car. Was shown a delightful flat with a patio at the back, perfect. I was aware that there were trees nearby but only when I moved in did I realise that a swathe of woodland accessed by hidden steps came with the flat. It's fairytale stuff. Lots of wildlife including owls. However, it's not on the lease so I'm not responsible for it, the landlord is, which works perfectly.

Getting back on subject, when I was a purchaser I drove 200 miles to view a pretty, detached Georgian house. It was cheap and I asked the agent why before I viewed and he came up with some excuse, can't remember what. It was slap bang in the middle of a heavy industrial estate, surrounded by big factories and with a barbed wire security fence around it. (This was before the days of Google Earth.)

I enjoy reading Rightmove and seeing the description of local houses. A Fantastic home with Generous double bedrooms and Delightful gardens is actually a run-down terrace with one double bedroom and a box room and a patch of gravel outside, photographed with a wide-view camera.

Estate agents generally don't give garden measurements as there is risk of misrepresenting the boundary.
Some gardens have been developed incorporating land that is outside the existing boundary. The boundary should be checked before purchase and confirmed by the purchaser's solicitor, estate agents don't do this.

We are house hunting. The curse of the wide angled lens. So much time must be wasted because of this. A bog standard garden at the rear of a Victorian semi is easy to measure. But when looking at a wrap around one in a detached country property, it is impossible to assess.

We have actually found a fabulous sixteenth century former pub. On second visit, I found three more rooms and another loo, which I did not know were there!!!!

I do feel guilty about the garden, though. It is the pride and joy of the current owner (it is fabulous). Even with a gardener, we are never going to be able to maintain it as it is. Some of the flower beds are going to have to go and the areas laid to lawn. Guilt, guilt, guilt. Dammit. The vendor is lovely and I feel that I shall be letting her down!!! Silly, isn't it?

a relative recently sold a house and told me how photographer got on knees to get a long shot of a small kitchen! Looked so much bigger in photo!

A house advertised as 4 bed was advertised for £220.000.. a month later 210.000 then reduced again and again till auction sale at £140.000. this was nearby to me. was a terraced house and the photos made it look huge.

yes, we know you need to look if interested.

Spot on Annsixty !

I have also noticed the wide lens trick.
When my H died I toyed with the idea of downsizing.
Houses I looked at seemed appealing until I read the room sizes.
Attractive looking sitting rooms, but with wide doors?
When checking I was shocked to read that attractive room was about 12ft square.
Beautiful kitchens again 8ft x 6.
Deceptive by any name.

I purchased a house that had a lovely patio garden. When I viewed it was a different time of the year so I didn't really see what lay behind the misrepresentation. When I moved in neighbours told me brochure photos were actuall from a previous sale. I am now having to spend a fortune having it all ripped out.

I'm another who uses Google earth to check size of gardens/ proximity to things.

I wouldn't just believe estate agents.

Good luck regarding finding somewhere just right!

Nothing new in any of this. Site visits are the remedy.

I’ve been dipping in and out of estate agent websites while I toy with the idea of downsizing. When I first noticed unusually wide doors I naively thought perhaps the house had been adapted for a wheelchair user. Then I began to notice almost every house I viewed online had abnormally wide fridges, laptop screens etc. It seems it’s common practice to use a wide angle lens .

Likewise we are also househunting at the moment. I think the idea of the wide angle lens is to try to fit as much of a room into a photo.

Not every agent does this. DD's estate agent didn't. He said people are then delighted when they visit the house for sale and realise how big it is. Her house sold to the first person to view it, so he may have a point.

You can always tell from the photo when a wide angle lens has been used. Thankfully our estate agent did not use a wide angle lens and he did give a precise size for the plot. 0.27 acres.

As we are looking for minimal garden, any suggestion that the garden is more than a pocket handerchief and the house is rejected anyway.

I've done a lot viewing over the last year or so, both online and in person, and none of the property ads have shown the dimensions of the garden. The only mention has been if it's a particularly large garden, then they sometimes state, 'garden in excess of 1/4 of an acre', or something like that. Not that I want a large garden, as we're looking to downsize our home with a nice but easily manageable garden for retirement.

However, some of the photos I've seen online, you'd think it was a completely different house/garden. They obviously use some kind of wide screen lens to stretch the photos so the rooms look much bigger ... isn't this kind of like false advertising? Anyway, we are now wise to this, so we don't take too much notice of the online photos!

Actually when I photograph my garden, either in the background or because it's looking nice, it always looks bigger in the photo than it actually is. Definitely check on google earth or with the agents before viewing. I could have a garden half the size & still have the same flowers & veg & trees though - just less lawn.

Thee sales details of our house include the size of the garden (0.27 acres) and the floor area of the house. Most include room size on the floor plan. I get very irritated when I have to delve into the brochure to get that info.

Photographs of our garden show how big it is

Ask the questions about anything you are unsure about, that’s what the agents are there for, if they don’t know get them to find out.

We are viewing a property for the second time today, the garden size was on the details.

All agents are clever about the photos, rooms are rarely as big as they look, again look at the floor plans or ask the agent.

Satellite view is always to be used.

I would have thought the size of the garden would be part of the important information about a place.

How strange.

Fairislecable

On Rightmove on the map, click on satellite view, then zoom right in.

I find this gives a very accurate image and also what buildings (gasworks) etc surround the property.

Looking in London the garden length is also written on the floor plan.

I agree with looking at zoom.. it will give you a much clearer idea of the dimensions in proportion to the house. Also ask the estate agent for the exact width and length..

I haven't seen garden dimensions given on house ads. Room sizes yes but the land is rarely mentioned.
Like you, Bramblewitch I am looking to downsize but have to have a proper garden.

I have 1½ acres at present. I want something smaller than this!

Calendargirl

Is it that much different to willowy, 5’10 size 8 models strutting their stuff in outfits that would look nothing like that on Ms Average?

‘Twas ever thus”.

Not only are professional models unfeasibly tall and thin but they only look about 15, which they likely are, although I think it may be illegal. But who checks these things?

If the house has most of the things on your wish list then don't dismiss it due to photos. Houses have to be viewed and yes, sometimes it is a waste of time but it is the only way you will know for sure.

I once dismissed a house because on the photos the kitchen looked horrible. When the agent perusaded me to view it I was pleasantly surprised to find the kitchen was much better than the photo showed.

I bought the house and spent 7 happy years there!

Good luck with the search.

nanna8

Don’t they put the dimensions on their adverts? I think they have to round here, plus a houseplan. As far as I know it is a legal requirement but they certainly all do it.

If you look on Rightmove you can see the dimensions of each room usually on the floor plan.
I agree that they take liberties with the pics tho, it may lure some in to view but there’s the disappointment factor once you actually get there, a but counter productive really.

My daughter works as administrator for estate agents and assembles the brochures for properties. Vendors often ask for changes in their brochure as they see it before it’s put online or sent out asking to avoid showing a messy neighbours house for instance and wanting retakes of various photos fair enough. One vendor insisted on marketing his house as 4 bedroom when it was described as 3 bed in his brochure my daughter tried to point out the ‘4th’ bedroom was a tiny windowless room in the middle of the house but he insisted it could be a bedroom. Of course prospective buyers were cross when they were shown it.
So it isn’t always the estate agents fault although I’m sure it happens a lot.