You Have To See A Lot Of Shacks Before You Find Your Castle

ou see the listing pop up on Realtor.com and it looks perfect. Words like elegant, spotless, and spacious, catch your eye in the description. The pictures look good.  You can feel your excitement start to rise. Your head starts swimming with possibilities. 

You wonder if you should paint the master bedroom taupe…or maybe go out on a limb and paint it blue.  You wonder if the neighbors have kids the same age as yours.  You call your real estate agent immediately to make a showing appointment.  This has got to be it!

The build-up has been short but swift when you finally see the house that afternoon.  You expect to fall in love at first sight, but instead, the first thing you see is a front yard full of weeds.  The front door opens to a house nothing like the one you saw online.  The house is dirty and needs painting.  The kitchen has dishes in the sink, cabinets hanging on loose hinges, and a full trashcan out in the open.  There are stains on the carpet and holes in the pool screen.  The rooms are not your idea of spacious.  You look at your agent and wonder who did the switch-a-roo on you. 

“It looked so pretty online,” you say. 

For anybody who has bought a house in the internet age, you have probably experienced this scenario.  It can be frustrating and you can leave a showing feeling deceived. 

On the internet, people, places and things can be manipulated by the person putting the information out there.  Think about Facebook.  Nobody puts up a bad profile picture!

A listing agent’s job is to get as many people in the door as possible.  Real estate agents know how important pictures are and they make sure they put the most flattering ones online.  For example, if a renter is occupying the property the listing agent may use pictures from a previous listing that shows the owner’s décor.  Similarly, an agent can purposely take a photo that ignores something that they are concerned people may not like.  For instance, if a house backs up to another house an agent will often take a photo straight down on the pool so it doesn’t show the back of the other house. 

Real estate agents love adjectives.  Luxurious, elegant, lovely, charming, beautiful, amazing, breathtaking, tremendous, stunning, grand, spacious, huge, and the ever-so-popular…gorgeous.  Sometimes I wish someone would start making up new words to describe houses.  I am the first to admit these words are a bit watered down now because they are so frequently and sometimes irresponsibly used when describing houses.  But then again, one person’s horrible may be another’s gorgeous. 

On the flip side of this coin are the homes that are truly gorgeous, but for some reason or another, just don’t photograph well.  Faux paint often looks strange and busy in pictures, so do contrasting tiles on the floor.  But when you see these homes in person, you realize how pretty they really are.  It is a very tricky thing for a listing agent.

Buyers are very quick to dismiss or embrace a house based on the pictures and descriptions.  If you are thinking about buying, keep an open mind about the information you find online.  Viewing the property in person is really the only way of knowing whether it is right for you.  Prepare to be let down every once in a while. 

Just like you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince, you have to see a lot of shacks before you find your castle.

Melanie Atkinson is a Westchase-area Realtor with Future Home Realty and can be reached at 813-368-6084 or melanie.atkinson@verizon.net

Do you love where you live?  I would love to feature your house, street, or neighborhood in my next blog!