Commission Deserved?

When we sold our last home back in 2004, advertising the property on the Internet was still fairly optional.  Not everyone did it and the newspaper was still the primary way to advertise your house.  I'd formed a pretty good relationship with our real estate agent prior to selling our house so he knew what expectations I had regarding the marketing of our property.  I was happy for our home to be listed on the various internet real estate sites, as well as in the paper, but I wanted to see the copy & the accompanying photos before any listing went up.  I've seen too many bad real estate listings which tell you about sepErate bathroom & toilet's along with their equally dodgy photos.

I think I was so happy with the interior shots I glossed over this photo with the hat, gumboots & pool broom all on display in the main listing photo.  Not to worry, it sold in 2 weeks which is quick for acreage.

Anyway, I was recently looking at some property listings and came across one house for sale in regional Queensland.  Now just because it's a regional town, you can't tell me that's an excuse for bad presentation & marketing of a property.  I'm sure there are exceptional photographers north of the big smoke, along with some general gumption about what should and shouldn't be photographed to best present a property for sale.  Obviously the real estate agent in charge of selling this property hasn't grasped the concept & is intent on showing every irrelevant nook & cranny of the property.  Take a look ... I wonder if the owner did before the listing went live?

I initially laughed out loud at the velour lounge & its sheer size but I soon relaised that this was the best photo on offer.  How many limp cushions can one have?

Aha ... besser block sculpture.  I hope that's included in the sale.

Mmm ... mossie breeder.

Great ... the house has stairs, but can I actually see some photos of where these stairs might go?

Fantastic!  They lead to the deck (which is clearly on a lean, or unless the photographer has decided to get all arty on us with crazy angles) where I can find a half eaten meal.

Now I'll be the first one to put my hand up and say I don't like to see photos that are too staged.  The whole setting of a table with cutlery, crockery, wine glasses & the rest for real estate snaps really gives me the irrits!  I want to look at the house ... not whether you have a Wedgwood dinner service & Baccarat crystal.  But it is nice to see that some thought has gone into the presentation i.e. the toilet seat is down, the manky towels are at least folded, the kitty litter tray is nowhere to be seen, the lazy agent isn't in camera shot, etc. What the above photos were trying to achieve has got me stumped and seriously, I am not exaggerating when I tell you there were at least 10 photos of the garden similar to the ones above.   It did provide me with a good laugh, but I don't think that was the point do you?