AI altered Photos in listings

[Shawangunk RE]

I have been having to contact too many listing agents lately to clarify homes quality and condition, as the photos are so heavily edited I cant get a fix on true quality and/or condition. I have also had to call to clarify # of rooms above/below grade, as the photos were clearly labeled using AI. "room with notable chandelier", "room with visible vents" "neighborhood view", this was a pix of a fenced yard with pool. This is especially frustrating when the stats at the top of the listing says 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, tax records indicate an unfinished basement and 3 legal bedrooms. Where is that 4th bedroom??
They rarely respond in a timely manner, after all, these are comps and they have already collected their commission.
I have even seen a photo of a rear yard with an AI generated inground pool, patio, fence, pergola that do not exist! There was a tiny blurb in the public comments about "room for a pool"! Isnt this blatantly misleading?

 

[alebrewer]

Yeah, I see a lot of reno's with 'furnished' photos. I haven't confirmed any that have manipulated condition, but then again - how obvious would that be if you're just looking at a pic? Crazy...

 

[chad hampton]

It’s a good point on the pools. I see more and more of those pool renderings thrown into photos and you really have to look closely. Hopefully when we start letting AI do all of this analysis for us it gets everything right.

Hopefully, it’s better than the drawing apps that agents are now using these days. I found those are off by a couple percent minimum. And that’s on easy houses to measure.

 

[Shawangunk RE]

It’s a good point on the pools. I see more and more of those pool renderings thrown into photos and you really have to look closely. Hopefully when we start letting AI do all of this analysis for us it gets everything right.

Garbage in, Garbage out!

 

[Tom4value]

Yeah, annoying BUT:

1. The MLS was created to help sell properties. Appraisers were never part of the equation.
2. We should be calling realtors, anyway. Back when I was an itty bitty appraiser, my boss had me call the listing broker of every single comp I used. The “comp books” gave rudimentary information compared to today. We asked about condition, quality, finished basement area, any needed repairs and if there were any sales concessions or anything we should know about that would affect the reliability of the comp.

 

[Sandra Koutsopoulos]

In future, your robot can call THEIR AI Robot to get all the facts perfect!
What could possibly go wrong?

 

[alebrewer]

Back when I was an itty bitty appraiser, my boss had me call the listing broker of every single comp I used.

Curious, how often did/do you find inconsistencies between what they put in MLS and what they tell you on the phone?

 

[Shawangunk RE]

Yeah, annoying BUT:

1. The MLS was created to help sell properties. Appraisers were never part of the equation.
2. We should be calling realtors, anyway. Back when I was an itty bitty appraiser, my boss had me call the listing broker of every single comp I used. The “comp books” gave rudimentary information compared to today. We asked about condition, quality, finished basement area, any needed repairs and if there were any sales concessions or anything we should know about that would affect the reliability of the comp.

I have been around long enough to have use the sale books. Times were different then, I still have boxes of them for retrospective use. If I had to call every listing agent of every comp I used, my reports would have 10 day turn times, that is not acceptable in todays world. I pay thousands of dollars for this data, it should be correct and complete. Very few realtors even bother to call me or email me back regarding a property that has closed. I understand realtors jobs is to sell properties, this should not include misleading information in the listings, which includes doctored photos. As a homeowner myself, I would be pissed off If i went to see a home for possible purchase and it appears very, very different from the photos and descriptions included in the listing. The realtor profession is one of the least considered trustworthy, and there is a reason for it.

 

[Shawangunk RE]

Curious, how often did/do you find inconsistencies between what they put in MLS and what they tell you on the phone?

The most common issue is finished basements and the tendency for realtors to include it in room count and GLA. How many times have you done a search for a property using a range of GLA, only to have every one in the search results be much larger or double what is actually above grade? The labeling of photos of "room with wood type flooring". WTH is "wood type flooring"? Its either hardwood, or vinyl plank. Listing condos as SF townhomes and vice versa? Big problem in my market for some reason.

 

[alebrewer]

The most common issue is finished basements and the tendency for realtors to include it in room count and GLA. How many times have you done a search for a property using a range of GLA, only to have every one in the search results be much larger or double what is actually above grade? The labeling of photos of "room with wood type flooring". WTH is "wood type flooring"? Its either hardwood, or vinyl plank. Listing condos as SF townhomes and vice versa? Big problem in my market for some reason.

TBH, that doesn't happen often in my neck of the woods. Less than 1% of homes in the Dallas/Ft Worth metroplex have basements (at least per Claude). Does make sense though.

The labeling of photos of "room with wood type flooring". WTH is "wood type flooring"? Its either hardwood, or vinyl plank.
^ this. Do you find that makes a quantifiable difference in the development of your opinion of value? Just honestly trying to understand what folks hope to elicit by calling the listing agent. The basement stuff does make sense.