Had a Re-Max broker speak at our Appraisal group today. She noted that altering photos is a no-no for agents BUT they can ask the owners to remove photos etc. from the wall. For instance, a guy who was a trophy hunter had a bunch of trophy heads on the walls and a buyer was turned off by that, but the agent cannot edit those out, only the owner can remove them.
Also, BTW, I see appraisers complaining that Realtors do not measure the houses listed. She pointed out that she is not an expert in measuring and her E & O actually will not cover her for mis-measuring a house. That's why they use the SF from the assessor or from a previous appraisal.
And speaking of that, I've about pulled out what little hair I had trying to measure a house yesterday. A full wrap around porch and the house is almost square - has a nook with a bump out and angles. So measuring is ordinary but drawing it... That was because the upper floor has a hole over the living room and a walk around 4' wide walkway over the living room. Well, that's one hard bozo to get your software to do as it complains you are intersecting your lines. And it didn't want to create a hole in the floor to subtract out. Then there were 7 outbuildings - 3 shops, 3 kennels, and a canopy carport. So my SF does not match the assessor who just ignored the hole (or simply didn't know about it.)
