Zillow Listings

Over the past three years or so I’ve looked at a LOT of listings on Zillow. Thousands of them. Possibly ten thousand or more. More of the reasons and story and results some other time, but right now I notice there are a couple of red flags that just really are starting to get on my nerves.

Dear Mr. or Ms. Realtor, let me make sure I have this correct. You want me to put my trust in you and pay someone something between $400,000 and $700,000, with you getting what? 5%? 6%? You want me to let you be my guide through a gazillion details on what will probably be the biggest financial transaction of my life. A complex, detailed transaction that I’ll maybe do once or twice in my life but which you do every day, because you’re the expert, the professional.

And yet…

And yet, when writing and posting the Zillow ad copy, you can’t be bothered to proofread it for spelling errors that should embarrass a third grader? Spelling and grammar aren’t your strong points? Okay, you’re trying to earn a $40,000 payday on this gig, maybe spend $50 on ten minutes of a proofreader’s time. Or at least ask what that red, squiggly line right there means in Microsoft Word.

Perhaps it’s not an outright deal killer, but it does not instill confidence.

These drone shots are gorgeous and that spectacular sunset is a wonder to behold!

Until, of course, you realize that that exact same sunset, or at least its AI cousin, is in every! single! listing! And if you know anything about computers and software these days, you realize that the latest version of Photoshop has a pushbutton feature that will add that sunset skyline to any photo. I’m sure that there are some spectacular sunsets in the upper desert. But this isn’t one of them.

In fact, if you look through the rest of the pictures for this particular house, you’ll find this:

Now look closely at the first picture with the fake sunset, down at the bottom where the bright sun is casting shadows of that iron fence on the ground beneath and between the tumbleweeds. Those look exactly like the shadows in the lower picture, cast by the bright sun overhead some time around mid day. Yet the sun is supposed to be setting on the far horizon…

It’s not AI, it’s not a rendering with some decent software that will adjust the shadows and other effects of perspective. It’s a Photoshop plug-in that darkened everything to make it look like dusk, added the sun and purple-pink sunset clouds, and make all of the windows yellow, a so-so first attempt to make them look like there were lights on in the house. But that’s it.

I get it. It’s advertising. And I know that these days a lot of the interior pictures are “digitally staged” with fake furniture and wall decorations and paintings. Which makes me immediately ask, “What else has been digitally ‘enhanced’?” Are there stains and wear on the carpets or floors that have been removed? Are there stains or holes or damage that have been “removed?” Are the appliances or ceiling fans “digital enhancements?”

The other thing that I know is done is that the interior pictures are taken with an ultra wide angle lens, making the rooms look MUCH bigger than they truly are. That’s been striking when we’ve actually looked at places in person. Having poured over a few dozen pictures of a place I really liked, seeing it in person was disorienting at first. It was the house I had been looking at for months – but it wasn’t.

I don’t think there are a lot of regulations on what’s allowed and what’s not in terms of “truth in advertising” on these ads. At the far extreme, sure, you can’t actually show a different house or rooms that just don’t exist. But I don’t think anyone shows 100% factual, accurate, “normal” photos with no manipulation used.

Which is why when the time comes to be ready to push the button, we’re going to go physically walk through a lot of houses. (Probably not ten thousand plus!)