The 30 Most Ridiculous Real Estate Listing Photos

MLS Forever

It starts with the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Sellers want their home advertised everywhere possible online. Increasing the exposure to online shoppers tends to maximize profit potential; their thought process is the more websites, the merrier. Many websites get their feed from the MLS. Sellers don’t necessarily care about the ramifications or the buyers’ privacy after transactions close.

Video

Never at a Loss For Words

This room is great for an expecting family. There’s no shortage of names to choose from for a baby: Anna Mae, Wayne, Bill, Patrick, Roy, Katy … we’ll stop there for now.

Let’s hope this isn’t a home décor trend but these are the 15 home décor trends you definitely need to avoid.

Photo: Via Zillow

Concrete Dome Home

This property in Minnesota features a concrete dome home that totals 6,400 square feet. It’s spray foam insulated and creates a striking image from afar.

Photo: Via Zillow

How do I find my old Listings on Realtor com?

To view past sales on your Find a Realtor Profile:

1. Go to Realtor.com®
2. Click Find Realtors® at the top of the page.
3. Enter Agent name.
4. Click Search. If multiple search results are received, click on your Profile to open.
5. Click on Listings section to open.

How do you determine the fair market value of a home?

Divide the average sale price by the average square footage to calculate the average value of all properties per square foot. Multiply this amount by the number of square feet in your home for a very accurate estimate of the fair market value of your home.

Why is my house sale not on land registry?

If your property isn’t registered, it doesn’t mean there is a problem with your ownership – it simply means there hasn’t been a transaction to trigger the requirement to register since it became compulsory for your area. To sell an unregistered property you need to produce the physical title deeds.

2. ‘♫♬🎜 Come With Me You’ll Be in a World of Pure Imagination …’

“OK, I’m thrilled you chose me as your listing agent. You won’t be disappointed with our marketing services. Now, I’m thinking we start with some virtual stag- …”

“My nephew Francis is good with the computer.”

“Right, OK, but we have a talented virtual staging company we work with who make some real- …”

“My nephew Francis is gonna do it. Don’t make me change my mind. Now, for pictures, my cousin Jenni has a real good camera.”

😬

23. OK, I Guess Looking at a Few More Won’t Hurt … Dear God, Why?!?!

I mean, what goes through someone’s head when they get something like this and think, “Yep, that’s the one for Zillow!”

Let’s put aside the fact that this agent decided that putting a carpet on top of a rug was appropriate for a dining room and just focus on the sheer madness of it all.

The Never-Ending Galaxy of MLS

To figure out how to remove photos of your home from real estate websites, it helps to begin by understanding how the photos ended up there in the first place. It starts with MLS. Depending on your local MLS, that system might distribute its contents downline to 20, 60, or 100-plus different websites. Automatically. This includes popular homes for sale websites such as Zillow, Trulia, or realtor.com.

For many years, agents could just post listings to Zillow. However, Zillow no longer offers this as an option. Instead, it has instead negotiated feeds directly from MLS companies across the country.

Each website might also distribute the data to its sister websites. Agents might blog about their new listings on social media—like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest—and post photos. In the case of Pinterest, other users can then snatch the photos to "pin" on their own page. It's like a never-ending galaxy that often leaves the homeowner in a black hole.

Whose rules govern online photo display?

Brokers/Agents Three entities make the rules about what agents and brokers can display on their websites:

1. 1. The local association (in our case, the San Francisco Association of Realtors/SFAR)
   2. The state association (California Association of Realtors/CAR)
   3. National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Most state associations have adopted NAR’s model MLS rules in order to obtain liability insurance through NAR, and local associations adopt their own rules in line with the state and national model rules in order to also have access to the same liability coverage. To mix several metaphors: That’s the carrot that keeps this herd of real estate cats vaguely glued together.

Local SFAR rules stipulate that:

SFAR MLS Rules/Regulations 2018 …By submitting photographs to the MLS, the Participant and/or Subscriber represents and warrants that it either owns the right to reproduce and display these photographs or has procured such rights from the appropriate party, and has the authority to grant and hereby grants the MLS and the other Participants and Subscribers the right to reproduce and display the photographs in accordance with these rules and regulations.

Zillow, Trulia & other 3rd party websites The use of photos by private companies is governed by their licensing agreement with the entity that provided the photos, as well as any other site-specific privacy or user policies. In general, if a third-party website — such as Zillow, Yahoo, realtor.com, Facebook, or any other non-broker/agent website with real estate listings — is getting a legitimate data-feed, they are also getting a perpetual license to display/use the images. As I said, privacy policies vary widely, so I’m not going to post them all here.

How do I find the sale history of a house?

You can look up the sale history of a house by checking the public records available at the county recorder of deeds or the tax assessor’s office. You can also find the sale records online.

How do real estate listing photos get to the Internet?

Typically:

1. The seller signs a listing agreement.
2. The broker uploads photos into the local MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and makes a representation about ownership and licensing/distribution that is authorized by the listing agreement or other document. Sellers can opt out of this but typically don’t.
3. The local MLS distributes the listing compilation (photos, info) to brokers. Sellers can opt out of this but typically don’t.
4. The local MLS distributes the listing compilation to third-party companies such as Zillow or syndication companies that, in turn, redistribute the listings to a wide variety of real estate websites. Other feeds go to individual agents or some brokerage websites at a fee. Sellers can opt out of this but typically don’t.
5. The local MLS is obligated to give a copy of the listing to realtor.com per a separate agreement.

Step 3 – Reveal All Search Results

At the very least, you should have successfully retrieved one listing. If not, then the search criteria may not be correct.  Try searching again with a different word/phrase.

When results are returned, Google typically omits any results that appear to have been repeated.   If this is the case, on the last page of the results, you will see “repeat the search with omitted results included”.

NOTE: If too many results were returned, then the key words or phrases may be too broad. Try again with different search words/phrases being careful to select something unique or distinguishing from the description page of the property.

Click on “repeat the search with omitted results included”

Historical Maps of Your City

Some cities have historic maps that you can search by address. There’s no guarantee they include photos of your home, but it’s worth a shot. You can look up historic photos of interest near you using WhatWasThere.com, for example. Otherwise, you’ll have to run a search for historic maps specific to your city. Here are a few maps for major U.S. cities:

New York CityPhiladelphiaSan FranciscoLos Angeles

And while it’s not exactly ancient history, you can look up your home’s Google Street View history, too: Just search your address in Google Maps, click on the photo of your home to access Street View, and then look for the timeline, which goes back to 2007. You can also try searching for your home’s address in Google Images to see what pops up.

Neighbors

And on a less technical note, learning about your home’s history might be as simple as checking with your neighbors. (Duh!) If they’ve lived in the area a while, they can clue you into things you may never find in public records. “Many of them know everything there is to know about an area, a house, and previous owners,” says Chantay. “You’ll be surprised at what you can uncover from the person right next door.”

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