To wonder if any estate agents have actually bought a house before?

[Lilliepixie]

And why the photos never show what you actually want to see?
And not to have a floor plan?

[notamummyname]

Our local agent takes shockingly bad photos. We ignored our house for months even though it was up on the website, eventually went to see it on a whim, and the difference was incredible, it was the best of the lot

[SantanicoPandemonium]

Maybe the photo thing is too keep people interested and get them through the door - gives you less chance to decide the house isn't for you before you've seen it in person. Not having a floor plan really bugs me, the layout of a house is just as important as the individual rooms!

[Lilliepixie]

They also don't seem to want to get you through the door.
I went to 4 agencies, not one have sent me anything, despite them putting suitable houses up on Rightmove. Isn't that their actual job?

[thecolonelbumminganugget]

When I came to look around my flat when I was thinking of buying, the estate agent unlocked the door, pushed it open, gestured to me to go first then shuddered and said 'I hate having to show people round here'

In fairness it was a cobweb filled house of horrors fixer upper but it still makes me chuckle every time I think about her saying it. She also didn't know even basic information about it but that was standard across all the houses I went to see. Not looking forward to buying again.

[starfishmummy]

Recently saw one lot of pictures- well not that many - which were different views of the one of the current owner's dining table.

The sellers have recently changed agents but not improved the pictures

[minionsrule]

I find the same with hotel websites..... do i want to see a bowl of fruit or a towel? No but a pic of the bathroom, bedroom and balcony might be nice. Oh and they have magic cameras that make rooms look huge but in reality don't take the cat, there won't be any room to swing it

[kitkatsky]

Hehe we’re house hunting at mo and I had such a good convo with a young girl last week about the fact that they’d taken such awful pics of the best rooms and no pics or adequate description of the awful ones (it was a terraced house split into two flats- awful pics of the presentable flat and no pics/ mention of the derelict, rat infested flat) I said we wouldn’t have wasted their time if they had said about bad condition of one flat, even if it was estate agent speak of “great space but needs decoration” and that the pics of the upper flat, which was quite nice, made it look pokey. She sounded quite grateful for my feedback??

[KanielOutis]

My flat had no internal pictures at all. It's a great flat. Huge with big rooms and had so much potential. I bagged a bargain because no one would look at it.

[AgathaMystery]

Agree.

When we sold our house I refused to let them use the agent pics and we took our own. Also drew our own floor plan as our agent said they weren't helpful. I totally disagree. Unless I know the house I won't go and view without a floor plan. They are essential!

House sold first day.

[KatnissMellark]

I had the opposite experience the other day, phoned an agent as wanted to view a beautiful barn conversion but asked why it'd been on since MAY 2016 and they said it's a complete wreck but the owner won't update the photos- the ones online are from when he moved in 15 years ago, we've shown 73 potential buyers round and it's getting embarrassing. Unsurprisingly I decided not to view!!

[Alpacaandgo]

Those cameras that make the rooms look huge! Then you visit and are massively very disappointed. Don't know why they do that because it just makes me annoyed when I get there and the rooms are really dinky .

[Alpacaandgo]

And floor plans are essential. I always look at those before the pictures!

[kmc1111]

Generally agents will have different advertising packages. Some will include things like floor plans, 3D tours, twilight photography etc. and others are bare bones. The seller decides what they want to pay for.

There are also people who choose to take their own photos, which rarely works out well. The agent can advise people, but if they really want to use their shitty iPhone pictures there's not much they can do.

[sirfredfredgeorge]

I thought all estate agents were 22 and couldn't even buy a decent suit, so I can't imagine many would've actually bought a house no.

[RandomMess]

We relocated from SE to far away so we're trying to arrange Saturday viewings etc. Not one ever bothered to speak to us enough to realise we were cash buyers with a very decent budget for the new area!!!

Floor plans still not standard either...

[Friedgreen]

It’s often cheaper for the seller to take their own photos hence the crap photos.

[WeSailTonightForSingapore]

What really surprises me about estate agents in the UK, is that no one ever provides room dimensions (in actual units of measurement, not "a good sized third bedroom"!) or the total.surface area of a house. 80 square metres, for instance, is far more meaningful than "large family home" which could be anything really.

It is hugely baffling. Room dimensions and surface area of a house are the norm in EA adverts in all of continental Europe, as far as I know.

In the UK, this doesn't really seem to be a thing, but why not? If an advert/floorplan said a room is 2.5m by 2m, but it looked huge in the photo, then you'd know they were taking the piss and had used wide angle lens.

[Makeitso]

You'd be amazed how many owners want to use their own crappy photos.

I'm 46, have bought about 15 properties in my life so far, only use pics that actually reflect the property and use floorplans so I hope I'm not included in your OP OP 😀

[Lilliepixie]

I've never been given a package option when selling.
London estate agents seem to give you measurements of rooms, overall sq ft, the garden size and a floor plan.
Now I'm looking out of London, I seem to get the room measurements, have to work out the overall sq ft, floor plan hit and miss, but if there is one, there's no detail on it, like kitchen/ bathroom appliances. Never a garden measurement.

[Friedgreen]

@wesail - in Europe and Asia I’ve seen plan measurements and actual measurements differ. I’ve seen external measurements used instead of internal. Asians sometimes list the internal courtyard or upstairs roof space as a room.

Compared to all of that crap the UK system is more straightward; you can get an idea of the size of a property by it’s location, age, number of bedrooms / receptions / garages.

[SheepyFun]

It's even more exciting when you want to rent - because at that point the decor and floor plan really are vital; you can't change them! Where we are, floor plans are definitely the norm when selling, but less so for renting. DH rented for longer than me, and was pretty frustrated to see several properties which a floor plan would have eliminated immediately.

[Lilliepixie]

It's my estate agents I'm annoyed at now.
Professional photographer here for over an hour, and the photos they've chosen don't show brand new kitchen and bathrooms. And I'm always suspicious if there's no photos of the bathroom.

[LadyBunnysWig]

Floor plan is a must!
And I like to see the entrance/Hall way.
One picture of each room will do nicely and one of the back garden and front of the house.

Oh, and for Christ's sake, tidy up first!! No one wants to see your shit tip!

[Lilliepixie]

And I've seen 5 houses, in 4 I've been shown around by the owners, is that usual?
That's their job isn't it?!

[LadyBunnysWig]

Yup. I've viewed hundreds this last year and it's only been the empty ones where the estate agent has shown us around