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Original poster

why is it you look at the details of a house and the drive looks massive, so you go and have a look and it is half the size really?

33 replies

lizandlulu · 19/01/2009 20:48

do the estate agents use magic cameras or something? they always look bigger in the details than they are in real life.

we need to park a lorry and 99.9 % of houses we look at are smaller in real life

OP posts:
badgermonkey · 19/01/2009 20:50

Yes, they use wide-angle lenses! DH nearly kissed our estate agent when he saw the details of our old house - it was truly tiny and the photos made it look half-way normal. Of course, someone still had to like it in the flesh, but it must have helped as we sold it in a week! We were on the receiving end of a few disappointments though so it's swings and roundabouts.

AnyFucker · 19/01/2009 20:51

park a lorry on a residential drive?? ?

is that legal?

thisisyesterday · 19/01/2009 20:54

oh no, we have a MASSIVE driveway, when we sell our house it's going to look ridiculously big isn't it?/

bollockbrain · 19/01/2009 20:58

it is the same when they use the camera to make the garden look huge until you step out the back door and two paces later you are at the bottom fence.

Same as making it look like there is a large distance between the neighbours, they must aim that camera right up the gap in the middle.

I agree it gets people interested but i always become disappointed and my interest wanes when i see how they have tricked you into thinking things are different, so it doesn't do it for me.

AnyFucker · 19/01/2009 20:58

god help your neighbours thisisyesterday

the new ownners of your house might park a lorry on it

Original poster
lizandlulu · 19/01/2009 20:59

where do you think lorrys get parked? only big businnesses have the privilage of lorry parks

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 19/01/2009 21:08

do you have planning permission to do that ?

AnyFucker · 19/01/2009 21:11

sorry to hijack this thread, and don't mean to badger you

it is just this was an issue on my parents street a few yrs ago, caused lots of arguments/bad feeling etc, eventually the owners were forced to find alternative accomodation for their goods vehicle

feel free to ignore me

Original poster
lizandlulu · 19/01/2009 21:20

on, its good to get another perspective, we currently live at my parents and park the lorry in the street opposite, it is not outside anyones house or causing a obstruction and everyone is happy about it as its onyl there from 7pm to 7am.

we are looking to buy a house with a big enough drive to back the lorry down so it is out of view and wouldnt upset nay neibours, just that everyone we go to look at looks huge, then you go to look and its only big enough for a car.

we have had problems with nasty neighbours before and are very concious of wanting the lorry to be out of the way and not an eyesore at all, we wouldnt just buy a house and park it outside

OP posts:
Original poster
lizandlulu · 19/01/2009 21:20

sorry, no, not on!

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 19/01/2009 21:25

thanks for answering liz, I suddenly realised my posts were a bit confrontational (and my apologies )

the people I am talking about were parking a large lorry actually andled across their (rather small) front garden (the driveway wasn't big enough)

it was wrecking the paving flags and looking like a proper eyesore, if the neighbours looked out their window, it was all they could see !!

AnyFucker · 19/01/2009 21:26

good luck with your search btw

AnyFucker · 19/01/2009 21:27

*angled

Original poster
lizandlulu · 19/01/2009 21:27

thanks anyfucker, if we didnt have to park the lorry we couold have the pick of hundreds of houses, especially in this day and gae

OP posts:
rempy · 19/01/2009 21:28

My parents wanted somewhere they could park a motor home. A big one.

They bought a house on the edge of an estate, so it had a random wedge of front garden and space down the side that they have re jigged to make a hard standing.

I guess Im saying, perhaps widen your search? Doesnt have to be on the drive necessarily.

Original poster
lizandlulu · 19/01/2009 21:38

yes we are lookign any anything that might have enough space. we only wnat 3 bedrooms, dont really care abotu the rest of the house, i spend my free time trawling rightmove or driving around looking at the drives!

OP posts:
CantSleepWontSleep · 19/01/2009 21:41

My driveway would fit a lorry on it, but my house isn't for sale - sorry!

Original poster
lizandlulu · 19/01/2009 21:45

well thanks cnatsleepwontsleep, just rub it in a bit wont you

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 20/01/2009 10:55

we have a ridiculously long front garden and a stupidly small back one hence our super long driveway lol.

lizandlulu, presume you have thought about properties that could have a driveway added too? not just ones with an existing driveway??
ie, just ones with a big enough front garden

Original poster
lizandlulu · 20/01/2009 12:32

yes we have thought of that, i always look at somewhere and factor in the price of a bit of tarmac

OP posts:
PortAndLemon · 20/01/2009 12:40

Answering the question boringly : in order to fit the house into the photo, they will have used a wide-angle lens (or a wide-angle setting on their zoom). One of the effects of a wide-angle lens is to exaggerate the size of objects in the foreground relative to objects in the background. That would indeed tend to make the drive look much larger than it actually is.

Veering off topic somewhat, that's why wide-angle lenses or settings are normally a poor choice for photographs of people (unless you're after a particular effect). In a portrait shot they make your nose look large in relation to the rest of your face, and generally distort proportions, and in a group shot the people in the front will look much larger than the people in the back unless you are very careful about positioning.

Original poster
lizandlulu · 20/01/2009 12:45

it is wrong as bollock brain said, it doesnt do it for me, i makes me think its going to be small so whats the point of even going to look

OP posts:
PortAndLemon · 20/01/2009 12:50

To be fair, they aren't necessarily doing it to make the drive look big. If they want to fit the whole house into the photo their options are likely to be either (a) demolish the house opposite yours so that they can stand further back and use a normal lens or (b) use a wide-angle lens.

I gather that estate agents who've tried option (a) tend not to last very long...

Fizzylemonade · 20/01/2009 13:31

lizandlulu just be aware that on new build estates from maybe early 90's there are usually covenants restricting parking of large vehicles on the drive.

My sister lives on an estate built in the late 90's and a new neighbour moved in who was a chauffer! He parked his stretch limo on his drive, the neighbours complained and he was forced to leave his limo at his place of work and drive his normal car home. It was because he didn't want the extra journey to pick up his car.

It is to do with the properties being open at the front, so no 6' fences dividing front gardens etc.

If you are interested in the size of a drive/front area to park have a look on maps.google.co.uk/ pop in the address and choose the satelitte option, also means you can see what the property backs onto etc

MrsRecycle · 20/01/2009 13:35

Dh parks his 7.5 tonne on ours and we've also had a double decker bus on our drive way. We're also selling our house but you probably don't want to move to West London for such a drive-way though .