One trick pony all day long: Listings with no inside pics

[wambam]

Is this a bad sign? When the listing has four pictures of the outside of the house and none of the inside?

I'm actually hoping you'll tell me that yes, this is usually a bad sign. I don't want this house lol. But my H says he needs to see it before we make a decision about the house I do want. 

I swear, in a few weeks, I won't be so annoying about this topic.

[nomad100]

I depends. How old is the listing? Brand new? They may not have gotten a photog to take photos yet. Older listing, yeah, probably not a good sign.

Also bad are listings without any photos of the bathrooms or kitchens.

[lpcats]

Typically it's a bad sign, however, the condo we just bought didn't have any interior pictures because everything was packed up in boxes and the seller was planning on taking pictures once it was empty.

[wambam]

Mar 6, 2015 16:35:07 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

I depends. How old is the listing? Brand new? They may not have gotten a photog to take photos yet. Older listing, yeah, probably not a good sign.

Also bad are listings without any photos of the bathrooms or kitchens.

Listing is 46 days old. 

[BAMFMrsB]

Mar 6, 2015 16:35:07 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

I depends. How old is the listing? Brand new? They may not have gotten a photog to take photos yet. Older listing, yeah, probably not a good sign.

Also bad are listings without any photos of the bathrooms or kitchens.

Agreed. I remember someone once posted "Crime scene. Move on" in regards to no photos or shockingly bad photos or poorly angled photos where it's obvious they're trying to NOT show you the body outline left on the kitchen floor so here's a close-up of the sink and the stovetop. SWELL.

I just looked at 2 houses listed in my parent's hood. #1 is obviosuly professionally photographed using the full amount alloted (24 photos) and take wide-angled shots of an empty house. #2 had 8 photos and was taken with a crappy cell-phone and there are fabulous blurry shots of kitchen clutter and hey! The toilet seat is up. And the amount of clutter and crap on the counter tops is all I can see.

[madringal]

I think it is usually a bad sign. Usually forclosure/tax sale in my experience.

[nomad100]

Mar 6, 2015 16:36:54 GMT -5 wambam said:

Mar 6, 2015 16:35:07 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

I depends. How old is the listing? Brand new? They may not have gotten a photog to take photos yet. Older listing, yeah, probably not a good sign.

Also bad are listings without any photos of the bathrooms or kitchens.

Listing is 46 days old. 

Yeah, that is not a good sign.

But if all the other things are hitting the mark (price, location, house size, # beds/bath, etc.) it can't hurt to look at it.  Just don't have high hopes. 

Good luck.  House hunting is a giant PITA.

[wambam]

Mar 6, 2015 16:39:47 GMT -5 madringal said:

I think it is usually a bad sign. Usually forclosure/tax sale in my experience.

On my realtor's web portal, it lists forclosures as such and this isn't labeled forclosure. That doesn't mean it for sure isn't, but it's less likely.

[wambam]

Mar 6, 2015 16:40:30 GMT -5 nomad100 said:

Mar 6, 2015 16:36:54 GMT -5 wambam said:

Listing is 46 days old. 

Yeah, that is not a good sign.

But if all the other things are hitting the mark (price, location, house size, # beds/bath, etc.) it can't hurt to look at it.  Just don't have high hopes. 

Good luck.  House hunting is a giant PITA.

Luck would be if we can just walk in and walk out

I really don't want a two story house. But this house has a detached garage which is really attractive to my H who likes to do building projects. Also, I LOVE the other house which is a split level and 300sf larger than the two story with no inside pictures.

[Wallflower]

Ditto all the above ... I pretty much assume that if they don't want to show it to me, then it's bad.

There was one house that I loved all they had photographed - lots of photos of the redesigned kitchen - but they had no photos of the bedrooms ... tells me the rooms are too small. (It was an older house, so very common to have small rooms.)

[pittsmcgee]

Yes, it's not a good sign.
Does it say anything about needing "TLC"?

[Deleted]

In my experience, yes.

[wambam]

Mar 6, 2015 16:42:48 GMT -5 Wallflower said:

Ditto all the above ... I pretty much assume that if they don't want to show it to me, then it's bad.

There was one house that I loved all they had photographed - lots of photos of the redesigned kitchen - but they had no photos of the bedrooms ... tells me the rooms are too small. (It was an older house, so very common to have small rooms.)

This happened to us yesterday actually. The kitchen, living room, and MASSIVE garage/workshop were pictured and outstanding. The master bedroom that would not have fit our king bed was not. Whomp whomp.

[wambam]

Mar 6, 2015 16:43:37 GMT -5 pittsmcgee said:

Yes, it's not a good sign.
Does it say anything about needing "TLC"?

This is the description:

 Two story home with individual first floor suite and additional 24x35 unattached garage/workshop. Individual suite has bedroom, bathroom, living room with fireplace, kitchen and utility room. - All on the first floor with private entry. Spacious rear enclosed porch, private wooded yard on .092 Acres.

Most of the other descriptions I've been reading talk about when things were updated and there is none of that in this one. Makes me think no updates have been done.

ETA: And that's absolutely a typo. It's a 0.92 acre lot.

[pittsmcgee]

LOL at the lot size, because that is what size our lot is.
It's sad and pathetic.

I would move on from this one. It sounds like they are trying to make it sound more promising than it is. It sounds like what they might do when I finally list my POS.

[wambam]

Mar 6, 2015 16:51:41 GMT -5 pittsmcgee said:

LOL at the lot size, because that is what size our lot is.
It's sad and pathetic.

I would move on from this one. It sounds like they are trying to make it sound more promising than it is. It sounds like what they might do when I finally list my POS.

I would love to move on, but my H needs to see it before we offer on the other house. I told him I thought no pics would probably mean a shitty inside, but he is being all Pollyanna about it.

[shell403b]

46 days? Hell no. Run away.

::said from a person who has just spent the last two years of her life looking at online pics of houses::

[ECB]

CHances are it's shitty inside, BUT if everything else about it is good, I'd go look. You never know - there could be some weird, random reason why they didn't post any interior pics.

The postings where there are inside pics but none of the kitchen or bathroom worry me more. There is a clear reason why they are avoiding those rooms.

[orangeglow]

We just listed our little 3 bedroom townhouse. There are 35 photos of it!! Yeah... Run.

[youhadmycuriosity]

At 46 days, most certainly a bad sign.

[compassrose]

Chances are it's terrible. But you guys could do a drive by tomorrow to check it out. I know you can't see the inside, but it would tell you if the property is being kept up.

[wambam]

Mar 6, 2015 20:11:56 GMT -5 FormerlyRR said:

Mar 6, 2015 16:46:18 GMT -5 wambam said:

Most of the other descriptions I've been reading talk about when things were updated and there is none of that in this one. Makes me think no updates have been done.

ETA: And that's absolutely a typo. It's a 0.92 acre lot.

Uh, sounds like it has a rental apartment on the first floor. Ew. 

Or it's a polygamist house.

LOfuckingL

[sjh722]

Chances are it's bad.

That said - some sellers are really weird about putting up interior photos online. (Especially if the house is vacant.) Another tell can be to check the agent's other listings. Some agents are really lazy about interior pictures.

[wambam]

Mar 6, 2015 20:19:57 GMT -5 FormerlyRR said:

Mar 6, 2015 20:18:39 GMT -5 wambam said:

Or it's a polygamist house.

LOfuckingL

Hm. This could be good. Go check it out, take pictures for us, and report back with details. 

I am going to be SO SMUG about this if it turns out to be true.

[wambam]

Mar 6, 2015 20:21:13 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Chances are it's bad.

That said - some sellers are really weird about putting up interior photos online. (Especially if the house is vacant.) Another tell can be to check the agent's other listings. Some agents are really lazy about interior pictures.

This is a fantastic idea.

He only had one other listing. There were oodles of interior pics.