A Sydney real estate agency is being called out for showing people a picture of a house that is clearly not what is seems in person. The house for sale in Penshurst had several pictures taken of the exterior of the house at different angle with different lenses.
Every real estate agency does some doctoring to their photos to make the place look a little brighter or cleaner. That, I believe, is completely fine. What isn’t okay in this situation is what was left out of the photo entirely.
This is the edited photo:
This is what it looks like in person:
WHAT? There’s a huge water tower behind the house! This was an image taken from Google Earth while the house was on the market. Yes, the potential buyers could easily look this up on Google and realize the house wasn’t what it seemed. Still, the real estate agency posted the picture without the water tower in their ad.
Many potential buyers were outraged when the arrived at the property. The agent claimed that the agency is not responsible for those pictures as they were given to them by the owner. They did not want to pay for extra shots to be taken of the house. When any buyer calls, however, they apparently tell them the truth of the situation.
What bothers me is that this is so blatantly obvious as something you wouldn’t want to photoshop out because of the problems it would cause. At first glance, no one would want a huge water tower hanging above their home. House hunting is a messy game when people have very picky opinions. They probably had so many people turn away from them after they saw this deceptive picture. Whether or not someone was still interested in buying the house, it’s false advertising. Some believe that’s a matter of the law.
Next time you’re looking for a house, check Google Earth first.
To Photoshop or Not To Photoshop 