It's a beautiful, sunny day here in the rural charente valley, just the kind of afternoon when I should be thanking my lucky stars that I'm not stuck in a west end office thinking about the commute home.
Sadly though I'm seething.
Technology is changing my business, mostly for the better. However, I do now regularly get emails from clients saying "seen this on the internet and it looks great, can you check it out".
Of course, I'm usually happy to do so and it's good that I work with such serious and involved buyers. The bad news is that virtually without exception the fantastic looking "maison de maitre" for €150,000 is blighted.
The wonderful photography, taken with a wide angle lens, skillfully makes 500m2 look like a couple of acres or conveniently stops just short of showing the lorries streaming down the N10 towards Spain and Portugal.
I was out this afternoon visiting one such house - it bore no resemblance to the details on the internet and even whilst driving up I knew I'd just wasted my time going there. I understand that agents & owners want to market the positive attributes of their property but come on, let's keep things realistic.
Finally a true story. Friends were over from England last week and went into the estate agents that are selling their holiday home. They saw the details in the window but with a photo of the wrong house.
When quizzed the agent said:
"I know but it's in the same road as yours and it's much prettier".
www.cognacproperty.com
4 comments:
One of the houses we looked at back in late 2004 was made to look like it had an amazing tree lined drive way... it did but not from the road.
The photo was take from inside the gate not outside... if you had done the same photo from outside of the gate looking towards the house you would have then seen the railway line less than 20 metres from the house...
Things like this never cease to amaze me! Agents like these give estate agents a bad name. How I only wish people would boycott them afterwards, rather than falling for the agents ploy of getting the customer through the door.
My Hubby has recently visited two properties, both of which the agent had been economical with the true regarding the size in m2. He's decided to no longer use this agent. Thankfully we're in a big city so agents are two a penny and they all list the same properties so he can have this luxury.
You're spot on Graham but if you think it's a problem in France try looking for a house in the UK. The combination of new digital cameras and software in the hands of estate agents makes even a postage stamp garden look like half an acre!
I do agree that misrepresenting is awful but a do agree in making the best of property, if you dont edit the picture in anyway i cant see one for doing wrong
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