It's all about marketing. "Crappy view of trashed out cars" wouldn't get any buyer traffic, so every little chance to exaggerate must be taken. In this regard, realtors are no different, really, than ad agencies marketing all manner of things that are purported to be "healthy", "natural", etc. Many times, those products are anything but the word used to describe them. Advertising and marketing ... highly subjective and interpretive indeed. Buyer beware!
:-)

It is frustrating when a listing is a lie. I used to make note of the listing Realtor and completely pass on any house they had listed when the "marketing" was extremely exaggerated on a property I viewed. I didn't have the time to waste on false advertising. And, as you pointed out, building up a place that cannot possibly live up to the marketing hype does the house no favors. When you raise expectations and the place is a shambles exactly what does that Realtor think is going to happen? The potential buyer is now going to say, "You know what, I was looking for a view and turn-key. This house doesn't have have a view and is in serious need of updating, but since I'm here I'll put in a bid anyway!" ???

Instead, I think many folks do as I did, label the Realtor a liar (justly deserved or not) and decide to forgo anything listed by that person.

I think the house with the trashed trailers did have
"a breath-taking view"

:)

I, too, cannot understand why realtors lie about obvious facts. It is one thing not to mention the busy road the property is on but another thing to advertise "house is in a quiet neighborhood". But at least it is easy to spot the lie when it is so obvious ;-) I think it is worse when realtors lie to your face about things that you cannot see at once. And I guess that happens a lot, too. We were about to make an offer on a property in a great town, but on a somewhat busy road and the backyard backing up to a nursery. We knew well that this could be an issue but the house was priced on the lower range for that area so we thought we could deal with it. Of course the first open house was on a Sunday - pretty quiet on both sides. We asked for a second showing a day later but were told another reason every day why we could not see the house today and the showing was delayed to next Sunday. Again almost quiet around the house. We asked the Seller's agent if the current owners ever were bothered with noise from the nursery and the seller's agent lied to our face that, no, it was always nice and quiet in the backyard and they never had any issues. Well, I went to City Hall and got the info that the current owners had sued the Nursery because of noise and environmental issues. It was not just a nursery but from Monday, 7 am to Saturday, 7 pm they had heavy truck traffic, were selling rocks, splitting logs etc. and violating zoning codes. The last complaint letter was dated 1 month ago. We were so happy that we found out about that before making an offer. We were taken aback by that blank lie of the agent.
That house is still not sold (after being on the market on and off for 2 years)

I expect most of the marketing to be overdone and/or greatly 'puffed' up. Although some statements are really laughable...

The only thing that really gets my goat is when they lie about square footage. I sort and pull listings by square footage and listings that lie just waste my time. It always seems like the same handful of agents do it too.

I have had agents say things about property condition that weren't true, but I think that mostly stems from owners telling agents untruths. I had an agent tell me the septic system on a property was brand new, but when inspected it was original and failing badly. Not the agent's fault though as the owner assured the agent that it was new!

We found the opposite to be the case with our current house, lol. The seller's realtor had taken a photo that made the house and lot look very drab and unappealing. As we found out when our realtor took us over, the house was pretty cute and in a great location, with wonderful, almost 360 degree views of the mountains surrounding the valley! Yes, the house needed a lot of work, but the land alone was worth than more the asking price.

what about differences in the actual construction of the house? i.e.- 2x4 but listed as 2x6

I guess realtors "puff". It is frustrating when the puffing looks like blatant lies.

I recall going to an Open House in 2007 that was "remodeled/updated" in the paper.
When I got there, the owner (realtor couldn't do the open house, for some reason) took me around the house PROUDLY & showed me what he had done to the house. I'm looking around thinking...gee, why did he use cheap, brass fixtures, laminate counters...He even showed me semi-empty paint cans, lumber & other that he used to update.....in 1994!!! That was 13 years ago!

I guess the house qualified for the title of "remodeled/updated" because the owner purchased the house in 1993 & he updated it the following year... I guess that updating is good for life now...Mwahahahaaaa

BTW-the house is still on the market.

I saw an ad for a home we had to check out. It had a remodeled kitchen, with several ovens! It had a 2 story barn and a lap pool! 3 fireplaces bla bla, they didnt say that the lap pool was installed in a wrap around porch and has caused rot in the wood around it, and coincidently the bath and bedroom near it somehow have cracks in the walls and ceilings and rot in the floors. It has cheap thermofoil cabs in the kitchen and the cooktop has problems since it has melted knobs and burned grates. It has had its gas meter taken out which is probably for safety issues, maybe because of the cooktop installed incorrectly or the strange island fireplace placed in the entrance to the kitchen where you can be burned by the glass as you enter it, or work at the counter as its under the counter. The 2 story barn will colapse when the termites stop holding hands, and the stairway is like 15 inches wide and dangerous. The front and back porches are not secure and spongy or rotted in different areas. There was more I wont get into. I think it was highly misrepresented as these problematic items were supposed to be highlites of the property and it was only needing a "bit of tlc".

Well, consider this... if you saw an ad that described everything in the terms (or more polite versions of them) that you used (loved the termite thing :-), would you even bother to look at the house? People have to make their places sound at least a little inviting, hoping the better points help sell it, and that people will be in a fixing mood about the rest of it. They need to sell, but won't get far being brutally honest, so they do what anyone does, exaggerate. It's not a crime, and one should expect some 'realism' when looking, and take the likely-lowish price into account. If the price is ridiculously high in light of really awful presentation, they'll learn their lesson fast enough I imagine.

You never know. The lap pool that was rotting the deck? What if the buyer owns a construction company and that's no big deal? You have to advertise the features, and anything about those features that will generate inquiries. What is a major turn off for some, is no big deal for others. I've had deals where the roof is rotten, but an uncle owns a roofing company, so no big deal. A house down the street from me sold, even though it was probably the most hideous house I'd ever seen. It sold to a guy who's a foreman for a construction company.

I've learned this much in real estate; there is no perfect home and those features that some consider great will be torn out by others, and those features that are deemed horrible by some will not be a big deal to others.

All we can do as realtors is advertise the features and try to generate inquiries/increase traffic through the door. If no one's coming through the door, you don't have a chance to sell.

Though I saw a house yesterday that could have warned us for what we'd find. It was AWFUL. I can only imagine if the MLS description read:

"Beware. This house is a dump. The carpet needs to be replaced, most of the woodwork is chewed up, there are holes in walls and doors, and there is a funny smell that is reminiscent of peanut butter and gym socks."

I have no problem with a realtor highlighting the good points of a house but I hate hate HATE the lies. DH and I went to an open house last year that the realtor's ad described as recently renovated, "just needs your finishing touches." Actually, the owner did the demolition part of a planned gut reno, had to relocate and left the house as the contractors left it...raw subfloors, water risers capped in the bathrooms and kitchens (no cabinets, fixtures anywhere), electrical consisting of dangling wires with the odd 60watt bulb attached here and there. It was unbelievable.

Now, if he'd advertised as "bring your architect - this property is waiting for you to make it your own!" he would have had takers - people who were willing to do renovation and wouldn't mind the inconvenience, time and extra expense. As it was, everyone at the open house was so pissed that they/we left muttering about what a crock the whole experience was.

Ha hahaaa! Finishing touches...that's really bad.

I went to see a house last night- its not even on the MLS yet. My aunt lives on the street and saw the sign in the yard. I called the realtor for information and she told me that the house was 4 bedrooms 2.5 baths and had a huge living room. Said the house was 1600 sq feet with an updated kitchen. I asked if there was off street parking (there is no garage) and she said yes. She told me she'd toured the home personally and it was beautiful inside. I was very interested in seeing it and my expectations were pretty high (thanks to the realtor and all her gushing about how beautiful the inside of the home was)

After seeing the house I seriously wonder if the realtor had it confused with another (but I doubt it since she tried to point out how "beautiful" everything was inside. First the house is only 3 bedrooms (very small bedrooms at that, one of which was painted hot pink, purple and lime green with the daughter's name stenciled all over the walls (ok not a big deal, a few coats of paint would cover it). The "huge" living room was about 10X13, I certainly wouldn't describe anything that size as large. The kitchen was NOT updated in the last 20 years and the wood floors in the living room needed refinished badly. The carpet was stained everywhere (owner had two large dogs and a 3 yr old) and the owner admitted the furnance wasn't working and they hadn't had it fixed yet. The realtor had never mentioned this. The basement must have been included in the 1600 sq ft measurement because the rest of the house was no where near that. The basement floor was covered in about 6 inches of mud. I asked the owner if it had flooded recently and she said she didn't know as she never goes down there. Oh and the walls had soft ball sized holes in them (owner said her kids did that) ANd the house did not have 2.5 baths. There was a full bath on the 2nd floor and a toilet in the laundry room stuck beside the washer. I don't think I'd even call that a half bath. And the off street parking was a lot next to the house (that belonged to an apartment complex next door. So legally, you are not allowed to park there. It was horrible. We almost fell through the porch when we were walking to the front door (loose rotted boards).

It was a huge waste of time and if the realtor had just been up front and said this place has a lot of potential but it does need some work I would have walked into the house expecting the dirty carpet, holes in the walls, and I wouldn't have viewed everything as negatively as I did (after expecting so much).