How to Determine If a Real Estate Ad Is Based on Reality
Buying a home can be an overwhelming experience. More than four million homes were sold in 2023 alone; the number of homes for sale has tripled in recent years. The path from getting pre-approval from a mortgage lender to actually purchasing a home can be long and tedious, with some house hunters seeing dozens of homes over the course of years without any success.
Part of this may be due to the distorted expectations that reality real estate television can instill in us. But sometimes a home appears perfect on a real estate listing, but when you show up to the open house, all you see are red flags . Real estate listings are actually advertisements designed to get you interested in real estate, and sometimes they are deliberately misleading, if not outright misleading. If you immediately spot an advertisement that is not true, you can save yourself a lot of trouble. Here are some red flags: The home listing you’re looking at is based more on fiction than reality.
Specific wording
When reading real estate listings, it’s easy to get caught up in the cuteness and cozy theme and ignore anything that smacks of jargon. But there are a few obvious warning signs that tell you that you’re looking at a so-called ” false listing “—a term used in the real estate world to describe a listing that has very little connection to the reality of the home:
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Abbreviations. Sometimes real estate agents include the phrase “cover your ass” in a listing, intended to serve as a disclaimer that people outside the industry won’t notice. Typically these are acronyms such as BATVAI (Buyer’s Agent to Verify All Information) and IDRBNG (Information Considered Reliable But Not Guaranteed). If at any time there are complaints about the accuracy of the listings, the agent can point to these abbreviations as evidence that they have been candid about the fiction in the listing.
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Misleading language. Real estate advertisements often hide undesirable qualities of a home behind deceptive language . If you see phrases like “cozy” (translation: tiny), “kept” (translation: old and not updated) or “custom” (translation: you’ll be ripping out the current owner’s quirky design choices for years ), be suspicious of the entire list . An honest agent will simply state that the house is small or in need of renovation.
Tax guesses
You can never rely on the property tax information on a property listing, period. This is because they are almost always based on outdated information and can be manipulated in various ways to make it seem like your monthly payment will be lower. Sometimes, of course, it’s just an honest mistake . But if the current owners enjoy lower property taxes for some reason (perhaps they have an exemption because they’re elderly, for example), which doesn’t necessarily apply to you, an unscrupulous listing agent could offer a lower amount and then claim ignorance when your taxes are much higher than expected .
If a listing emphasizes ultra-low taxes, that’s a red flag. You should always double-check your property taxes with county records, which are public information. While you’re there, also check when the property was last assessed by the tax assessor – if it’s been a while, look to see if property taxes are about to skyrocket – a fact they may have forgotten to include on the list.
Strange photos
A clue that the property listing is not accurate can be found in the photographs used. Of course, photographs can never convey what it’s like to physically be in a space, but they should be fairly accurate in how they depict the subject. Several ways to understand that this is not true:
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Unusual angles. If every photo of the place is either so stretched out with a fisheye lens that it looks like they used some kind of specular filter, or shot at extreme angles that look like stills from an experimental feature film, they’re trying to make a small space seem bigger or trying to discreetly trim something , like power lines or a really messy floor situation.
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Overly manipulated. It’s 2024, we’ve become accustomed to filters, virtual posing, and other minor manipulations in the photos we see. But if the photos look cartoonish and there’s no clear disclaimer about the virtual staging, you’re likely looking at a best-case renovation scenario that doesn’t accurately reflect the property’s current condition.
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Low quality. Do the photos look like they were taken with a phone camera circa 2007? It could just be incompetence, but it could also be an attempt to hide some unattractive details. Whatever the reason, if the photos are small and out of focus, be careful.
Emissions in square meters
Finally, pay attention to the square footage of the property listing. Of course, honest mistakes can happen in terms of defining “livable space” or dealing with issues with unauthorized extensions , but sometimes real estate agents deliberately manipulate the square footage to make the house and its price more attractive.
It can be difficult to spot inflated real estate in an ad, but there are a few clues to look out for:
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Not like others. Look at other houses nearby, especially if they are row houses or part of a development where the houses are very similar to each other. If the square footage of said home is significantly different from the others, ask yourself how the hell they managed to squeeze it in.
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Tiny rooms. Do some quick math: the average bedroom size is about 132 square feet , the average kitchen size is about 150-175 square feet , the average living room size is about 216 square feet , and the average bathroom size is 40 square feet or more. over 200 square feet (for a luxury bathroom). Add up the rooms on the list and see if the resulting number is close to the area listed. Your calculation won’t be exact, but it should make sense – if not, ask yourself where all the extra square footage is? Better yet, ask the listing agent.