r/mildlyinfuriating • u/zhuboy • 16d ago
Ruined by Technology Open house: Online photos vs Reality
For $1.8 million they could have at least tried harder to make the exterior look presentable. I didn’t even enter because it looked terrible.
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u/Nope-not-really 16d ago
file a complaint to the Realtor board, misrepresenting properties is not legal
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u/C2thaLo 16d ago
This is the 2nd post I've seen today like this. We need to be the ones to change this. Report it.
Ive seen some listings where its just land for sale and the realtor has an AI generated house put on it.
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u/Stunning-Ad5674 16d ago
Same here, its the 2nd one in a row. Be interesting if it was the same realtor.
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u/User-NetOfInter 16d ago
I want my state to ban shit like this
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u/beanmeister5 16d ago
Ban it and give fines enough for it to be a real hit to ther business.. real estate agents have got a free run at everything for too long and need to be kicked up the ass with regulations and fines. FIne too big that it will shut down the realtors business? bad luck, you did the crime, pay the fine.
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u/Whoretron8000 16d ago
There are already so many laws that can be applied to such misrepresentation.
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u/BIOHAZARD_04 16d ago
Really, the problem with all this AI bullshit is that nobody is actually penalizing the behaviour that we already have laws that can and will apply to. I’m figuring it’s because some people are profiting/being paid handsomely to look the other way.
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u/Realistic-Energy-442 16d ago
Including cities/counties since it means increased tax revenue
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u/WoolshirtedWolf 16d ago
Planting a tree right under a utility line, not to mention its not such a great idea to plant trees so close to the house/foundation.
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u/capt_fantasy 16d ago
Doesn't matter, the tree is AI .
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u/Lamproz87 16d ago
"Don't plant AI so close to the foundation of your life" is the lesson here then?
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u/Present_Specific_212 16d ago
There should be a federal law against it. Protect all 50 states.
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u/xxxblindxxx 16d ago
ive seen this alot in florida. too busy trying to move so we couldnt focus on filing complaints which is probably what they assume will happen.
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u/ucancallmevicky 16d ago
some? I'm actively looking for properties in Atlanta right now and I see multiples daily. Ai interiors, one had an ai pool and landscaping most have an asterisk somewhere saying something like "what this could look like". Annoying and shitty
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u/PuzzyFussy 16d ago
If they say they are using AI, fine, I could let it slide, especially if they want to give you an idea of what the place could look like BUT you also have to provide the ACTUAL photos.
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u/The_quest_for_wisdom 16d ago
It's AI uses like these that make me glad I will only ever be able to afford a cardboard box to live in. At least I will know what I'm getting when I pull it out of the dumpster.
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u/catswithbenefitz 16d ago
Ive been looking for houses and one had an AI rendition of a yard where it added an in ground pool, deck, pergola, grass, and a mini kids soccer field setup. Next photo was the real yard and it was straight up dirt.
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u/Odd-Artist-2595 16d ago
This one has ripped out the city sidewalk and crosswalk to put in that lovely border garden. Sure, it looks great the way they’ve “imagined” it, but it’s never gonna happen.
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u/Jeff_72 16d ago
I know ppl who drove from Utah to Wyoming to look at a property, same AI crap
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u/Realtrain 16d ago
It's insanely common today.
I'll browse Zillow just for fun, and at least 20-30% of homes have AI makeovers.
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u/meaoww 16d ago
Yep, Ai furniture is tolerable if it’s correctly proportioned and they are not selling furniture.
The fake garden is clearly misleading because it presents something that you think is included in the price.
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u/Triquetrums 16d ago
I'm currently looking for a home (not US) and they include AI pictures, but alongside it they include the actual picture used to create the AI one. That's how it should always be done.
I'd rather they didn't use any AI, but if they are going to, they should be honest about it. Also tag the image with an "AI generated" warning.
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u/meaoww 16d ago
True. In any case, we should always know whether AI was used in the images or not.
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u/The_Strom784 16d ago
Honestly just a watermark like they put for legal purposes would be enough. Just something to make it known that it’s for staging only.
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u/biggysharky 16d ago edited 16d ago
Yeah I get the ai staging interiors if the unit is empty whatever. But this here is unacceptable, you see it and you expect it to come with decent garden, albeit not very usable but lots of curb appeal. It's not even 'what it could potentially look like'
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u/No-Front-8408 16d ago
I don't mind listings where the first has a picture of the room completely empty, then a 2nd picture with furniture and somewhat large text on the bottom saying it was created with AI.
I think that's an acceptable way to use AI in a real estate listing.
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u/kati8303 16d ago
I recently saw a property nearby on realtor that was for some reason listed as “water view” (not even close) and had an AI pool, but if you were paying attention you might notice that the space is also shown sans pool. Would this count as a violation?
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u/anonstarcity 16d ago
This ain’t even close too. Photographers can work a little magic with angles and lighting but there are actual physical elements here that are different.
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u/figgypie 16d ago
House hunting is stressful enough, we don't need the added trauma of falling in love with a house based on the photos and set up a viewing, only to pull up to it and realize that it's a tiny POS.
We're closing on a house in a couple of weeks where the selling agent definitely abused the wide-angle lens, but at least they didn't use any AI crap to hide the defects. It's a very old house at a reasonable price point so if it looked pristine online we would've been EXTREMELY suspicious.
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16d ago
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u/Deep90 16d ago
The lawn is a completely different size, and there is an entire sidewalk missing. 100% blatant misrepresentation.
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u/Level_Mixture5510 16d ago
It’s not missing, they just used a really tight angle. But they hid that there is a main road in front. The picture looks like a local street.
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u/darkchocolattemocha 16d ago
Realtors don't give a shit. Where do you report it?
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u/davidmau5 16d ago
unfortunately, they don't care at all. this is really common practice nowadays, and probably encouraged by their brokerage
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u/SoggyGoldfish25 16d ago
They used AI for first image? Lawn looks completely differant
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u/alral1988 16d ago
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u/CarbonCoight 16d ago
Oh that's bad, they've added 5m of front yard too!
When we sold our house years ago, we had tiger tails on the electrical wires coming into our house. They said they had to delay the pics until the tails were removed as it was illegal to remove power lines from real estate photos. Seems that's no longer a thing at all!
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u/rbrgr83 16d ago
It might still be illegal. This person might just be colossally stupid. This feels like fraud, basically.
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u/HFY_HFY_HFY 16d ago
They often present these photos as "possibilities". If you cannot legally build those things though... Then it can be fraud
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u/Asiatic_Static 16d ago
Power line removal is still against just about all MLS rules - the reasoning is it's not within the purview of the buyer. The thing is, depending on the MLS, a lot of the AI edits shown here might actually be okay - the line they draw is whether or not the features being edited are within the control of the buyer to potentially do. I have a long ass comment from yesterday, in this sub, with sources, linking all the rules and such for the Bright MLS ecosystem
Whoever this agent is, he's probably riding really close to the line with adding the landscaping, it looks like part of it would be on land that's not actually the property, the bits on the other side of the sidewalk. plus any edits to the sidewalk of course. The power lines removed/concealed, however I could possibly see that being done with some really specific angle/cropping. Hard to tell without being behind the camera myself
signed, a real estate photographer
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u/Shimano-No-Kyoken 16d ago
So like, if the buyer can rebuild everything, then sky's the limit?
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u/Asiatic_Static 16d ago
Every MLS is different, this is the guidance from my MLS
https://support.brightmls.com/s/article/Virtual-Staging
"Virtual Staging” means using software (including Generative AI) to create or modify a photo or conceptual rendering to display what a room or property could look like if it were staged or lived in.
Modifying photos or renderings to include personal property items not conveyed with the real property is permitted. For example, it is permitted to apply digital photos of furniture, mirrors, artwork, plants, or similar items into a photo of an empty room, or to remove existing furniture or similar elements from a photo.
NOTE: Modifying photos or renderings to include visual elements not within a property owner’s control is prohibited. For example, removing power lines, water towers, or nearby roads is not permitted.
It's really open-ended, which lines up with NAR's simpering article about how you should put out a true photo of the property, but also if you want to use AI to renovate a kitchen to show the buyer the potential, that's totally fine too
https://www.nar.realtor/news/real-estate-news/when-does-enhancing-listing-photos-go-too-far
The National Association of REALTORS®’ Code of Ethics requires its members to “refrain from exaggerating, misrepresenting or concealing pertinent facts” of a property (Article 2) and to present a “true picture” in advertising and marketing (Article 12).
AI also can help buyers visualize more possibilities. A buyer may struggle to imagine what a dated kitchen could become
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u/CitizenCue 16d ago
Ok that’s MUCH worse. Especially since it’s an idiotically designed patio with zero way to even access it from the house.
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u/NeSToR_49 16d ago
Check out the shadows being cast by the plants onto the pavement. Left side casting a shadow to the left, right side casting a shadow to the right. That's not how the sunlight works.
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u/SippyTurtle 16d ago
Sure it is.
We just have to use the flat earth model where the sun is 20 ft off the ground immediately above the house.
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u/Chemical-Actuary1561 16d ago
This is a bit of a ridiculous detail to look at when there is an entire landscaping area missing.
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u/the_original_kermit 16d ago
I think so. It actually looks like that’s all they really did. The actual structure seems to be pretty accurate to the original photo.
So odd that they wouldn’t just spend a couple hundred in land scraping and make it look the part.
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16d ago
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u/the_original_kermit 16d ago
A few hundred. A 2-3k?
It’s a 1.8m property. It’s all the same in my opinion.
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u/Skrehh 16d ago
They can't theyve like doubled the size of the terrain and changed the sidewalk
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u/the_original_kermit 16d ago
That’s the actual sidewalk. And they use a wide angle lens. It will give this effect.
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u/snarkpix 16d ago
Not that much. The image does show wide angle distortion but... the AI image invents a materially larger yard.
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u/tourdeforcemajeure 16d ago
They changed the entire exterior dimensions and the size of windows etc
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u/ShoeSh1neVCU 16d ago
I mean, there's no landscaping/tree and lighting so yeah it's pretty obviously AI.
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u/justinleona 16d ago
Yes the shadows don't make any sense - look at the ones on the far stage-left vs far stage-right.
The perspective distortion is just outright bizarre - the angles are what the building would look like with a very wide lens from standing 1-2 ft from the corner of the building... except we're supposed to be standing 20-30 ft back.
My favorite is how there is a door on the stage-right side that just goes right into a bush.
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u/welcometotheTD 16d ago
Hello,
Real estate photographer here. This is actually misrepresentation and should be marked AI on the photo itself (depending on state).
I want to say too, this isn't the photographers fault, but a shady realtor.
Realtors ask for a lot of things that they know is wrong.
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u/Pinkmongoose 16d ago
My realtor a few years ago completely botched our listing by overdoing the photo edits. He even turned a basement into a bedroom when it legally could not be classed as a bedroom. So a bunch of people looking for 3 bedrooms came and of course didn’t offer because it’s actually 2 bedrooms. My husband and I felt it was dishonest and ho matter how hard we pushed back to try to get him to make the pictures accurate he refused. He was such a dick and I hope we never see him again!
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u/aguyonahill 16d ago
For those reading this afterward; a well worded email with the head of the brokerage and the state licensing department cc'd would do the trick.
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u/eire323 16d ago
As a person who owns zero property, and has no knowledge of the subject, can I ask why you could not tell the realtor or estate agent to fuck off and stop?
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u/Pinkmongoose 16d ago
Listing had already gone live and we would have had to find a new realtor and redo all of the pictures. And buyers look at listing history. If a house goes on and off the market and then on again people will assume there was a problem with the house that tanked an offer.
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u/londonbridge1985 16d ago
They shrink beds and bathtubs to make the room look big all the time.
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u/webbslinger_0 16d ago
Using AI to sell something should fall under false advertisement and be illegal
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u/Angry_beaver_1867 16d ago
In real estate , it seems so counter productive. Most buyers are going to go to an open house or private showing.
A best a turnoff for the prospective buyer , at worst the prospective buyer walks because trust is blown. If you’re lying in the photos , what else are are you lying about.
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u/Shoganai_Hito 16d ago
$1.8 mil, is that CA
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u/ndg127 16d ago
Bayside, NY
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/33-01-213th-St-Bayside-NY-11361/2056805132_zpid/
EDIT: It’s been on the market since November 2025 and they’ve cut the price 3 times since then. Maybe they should try actually doing the landscaping…
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u/Plappedudel 16d ago
Looks like they're missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars just due to poor landscaping. I won't pretend to be a realtor, but that just sounds like... Really bad management?
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u/MKZZX 16d ago edited 16d ago
Yeah no way I'm paying $1.8 million for that place, primarily because I don't have $1.8 million, but also because I don't like it.
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u/Corecreek 16d ago
It's also a shoebox with windows that looks completely out of context in the neighbourhood
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u/weareheaven 16d ago
I opened the map thinking it must be in the center of NYC but it is four hour walk from the Manhattan. If I can afford 2 million home then I'm not living right next to what seems to be an urban highway this far away from the city center.
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u/Target_Standard 16d ago
The price goes up from there as you get closer to manhattan. Move this house one mile west to 160th street and 33rd ave and it is 2.2-2.4.
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u/figgypie 16d ago
It looks more like a mini warehouse than a place someone would actually live. It needs stuff like window trim, flower beds, anything!
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u/who_am_i_to_say_so 16d ago
Seems the realtor is the one getting in the way of this one, besides the insane price. The photos are pointless because now that you know what it looks like IRL, all photos could have been doctored up.
And I now cannot help but to think: If there were a problem with the house, would that be disclosed? Probably not.
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u/IWatchGifsForWayToo 16d ago
Quadrupled the price from $500k to $2M in nine years. That's some bullshit math right there.
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u/massunderestmated 16d ago
I will personally drive to Bayside and do that landscaping for 0.05 million.
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u/likeaffox 16d ago
LOL, look at the outside pictures, the background cars and trees are stretched a bit weird... Or the grass is litterally green/and white compared to the rest of the neighborhoods.
edit Looking through the pictures ,it's spot the AI. The lights are a weird weird in kitchen reflections.
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u/Pleasant_Pen8744 16d ago edited 16d ago
Why is it blurred out on street view?Nevermind that's across the street. This one is the previously vacant lot. So if it's a new build why didn't they just build it the way it is in the pic?
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u/Hungry-Ingenuity8260 16d ago
for that cube?! 😭
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u/lostredditorlurking 16d ago
Actually normal price in San Francisco for a house in a corner
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u/Hungry-Ingenuity8260 16d ago
i'm too european for ts lmao
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u/iiillliiiiiiillilili 16d ago
In Europe houses for 232 m2 like in this post do cost 1.8 million in some areas
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u/christhebloke 16d ago
At that price, I don’t know if you mean California or Canada.
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u/Wise_Radio6213 16d ago
Looks like it was the neighborhood corner store turned into a house 💀
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u/Dangerous-LemonBar 16d ago
These pictures are useless without naming the realtor. This AI slop needs and deserves to be called out.
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u/carliz092 16d ago
Getting catfished by a home is crazy, it is a waste of time to the customers! Fuck These peoole
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u/mommymememaster222 16d ago
That’s illegal you should report that to the realtor board
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u/VirtualLife76 16d ago
Murica, nothing is illegal there anymore.
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u/WilmaDykfyt 16d ago
We aren't allowed to buy hollow chocolate eggs with toys inside, it's too much for the American brain to realize the toy inside isn't food.
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u/melbbear 16d ago
This needs to be stopped ASAP, at the VERY least they should have to provide unedited photos with anything thats photoshopped, enhanced, altered or just straight up Ai fucking fantasy!
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u/t0m45_05 16d ago edited 16d ago
AI is such bullshit. You have to be aware of it in any digital space now.
I did a little research and many states are NOT making AI realty photos illegal, but they are making it necessary to properly disclose the images are altered by AI. I don't believe it is a law in New York yet; however, it seems as though they are definitely moving in that direction.
The usage laws behind artificial intelligence are lagging so far behind. It's almost like there should be a blanket law for disclosure of it's use in any setting 🤔. I mean I would get rid of it all together but I think that ship is fucking sailed.
I guess AI qualifies as more than mildly infuriating to me 😂
Edit:typo/fat fingers
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u/figure8888 16d ago edited 16d ago
- It looks like a renovated office building regardless.
- I’m so sick of how accessible AI is to just whoever the fuck. They have no ethics, no design sense. If it’s better than what they could do or better than reality, it’s good enough.
I recently saw a local woman advertising her “bakery business” and then upon looking further into it. She had no storefront. All of the images of the storefront were AI and featured different logos with her brand name. She probably thinks it looks awesome. And to be honest, who cares if she bakes it at home? Why are you faking a storefront?
I saw another person today on a news story about a murder suicide comment, “Can someone please make it look like the victims are in heaven?” Referring to the family picture used in the article. WHY? For what purpose?
I got out of design years before AI became a problem because I realized people just do not give af how corny or illegible their branding looks so long as it was cheap and easy.
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u/Dangerous-LemonBar 16d ago
Start naming the companies and listing agents and call them out. There is no ambiguity about who misusing AI slop to deceive buyers. This is likely illegal in most states and unethical everywhere.
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u/OrdinarySecret1 16d ago
As a realtor, I can tell you that’s illegal. Go after the fucker that did this. S/he will lose their license.
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u/Plastic-Complex241 15d ago
This is absolutely wild the AI took the sidewalk out from the side and put a flowerbed infront of the side door lmao
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u/MrSurname 16d ago
I don't know why people do this, a little touchup is helpful, but when you misrepresent it so extremely you're setting yourself up for failure.
I like my job, and my company, but we all work remotely, and they do AI makeovers for our employee photos and go WAY too far with them, especially for the women. They'll take a matronly woman in her 50s, then touch her up to look like an 11/10 30 year old, just unbelievably gorgeous. Then the moment you get on a Zoom call the discrepancy is so enormous that the first few times it happened I thought I was talking to a completely different person.
And don't get me wrong, it's not because I'm judging them on their attractiveness, it's because expectations and reality are SO far apart.
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u/_penetration_nation_ 16d ago
I just saw a 9 mill (CAD) land only property advert. The part about there being no house is buried in tiny footnotes, and there's a massive ai picture of a fake ass house.
Bruh
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u/WaffleHouseGladiator 16d ago
Is this a commercial property or did someone actually want to live in a shoebox?
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u/Friend-Boat 16d ago
Love how in the ai image they just have a door leading directly out into a bunch of bushes
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u/JoyOswin945 16d ago
Shady Realtors got away with this stuff because customers/clients never report them. Always report them.
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u/TraditionalLaw7763 16d ago
That should be considered some kind of false advertising or bait and switch.
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u/Important-Proposal28 16d ago
I had this prob when I was house shopping and that was back in 2020. Not ai but definitely photo shop. I just don't understand how they think presenting an inaccurate photo will have someone come to see it and be like yep this is the house I want!
If anything it's just attracting people expecting something else and instantly turned off when they might have actually liked the house of not tricked
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u/FallenAngelII 16d ago
I mean, the exterior is the same. The problem is the clearly photoshopped lawn.
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u/Sawyer_Anderson 16d ago
Damn, another one? Algo doing work on my end today. Repor them for violations of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Code of Ethics (Article 12) your welcome
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u/BrownChickenBlackAud 16d ago
I’m an Appraiser
It’s wild the things I’ll see and then have to go through great lengths to verify
Like one house had a $250,000 luxury pool AI added. This is 40% of the house value. Hell what if you threw 1 million bucks at it imagine the Palace you could have.
Dumb! Had another where they completely redid the front of the house and the roof line and added an addition via AI with a tiny thing in the corner that said AI enhanced. This was a $232,000 home in the country…. The addition would’ve been a third of the price!
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u/Affectionate_Fish173 16d ago
1.8 million?!?! Whyyyyyy? Where is it? Wth.... noooooooooo, it's literally a box with windows. Whaaaaaaaaat??
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u/thegreymm 16d ago
Lol I love how in the AI photo, the side door doesn’t have a pathway. Oh and how the house is much taller than it’s next door neighbor.
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u/wireframed_kb 16d ago
It’s honestly not even THAT bad, the outside (I hesitate to call it a yard…) is obviously entirely made up, but the building is just a lot more flattering with a good angle - but they didn’t brush out pipes or wires.
On one hand, yeah it looks a lot less appealing in the second photo, but it’s very clearly the same house.
Edit: Ok, the second image posted in comments is much more egregious, it appears to add a lot more yard around the house and gives an impression of a larger lot than actually exists.
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u/Historical-Tough6455 16d ago
That's modern residential profit maxxing
It's all boxes or barns. Everything to max the square footage so the 2 million dollar price tag seems reasonable when you do the price by Sq ft
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u/FrontLifeguard1962 16d ago
Looks like accurate photos to me, except for the AI landscaping
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u/JackOfAllTradewinds 16d ago
Yeah the building looks the same. The angle and lighting are different but that’s not illegal clearly. Wonder if the realtor rules don’t count “theoretical” landscaping etc
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u/spice_war 16d ago
There should be rules against using AI for realty photos. I’m not buying your fucking idea of the house. I’m buying the house as it is.