Buyers often place a great deal of faith in photographs of properties. They even, at times, rule out a perfectly good property because the photographs are less than flattering.

Recently, a buyer-client of mine came very close to doing just that. The property we were looking at on the computer had awful photos. The exterior shot was very badly out of focus and the interior shots made the house look unappealing, particularly the color of the walls.

It took some discussing, but ultimately the location won my client over and we went to look at the house anyway. Turned out the photos were entirely misleading. He really liked the house, the wall color was not anywhere near putrid (which is what it looked like in the photos) and he ended up writing an offer.

Whether or not he actually gets the house remains to be seen, but he wouldn't have had the chance if he had depended on the photographs.

Moral of the story -- don't let the lack of skill of the photographer limit your choices. You might just miss out on the perfect house!

(C) 2006 Susan Pruden.