When they arrived, I pulled them out of the package and immediately checked the tag. Yep. XS. Which was interesting, because I could have fit at least three of me in them. Four if we were all willing to get a little cozy. I went back to Amazon and looked at the picture. Yep. Same joggers. On the 6’1″, 21-year-old perfect model, they were cute, fitted, and hit exactly where joggers are supposed to hit. On me, they looked less like joggers and more like emergency shelter. Although this wasn’t the first time an XS from Amazon apparently meant “extra spacious,” I had held high hopes for this one.

Naturally, this brings me to the topic of online real estate photography. Anyone who has spent time looking at homes online has had this experience. You are scrolling through photos, thinking how bright the kitchen looks, how open the main living space is, and how large the bedrooms are. The backyard is almost always green, well-manicured, and inviting, even though it is the end of August in the Utah desert and we have only had an allowance of two trickles of water each week with which to achieve such lusciousness. The price is right, and you contact your Realtor, who has seen the same listing photos as you, for a showing. You are both excited.

Then you arrive to an entirely different experience altogether. The “open living space” would actually work great for a family gathering, as long as everyone stands single file. The “spacious” bedroom barely accommodates a twin bed, and then only if it lies diagonally. The kitchen is a tad darker than the pictures had shown. In fact, it resembles more of a basement bar at closing time. And that gorgeous green lawn apparently left shortly after the photographer did. Same house. Very different pair of joggers.

Rest assured, this was all happening long before ChatGPT. AI (artificial intelligence) is currently getting much of the blame for listing photos that have wandered a little too far from reality, and it has certainly made altering photos easier. Today, an empty room can be digitally furnished. Walls can be any color or condition you want them to be. Clutter can disappear. Dead grass can become green. An overcast Utah February afternoon can suddenly look like a lovely June evening. All of this without having to lift a literal finger — just a virtual one. Side note: This may be just fine since most AI creations end up with an extra finger, or even a hand, in the final product, so it’s not like you would miss it, even if you had to sacrifice a finger or two.

Making houses look better in pictures is hardly new. Professional real estate photographers have been brightening rooms, replacing gray skies, adjusting color, and using wide-angle lenses for years. Wide-angle photography is especially impressive. I’ve walked into rooms I had already seen online and briefly wondered if someone had removed eight feet of house before I arrived.

Drone photography is pretty impressive as well. It can make a fairly ordinary lot look like its own private compound. Twilight photography can give every window the exact same warm glow while the sky performs a sunset worthy of a scene straight out of Disney.

In fact, we were doing this before real estate photography was even a thing. Long before buyers could sit on the couch scrolling through listings, properties were advertised with hand-drawn illustrations. An artist would draw an appealing version of the house rather than simply documenting exactly what was there. It was virtual staging with a pencil. I’m glad I wasn’t around for those days. Every house would look like a 3-year-old’s rendition of “Architectural Digest: The Impressionist Edition.” I’m fairly certain that if Reddit had existed at the time, somebody would have started a thread called, “Just toured this house and where is the other half of the front porch?”

I absolutely believe a home should be professionally photographed well. Sellers should do real cleaning before showings. Lights should be turned on, and all bulbs should be functioning as well as matching. The blinds need to be open to allow all the natural light in, and the lawn needs to be mowed. Garbage should be inside the can, not alongside it. Buyers deserve to see the house looking its best.

In fairness, brightening a photo so a room looks the way it does on a sunny afternoon is reasonable. Making a naturally dark room look like it has twelve windows is something else. Virtually removing a garbage can from the driveway is fine. Removing the electrical tower behind the house, however, is not. There probably isn’t one perfect line between presenting a house well and misrepresenting it. But generally, the farther the pictures wander from what buyers are actually going to see when they open the front door, the greater the chance those pictures will work against the seller.

Great photos can get clicks. They can get saves. They can get showing requests. But we aren’t selling pictures; we’re selling a house. If buyers repeatedly walk through the front door and their first thought is, “Oh. This isn’t what I thought it was,” we’ve lost credibility before they’ve even had a chance to decide whether they actually like the place.

On the other hand, buyers have a responsibility as well. If you walk into a house and immediately think, “Well, this doesn’t look anything like the pictures,” give yourself a minute. Is it the right location? Does the layout work? Does it have the things you need? Does the price make sense? You can paint any color you want. You can also green up the lawn (depending on the water levels we get during the season). Misleading pictures just may work to your benefit. Fewer interested buyers can mean more negotiating room, especially when everyone keeps coming in for showings and leaving after the first 30 seconds in the door.

Sometimes the opportunity isn’t the house that photographs beautifully; it’s the good house with pictures that promised too much. Much like my Amazon joggers, the problem wasn’t necessarily the product. It was that somebody had introduced us under false pretenses. And unlike the joggers, you can’t just stick a house back in the plastic bag and drop it off at UPS.

Jen Fischer is an associate broker and Realtor. She can be reached at 801-645-2134 or jen@jen–fischer.com.