Red Flags How to Spoil a Home Description

Including photos in the listing should be a no-brainer, but sellers routinely list properties without pictures, and they do so to their detriment, says Don Tepper, a Realtor with Long & Foster in Burke, Va.

"One red flag in many buyers' eyes is the lack of photos for a listing," Tepper says. "There can be some legitimate reasons for few (or no) photos in a listing: The sellers want privacy, or they have valuables they don't want in the photos. But many would-be buyers -- rightly or wrongly -- assume that there's something wrong."

Tepper says it's a good idea to have about a dozen photos. But that number isn't a hard and fast rule. You want to convey a good sense of the property by ensuring the pictures match the description and showcase the features you highlighted. If the listing emphasizes a great view, it pays to have a photo of the view.

In the last few years, buyers have had a crash course on buying distressed properties, whether short sales or foreclosures. But that experience hasn't always been good, and according to Karl J. Trommler, business development manager for PenFed Realty in Reston, Va., a big red flag is a distressed property listing without transaction details.

"When the listing says it is a short sale, but does not address whether or not the lender has been informed and approved of the price, it can be a big red flag," says Trommler, who cautions against getting involved when the listing language refers to third-party approval, but fails to identify that party.

Simply put, the more parties involved in the transaction, the more complicated. Short sellers who are able to be upfront about the deal stand a far better chance of attracting the right buyer at the right time, Trommler says.

A listing that claims to offer the very best property on the market might not do the seller any favors, says Ziad Najm, a broker at Cedar Real Estate in Mission Viejo, Calif. He cautions against outlandish and hyperbolic claims.

"While creativity should be maximized to market a listing, these claims can be highly subjective and can be interpreted in many ways by different buyers," Najm says. "Some buyers may be turned off to begin with and some will inevitably be disappointed if the claim doesn't live up to their expectations."

It's a fine line, but according Najm, sellers do well to stay away from superlative claims. So rather than describing the house as "the best," a more sensible strategy is to focus on adjectives that are flattering, but leave room for other opinions.

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