Estate agent AI photographs.

BikingBud

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82152139#Comment_82152139

But deliberately changing an image to conceal damage is still deliberately concealing the true state of the property whichever way you might wish to literally dress it up.

If they want to show it in the best light be absolutely clear that those photos are generations and show them immediately after the image showing the defects.

But hey it is the wild west🤠

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82154635#Comment_82154635

Personally think it is a step too far but then moving a piece of furniture to block it from the line of sight or changing the angle the photo is taken at is certainly a common and generally accepted approach i'd say.

KeyWise

Leaving the photos aside, the thing you spotted is worth taking seriously. A swollen skirting pulling away from the wall right beside a toilet usually points to a slow leak that has been going on for a while. The usual culprits are the pan connector (the rubber or plastic sleeve joining the toilet to the waste pipe), the seal between cistern and pan, or the water supply to the cistern. MDF skirting soaks up water and swells, so what you can see is often just the visible end of it. The real question is what has happened to the floor underneath.

On a second viewing, press down firmly with your foot around the base of the toilet and along that wall. Any softness, bounce or creak suggests the floor beneath (often chipboard in flats) has swollen or started to rot. Look for lifting or bubbling at the edges of the vinyl or tiles, a musty smell, and staining on the boxing-in behind the toilet. Because it's a flat, it's worth asking whether there have been any leaks into the flat below, and your solicitor can ask the seller formally about past escape-of-water claims or leaks.

As a very rough guide, if it's just a perished pan connector, a plumber can usually fix that for a modest call-out. If the floor around the toilet needs cutting out and replacing, plus new skirting and flooring, it becomes a bigger job and can run into the low thousands once the toilet has to come out and go back in. Get your surveyor to look closely at it, and if you go ahead, get two plumbing or building quotes before you agree a final price.

Dustyevsky

WIAWSNB: An honest and genuinely helpful approach would be to show both?

One of our local agents does that. If I were selling, they'd be my choice.

One of the most frequent complaints I've heard about viewers over the years, is that many lack imagination. Provided proportions and sizes are realistic, and the image is labelled appropriately, I see no problem with the use of AI.

horsewithnoname

agree with the above, as some people do lack imagination, a bit of a this is how looks/ this is how it could look might help some as long as it was made clear.
Though using AI has its own issues, and using it for frivolous purposes should be discouraged.

twopenny

It seems to be one of the online agents that I've found to be really annoying, but they seem to be getting more properties especially ones that aren't selling.

A bungalow with beautiful green hills behind but near town anyone? Reality is squeezed in between properties with multiple vehicles right behind.

I'd be furious if I'd travelled down to view. It still didn't sell. Eventually they changed it for reality and it sold.

Ditzy_Mitzy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82153382#Comment_82153382

It's enough to make anyone blush…

Herzlos

Normally I'm in the "If you're using AI I'm not interested" camp, but careful staging by agents and sellers is always a thing and you're buying the house not the agent. I guess now you need to be even more careful when viewing and not assume that anything in the pictures is correct.

I'd make it very clear to the estate agent in person, and in reviews, if the AI editing made me visit a property I wouldn't have otherwise bothered with and wasted me time though.

saajan_12

Advertising has always been highly edited.. no McDonalds single burger is 4 inches tall as it looks in the posters either, and what they photograph frequently isn't actually food. Just treat it as an aide to visualise the layout in addition to a floorplan and then ask for either a virtual viewing where they are taking a video live, or an in person viewing to actuallly make any judgements.

Emily_Joy

The worst I have seen so far was AI furnishing of an empty in reality house where it managed to move windows so that furniture can be nicely arranged 🤭