11 Things Your Real Estate Agent May Not Share with You

Not all that shines is gold, and not all the real estate agencies’ offers are as good as they might seem. Hey, wanna know what real estate agents are hiding from us? Here are some of the tricks you should know before renting or even buying a new house.

One of the nifty tricks up realtors’ sleeves is wide-angle camera lenses. Thing is, such lenses can visually expand the space and make a teeny tiny room look much spacier. If you just google something like “wide-angle lens for real estate photography” you’ll see a bunch of offers online. So, the realtors don’t miss out on a chance to make the property they need to sell look more spacious. We all like high-quality pics and they sure look appealing, but in the case of real estate photos online you should consider checking offers with lower-quality photos. You risk getting inspired by the fancy pics online at first and then get disappointed when you see the property in real life. Yep, in 2023 even an apartment can catfish you. So beware!

There’s more to the photos of apartments online: sometimes agents can photoshop furniture in the photos. Like, the room is empty, but in the photos, you can see a nice couch, coffee table, and stuff. Sometimes realtors do that to sorta visualize what you can potentially do with the apartment if you rent or buy it. So, if you stumble upon a fancy furnished apartment online, don’t hesitate to ask a couple of extra questions to the realtor. Otherwise, the expectation VS reality difference might be way too harsh.

Some things may seem clean, and sometimes the stains may be altogether invisible, for example, on darker fabrics. The realtor may try to convince you that this couch is brand new, but if you have doubts, there’s a trick that can help you out. Use a blacklight detector. It can help spot stains, bed bugs, and many other unwanted things while you’re checking the apartment. There are plenty of affordable options online, like this one.

If there’s much wood in the apartment, it’s great, as it’s a natural material, plus, it looks fancy. However, any wood can have hidden problems, for instance, a high level of moisture, which may lead to a whole bunch of unpleasant consequences like mold. To make sure there’s nothing suspicious about the wood in the apartment, you may want to check the moisture level with a special tool like this wood moisture meter. It can help identify hidden problems and save potentially expensive repairs.

Sometimes realtors rely more on psychology than on nifty tricks. You see, there are plenty of things we pay attention to when we are in a new place. The sense of smell has a tight connection with our emotions in general, and our emotions have a strong link to spending. There was an experiment trying to figure out how scents influence customers’ behavior. The researchers had three options during the experiment: no scent, a simple scent, and a complicated scent. For 18 days, they would watch the customers in a home decorations store. The study proved that the 100 customers who shopped in a store with a simple orange scent spent about 20% more than usual. You see what I’m driving at? This scent trick can also be used for real estate. The apartment you’re visiting might be somewhat shabby and not as classy as you would like it to be, but if the scent in the apartment is pleasant, you are likely to subconsciously perceive this apartment as a nice place. So, real estate agents are perfectly aware of that. Sometimes they use diffusers and other things to cozy up the place with the pleasant smell and make it appear more appealing. But be careful, a too-strong and artificial scent may be there to cover up something unpleasant, like sewage odors. Ew...

Let’s say the diffuser scent in the apartment is so strong it makes you suspicious. In this case, you may want to check the place a little bit closer to make sure the realtor just went overboard when using the scent and there’s nothing nasty to hide or cover up. It might be hard to check everything with the naked eye, but luckily many devices on the market will do all the dirty work for you. A mold detector may come in handy, plus, these devices have a wide range of other applications. For instance, this little guy can detect and display the humidity of the environment to help users understand the situation. It also provides real-time monitoring and real-time display of carbon dioxide concentration per cubic meter. Perfect!

Sometimes you’re not alone when you’re visiting an apartment your real estate agent offers. And what if I tell you that the people who came to take a look at the very same apartment may be fake? I mean, the people are real for sure, but they’re not going to buy this place. Apparently, there may be fake viewers — these are the people that are meant to create an illusion of competition or scarcity. The real purpose of why they’re here is to evoke the “immediate interest”. This way, the potential real buyer has to act faster in order not to lose the opportunity. So, they won’t bargain for a lower price and will be sorta pushed to sign the documents as fast as possible.

An average European home can survive for up to 400 years as it’s made of bricks. In the United States, on the contrary, many houses are wood-framed, which means they won’t last that long and they will need constant repairs. Wood-framed houses are a common thing in the US due to the abundance of forests, but there’s a downside to it: wood is super vulnerable when it comes to infestation. Bugs. And while some realtors are honest about potential problems including this one, others prefer to conceal this information. But there are a couple of true signs the house has been infested. First off — you see these small pinpoint holes in walls? That’s a red flag. The same goes for peeling paint and super squeaky floors. Yikes!

Some houses may have a bad reputation — I’m talking about stigmatized property. Such houses are associated with negative events: these may be criminal events or even rumors of haunting. Even though these events may only be rumors, it still keeps renters and buyers away. Thing is, State laws vary concerning whether the seller must disclose a stigma or not. Realtors may choose not to disclose this information too. So beware if a house you’re planning to buy is way too cheap: something you don’t know about might have happened there.

Details are essential, especially if you’re planning to buy something as pricey as a house. Unfortunately, some real estate agents consciously turn a blind eye to details that may turn out to be essential. For instance, they may never mention some occasional crack in the walls. While some of them may be insignificant and they appear because of thermal and moisture issues. Other cracks, aka subsidence cracks, can be really serious. This is how you can tell if a crack is a subsidence: they appear at a 45-degree angle, they’re jagged, and they’re typically wider at the top. All these red flags are a true sign that the building is going downwards.

Talking about newer structures, they’re not perfect either. It used to take more time to build a house, but the building pace has changed significantly. It definitely influenced the quality of the newer houses. Even if you’re choosing a brand-new house, you still have to be in detective mode to make sure the house you wanna buy isn’t going to fall apart in a couple of years. So, next time you go to a viewing, make sure the brickwork isn’t poor, the carpentry isn’t wonky, and the staircases are secured properly. Also, don’t fall for fancy design. A good designer can create a miraculous house with the cheapest materials, but such a design won’t last long. It’s safer to choose a simpler design with good quality and add your own artistic touch when you move in.