There’s a reason why professional photographers study their craft for years before hanging their shingle. Photo editing is a lot harder than it looks. It requires a sharp eye, advanced knowledge of composition, color theory and most importantly, good taste. LLMs have made vast improvements in image generation over the last few years, but they’re not quite there yet.
Even advanced AI image generation apps, such as Google’s Gemini (formerly Nano Banana), will nearly always make your listing photos look garish and strange. They’re also very difficult to control. Even with careful prompting, their results are often wildly unpredictable.
The fix: Luckily, dozens of new startups offer purpose-built AI tools that can enhance your photos without the weirdness. BoxBrownie offers professional-quality photo enhancement for $1.60 per picture. Better yet, ask your photographer to edit your photos after your shoot. Most offer photo editing as an add-on service.
1. Using DIY AI to “enhance” your listing photos
There’s a reason why professional photographers study their craft for years before hanging their shingle. Photo editing is a lot harder than it looks. It requires a sharp eye, advanced knowledge of composition, color theory and most importantly, good taste. LLMs have made vast improvements in image generation over the last few years, but they’re not quite there yet.
Even advanced AI image generation apps, such as Google’s Gemini (formerly Nano Banana), will nearly always make your listing photos look garish and strange. They’re also very difficult to control. Even with careful prompting, their results are often wildly unpredictable.
The fix: Luckily, dozens of new startups offer purpose-built AI tools that can enhance your photos without the weirdness. BoxBrownie offers professional-quality photo enhancement for $1.60 per picture. Better yet, ask your photographer to edit your photos after your shoot. Most offer photo editing as an add-on service.
2. Over-the-top AI listing descriptions
After garish, AI-enhanced listing photos, the next most common marketing mistake we’re seeing today is over-the-top AI-generated listing descriptions. While AI can write compelling marketing copy, it still tends to overdo it. Instead of tight, persuasive copy, most agents using AI end up with phrases like “this stunning abode is a sanctuary of modern elegance,” in a listing description for a 1,200 square foot starter home.
Will a cheesy try-hard listing description keep your listing from selling? Probably not, but how many buyers will smirk or roll their eyes before they call you? How many homeowners considering hiring you will do the same? Remember, the first goal of your property marketing is to sell your listing, but the second goal is to impress seller leads. Simple scales, fancy fails.
The fix: We get it. Copywriting is challenging and time-consuming, and a professional can eat into your marketing budget. Rajeev Sajja, SVP of Digital Marketing and Innovation at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, has a solution. One of the real estate industry’s leading AI experts, Sajja, built a Custom GPT that writes non-cringey listing descriptions. Try it for free on his website.
3. Low-quality virtual staging
Is virtual staging finally ready for its close-up? We think so. Over the past few years, virtual staging technology has improved dramatically. Instead of cartoonish, awkwardly rendered furniture, today’s AI-powered virtual staging tools can create hyper-realistic and, dare we say it, stylish interiors.
The problem? Most agents are not taking advantage of this new technology. Instead, they rely on expensive virtual staging services that produce mixed results, at best. While low-quality virtual staging might not make or break your listing, like over-the-top listing descriptions, it will reflect poorly on your marketing skills.
The fix: AI startups such as Collov AI can remove furniture, declutter and create shockingly realistic (and stylish) virtually-staged images for less than 30 cents per photo.
4. Low-quality DIY virtual tours
With listing portals such as Zillow highlighting them in search results, virtual tours went from a nice-to-have marketing asset to table stakes in many markets. Sure, your tech-savvy millennial buyers might not be impressed by a 3D walkthrough, but that 67-year-old homeowner you’re pitching next week? Odds are she will be.
In an effort to save money, too many listing agents try to create their own virtual tours using their phones and free virtual tour software. Like their DIY virtual staging efforts, the results are nearly always abysmal — throwing up yet another red flag that shows homeowners you don’t take your marketing seriously.
The fix: Hire an experienced Matterport technician to scan your listings and create your virtual tours. If you insist on creating them yourself, invest in the best 3D camera you can afford. Ricoh Theta series 3D cameras offer professional-quality results for under $350.
5. Staging luxury listings yourself
The data are clear: a recent NAR study showed that staged listings sell faster and for more money. While spending $1500 to stage a $300,000 home might not offer a return on your investment, for luxury listings, professional staging is no longer optional. You might not recoup your entire investment at the closing table, but you will impress your seller and have something to brag about at your next listing presentation.
The fix: If you’re representing a luxury listing, take the time to find the best home staging service you can afford. If your marketing budget is tight, consider only staging the living room, primary bedroom and kitchen — the three rooms in any home NAR identified as most important for buyers.
6. Posting dozens of nearly identical photos on the MLS
Admittedly, more of a personal pet peeve than a deal-killing marketing mistake, posting dozens of pictures of the same room on the MLS makes you look unprofessional. Here’s why: Most listing portals require buyers to scroll through your listing photos one at a time. Scrolling through dozens of shots of the same room taken from slightly different angles makes it harder for your audience to get a sense of the flow of the home.
The fix: Instead of uploading 17 pictures of the living room and close-up shots of your seller’s decor, post 2-3 shots of each room from different angles. Start with a photo of the home’s most appealing feature, whether it’s a chef’s kitchen or HGTV-worthy living room, and end with images that are less important for most buyers.
