I taught a class yesterday on Ethics and several of the agents in the class shared a new trend that seems to be happening.  The trend certainly points to low ethical standards if not outright misrepresentation.

It seems agents are ‘virtual staging’ houses.  That is one thing if the seller has moved out and the house is now vacant.  It’s a whole different story when the sellers are still there and, as one student put it, ‘ the house was a disaster’.  Clearly none of the furniture in the house was the same as what was in the photos on the MLS.  Her buyers were disgusted by the condition of the property.

I find this alarming that agents would even consider this appropriate behavior.  It is misleading and bound to backfire on the agent and the seller.

Buyers will be turned off by the actual condition of the house and agents will  become distrustful of the listing agent.

An agent’s reputation should be one of high ethical standards so other agents can believe what they say.