buying or renting a house

not all that shines as gold and not all

the real estate agencies offers are as

good as they might seem hey you want to

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 realtor

sleeves is wide angle camera lenses

thing is such lenses can visually expand

the space and make a teeny tiny room

look much spaceier

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

picks 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 sort of

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 versus 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 black light 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 trips you see

there are plenty of things we pay

attention to when we're 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 sense influenced

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 decoration store the

study proved that the 100 customers who

shopped in the store with a simple

orange scent spent about 20 percent 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 a 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

now let's say the diffuser sent 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 sort of 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 frame which means

they won't last that long and they will

need constant repairs wood framed houses

are a common thing in the U.S 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 little small

pinprick holes in the walls that's a red

flag the same goes for peeling paint and

super squeaky doors 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

also known as 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 new 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 want to 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.