Inspections

What a listing video can't show you

It's filmed at the best hour and edited to sell. These are the things that never make the cut.

A listing video is an ad. It's filmed at the best hour, from the best angle, and edited to sell. That's its job. The trouble starts when buyers treat it as an inspection. These are the things that never make the edit:

What the video shows

What you find in person

Filmed at the best hour

The 4pm shadow in June, the room that never gets light

Wide lens, tidy rooms

Real room sizes, and what's behind the furniture

Front of the house

The side wall with the crack, the neighbour's extension

Edited and scored

The road noise, the smell of damp, the slope of the yard

Red brick wall with a crack stepping diagonally along the mortar joints above an arched doorway — A crack stepping through the brickwork above a doorway. From the right angle, and with the door open, a video would never show it.Photo: Evelyn Simak, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source

Buying from interstate or overseas? You don't have to stand inside the home yourself, but someone independent should: a licensed building and pest inspector, plus someone you trust walking through it.

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