The capabilities are remarkable. AI tools can now:

• Replace overcast skies with blue sky and fluffy clouds
• Remove power lines, bins, and neighbouring properties
• Enhance grass colour and garden presentation
• Adjust lighting to create ideal ambiance
• Virtually stage empty rooms with furniture

These enhancements make properties look better—sometimes dramatically better—than reality. And therein lies the problem.

The Enhancement Spectrum

Property photo enhancement exists on a spectrum:

Generally Acceptable

Colour correction: Adjusting white balance and exposure to match how spaces actually appear to the human eye.

Distortion correction: Fixing lens distortion that makes spaces appear different than experienced in person.

Minor cleanup: Removing temporary items like garbage bins or parked cars that won’t be present when buyers visit.

These corrections make photos more accurate, not less.

Questionable Territory

Sky replacement: Substituting grey skies with blue creates images that misrepresent typical conditions.

Grass enhancement: Making brown grass appear lush green suggests maintenance that doesn’t exist.

Lighting manipulation: Darkening neighbouring properties or enhancing natural light beyond reality.

View improvements: Removing construction, power lines, or neighbouring buildings that actually exist.

These changes make properties appear better than buyers will experience on inspection.

Clearly Problematic

Structural modification: Removing visible defects, cracks, or damage.

Virtual renovation: Adding improvements that don’t exist—new kitchens, updated bathrooms, fresh paint.

Size manipulation: Making rooms appear larger than actual dimensions.

Removing permanent features: Eliminating elements that will be present—trees blocking views, fixed structures, permanent fixtures.

These changes constitute material misrepresentation.

The Buyer Experience Impact

Enhanced photos create a predictable sequence:

1. Buyer sees stunning listing photos
2. Buyer develops expectations based on those images
3. Buyer inspects property and experiences reality
4. Reality falls short of expectation
5. Buyer feels misled, trust damaged

This sequence hurts everyone:

• Buyers waste time on properties that don’t meet their actual needs
• Vendors receive inspections from buyers who won’t proceed
• Agents damage reputation for property that disappoints
• Days on market extend as genuine buyers are not identified

The temporary attention from enhanced photos rarely converts to successful sales.

Legal Considerations

Australian consumer law prohibits misleading conduct. Property marketing must not create false impressions about:

• Property condition
• Features and inclusions
• Surrounding environment
• Anything material to purchase decisions

Enhanced photos that create false impressions potentially violate these provisions. Several jurisdictions have taken action against agents and agencies for misleading property photography.

The legal standard isn’t “technically true” but “overall impression.” Photos that create impressions contradicted by reality create legal risk.

Platform Policies

Major portals have policies addressing photo manipulation:

REA Group: Prohibits “digitally altered images that misrepresent the property or its surroundings.”

Domain: Similar restrictions on misleading manipulations.

Both platforms reserve the right to remove listings with misleading imagery.

Enforcement has been inconsistent, but policies exist and may be applied more strictly as AI enhancement becomes more prevalent.

The Vendor Conversation

Vendors sometimes request enhanced photos, not understanding the implications:

“Can you make the grass look greener?” “Can you get rid of the power lines?” “Can you make the sky blue?”

Effective responses:

“I understand the appeal, but enhanced photos create inspection disappointment. Buyers who feel misled don’t proceed to offers. Our marketing strategy produces genuine buyer interest, not disappointed visitors.”

“Our goal is attracting buyers who will actually want to buy your property. Buyers who inspect expecting something different become frustrated, not engaged.”

“The best photography shows your property in optimal conditions—professional lighting, good angles, proper staging. But it shows the real property that buyers will experience.”

Frame the conversation around effectiveness, not ethics. Vendors care about results; ethical considerations support rather than replace that focus.

Photography Best Practices

Effective property photography doesn’t require misleading enhancement:

Timing optimisation: Shoot when lighting is optimal for the property—morning or afternoon depending on orientation.

Weather scheduling: Wait for good conditions rather than artificially creating them.

Presentation investment: Style and clean properties before photography rather than digitally correcting afterwards.

Professional equipment: Quality cameras and lighting reveal property strengths without artificial enhancement.

Proper angles: Thoughtful composition shows spaces effectively without distortion.

Virtual staging disclosure: If virtual staging is used for empty properties, disclose it clearly.

Good photography makes properties look their best while remaining honest about what buyers will experience.

AI Disclosure Considerations

As AI photo tools become more powerful, disclosure questions become more pressing:

Should buyers know when AI has been used?

What level of enhancement triggers disclosure obligations?

How should virtual staging be labelled?

The industry hasn’t established clear standards. Progressive agencies are beginning to adopt voluntary disclosure practices for significant AI enhancement.

My Recommendation

For agents seeking effective, ethical marketing:

Set clear standards: Define what enhancement your agency considers acceptable. Document and train to those standards.

Focus on reality improvement: Invest in property presentation, professional photography, and optimal timing rather than digital correction.

Test buyer experience: Before publishing, ask: “Will buyers feel this accurately represents what they’ll see?” If the answer is no, don’t use it.

Disclose when uncertain: If enhancement is significant enough to question, disclosure is probably appropriate.

Prioritise inspection experience: The goal isn’t impressive photos—it’s successful sales. That requires buyer experience matching or exceeding expectations.

The Long View

AI photo enhancement capabilities will continue advancing. What requires skilled editing today will become automated and ubiquitous tomorrow.

This makes ethical standards more important, not less. When everyone can easily produce unrealistic imagery, the agencies that maintain integrity will differentiate themselves.

Buyers have long memories. Communities know which agents can be trusted. Reputations compound over careers.

The short-term attention from enhanced photos isn’t worth the long-term cost of damaged credibility.

Clearance rates improve when genuine buyers engage with realistically marketed properties. Days on market decrease when expectations align with reality. Settlements complete when nobody feels misled.

The best marketing strategy is still the simple one: present properties honestly, attract interested buyers, and deliver experiences that match expectations.

Technology changes what’s possible. It doesn’t change what’s right.

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Linda Powers consults with real estate agencies on marketing ethics and effectiveness. Her 25-year career has demonstrated that honest marketing produces better outcomes than the alternatives.