Rental house hunting is never easy. There’s the constant battle of trying to find something within your budget (which is never enough) and then contemplating pushing it higher if you eat tuna and rice all week. Surely,you can slash that extra $80 from your grocery bill? If you can’t,the mouldy studio awaits,or the unit five suburbs from your preferred location that tips your commute over the hour mark.
Unscrupulous real estate agents are adding to Sydney’s property crisis by exaggerating the condition of rentals.Peter Rae
Not this time. I thought I’d hit the jackpot. The pictures made the cottage look like something fromVogue Living. I could see my life in the three-bedroom house with room for guests,a huge kitchen where my boyfriend and I would cook up a treat,and a lovely outdoor area where we could host my famous summer garden parties,or at least they would become famous once I started hosting them.
It also had a spiral staircase leading up to a loft,and rustic kitchen cupboards where we’d store our plates,wine glasses and classy spirits because in this dream I am someone who knows how to make more than one cocktail! I could see Neale Whitaker and Shaynna Blaze walking through our place and marvelling at what we’d done with the place.
As you can tell,I’d spent far too much time ogling this property online. At $800 a week,it was pushing our budget,but we (and our lucky guests) would eat rice and tuna in the garden by moonlight. Romantic,right?
Then the dream stops and the nightmare starts. I’m standing outside the home with about 25 other people,and immediately it’s game on. Who will impress the real estate agent first?
LongView's Evan Thornley says Australia is "the worst country in the Western world to be a renter."
Within moments of walking into the home,I knew I’d been catfished. That spiral staircase I loved? It feels so tiny that only a contortionist could navigate it. There’s also limited railing at the top,which makes me terrified to use it while sober,let alone after that second cocktail.
And the upstairs loft? The triangle walls are so slanted that there’s only a small space to stand and,go figure,that’s where they put the bed. And my tall boyfriend would probably end up looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame.
My experience is not uncommon. Sydney’s rental crisis is so severe that renters are lowering their standards and upping their desperation levels. There are videos of long lines of people queuing outside homes on the weekends,just hoping this one is for them,or if not for them at least liveable and attainable without having to offer more than $100 a week over the asking price just to trump the opposition.
When you’re vulnerable,being catfished by a property happens all the time. A quick scroll online shows many poky pads that scream “I’ve had work done”.
I get that properties look better online,but why is there such a difference between the listing and the real thing? One photographer friend said the biggest trick to watch out for is virtual staging. That’s when companies Photoshop furniture into the house and shrink it,making the room appear bigger than it is.
Some agencies will put a disclaimer on images that have been virtually altered,although it takes a trained eye to spot the tiny and transparent text. Another trick is to inundate rooms with lighting to make them look much brighter than they actually are. Less criminal,but still not great. In some cases,and we’re moving down the severity of real estate offences,dying lawns might be made greener or an overcast sky might be edited and replaced with a nice blue one.
There are actually pretty strict rules on how. But the photographer said the best way to avoid catfishing is to find a floor plan and calculate whether all your furniture will fit in the space,to physically inspect the place yourself,and find a reputable agency.
The only thing worse than standing in a queue of 25 hopefuls to inspect an overpriced rental is getting to the front of that queue to find you’ve wasted your time because the ad should have had “not to scale” stamped on it.
Home is where the heart is,but right now there are hordes of renters whose hearts are being broken weekend,after weekend,after weekend ...
Laura Chung is an environment reporter forThe Sydney Morning Herald.
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