"How do I get my grass this green?" one Reddit user joked on Wednesday.
The four-bedroom house listed in north Adelaide's Elizabeth Downs would have otherwise been ordinary. But a striking modification from a spirited real estate agent has sent laughs through the internet, with some questioning how far is too far when it comes to sprucing up a housing advertisement.
The initial posting — with digital brush strokes still visible — had painted the front and back lawn a radioactive-looking green. In the photo of the back lawn, a misplaced brush stroke also colours some leaves on a tree.
"That’s the new strain of grass called 'Chernobyl', you should see it at night time," said one user.
"SA Police are using it as a landing pad for the helicopter at night," joked another.
Meanwhile, others suggested the least the agent could do was more take care with the colour choice.
The edited photo of the back lawn shows a stray digital brushstroke in a tree. Credit: Property Gurus SA
"They just cropped the pic. Don't like the grass? Now you see no grass," someone wrote online.
The internet concluded the MS Paint app or a quick 'drawing' feature on a phone was the likely tool used — and definitely nothing more advanced.
Cain Cooke, the acting CEO of the Real Estate Institute of South Australia told The Feed he was the one to give the agent a call suggesting the photos be fixed.
“I think it was well-intentioned, but poorly executed,” he said, adding he understood it was the agent behind the modification on this occasion.
“I have great faith that consumers in South Australia are much smarter than to believe that.”
Adelaide real estate agent Marina Ormsby, who is not associated with the agency that posted the ad, said she had a bit of a chuckle when she saw it.
"If the point of what they did was to create the hype in terms of people talking about it, then one would say 'mission accomplished,'" Ms Ormsby told The Feed.
"Is it going to get them a better result? Is it going to get the owners more money? Probably not."
Despite the laughs, Ms Ormsby said this tactic was a concern to buyers, particularly those who may not visit a property in person first — although she points out the editing would have to be a bit more covert for it to be worrisome.
"I generally like there to be no surprises when potential buyers come to the property. I don't really like disappointing them and/or wasting their time," she said.
The house, on 725 square metres, is listed for a sale price of $340,000 to $350,000. It sold a year ago for $183,000 and in 2010 for a similar amount.
Images from the 2010 listing show the grass to be dry and sparse.
An image from the property's listing in 2010. Credit: RealEstate.com
It's funny, but is it allowed?
Across Australia, sellers are bound by an obligation not to mislead or misrepresent a property when making a sale.
In South Australia, the state’s Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act specifies that an agent cannot use "a false or misleading representation for the purpose of inducing another person to sell or purchase land or a business". If they do, they could face up to a $20,000 fine or a year in jail.
Despite this, it's not uncommon for properties to be subtly jazzed up online to improve their appearance. Sometimes it's a stain covered up, other times visualisations of furniture are added to help buyers picture a furnished home.
A similar stir was caused in 2016 when an online listing for a Sydney home failed to include one big problem. Omitted from the images was a huge grey water tank towering behind the house.
The Sydney house listed in 2016 had the water tower omitted from the photos posted by the agent. Credit: Domain
Omitted from the images of the Sydney listing was a huge grey water tank towering behind the house. Credit: Ray White Rockdale
