I would leave them. As a buyer, we were always curious when someone was asking much more for their house than they paid just a few years ago. Your "before" pictures would explain that.

Oh you simply must leave the Redrum kitchen online. Seriously, folks should pay you a bonus for getting rid of it! ;-)

Another vote to leave them. Many realtors will remember the "before" house, which will help too. That's what we found in listing our house for a lot more than we bought it for 6 years ago. We also provided our agent before and after photos to share with buyers who inquired about the significant price difference.

Leave it, and even add it in the description, e.g. extensive remodeling/renovation in 2011 or whenever.

Just a side note - if you google redrum kitchen, you are the first hit but the following ones are pretty funny and I think you MUST buy something from the second link!!

It depends on the MLS. My local CA mls using Redfin for access, will replace old pictures with new ones when a house is relisted, so it will always attach the latest photos for any address. Realtors, of course, always have access to all the past photos.

There is a house at the end of our cul-de-sac that has 2 sets of pictures (old and new, though new is after it has been sitting and bank owned, so it isn't a new kitchen--it has been beat up, unfortunately).

But, I think that it is confusing to look at those kinds of listings (with old and new). Which set is accurate, etc?

You'll absolutely NEED a line like, "extensive remodeling in 2011" if you decide to keep the old, imo. Even then, make sure the new are first, and more, than the old.

(Also, keep in mind you have now identified your kitchen as the redrum kitchen online. As weedy knows, it is easy for people to put the pieces together. You have a budget breakdown in your GW redrum post...

I still think I'd remove them).

Refin lists the old pictures if you click on the previously sold link (if it shows up under listing history)

Thanks everybody, sounds like I was worrying about nothing.

I won't post before and after pictures in our listing, but old photo's are available if their agent shows them, of if they know the right site(s) to use.

If I don't tell people it's the "Redrum" kitchen, I am not sure how they would but two and two together. It's a long shot that a buyer is on GW and will recognize it. Even if they do who cares. What we spent on the house, really has no bearing on the sale price. Most of our increase will be from the sweat equity.

I think Weedy's issue is the opposite. She is upset because GW readers figured out where her listing is.

This post was edited by barbcollins on Sun, Jul 14, 13 at 18:32

My deal wasn't that GW people figured out my real life identity, but that they then took what they found and posted details I didn't want to share on this board.

Not that I wanted to be de-anonymized, but that's my doing, so I can't be mad at someone for connecting the dots that I left out there. And yes, I've since closed down the sources of some of those dots.

Back to the OP's issue, it's one thing to see stuff on GW and track it to "real life;" it's another for someone looking at your house to do searches and be led here. The latter is the bigger problem, IMO. Or a fellow GW-er that's in your town and looking at your house, though I don't know that I'm aware of that ever happening. But until google comes up with a way that you can search for photo matches, I'm not sure that people looking at the MLS can google their way into connecting with a house here.

Weedy, good I am glad you resolved your "dots". I would be very surprised is someone was led here from the MLS.

Truthfully, it might be better if they found GW because then they would see the full story and know all we did to correct problems.

My only concern was if they saw the old pics on MLS, they would just think it was just lipstick on a pig.

It is called Google Goggles and/or image search.

Just make sure you don't use the same pictures, I guess.

I plan to let the agent take final pics. When I interview agents at the end of this month, one question I will ask is if they use a professional photographer ( or a camera with a wide angle lens)

Also, I was thinking about it again this morning. Once you post your house on the MLS, pretty much all privacy goes out the window. I am just as guilty, as I do in depth research on any house I am looking to buy.

And... when you are selling your house, don't you want the most exposure as possible? Who knows, a GW'er may have a friend in my area that would love a old house that's been fixed up?

Its not the snake house is it??? eeek! Now that was a house with some baggage!