Use this three-bucket test first
| Decision | Use it when | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Keep as is | The edit improves presentation without changing what a buyer would understand about the home. | Faithful exposure and color correction; straightening; ordinary cropping; removing a temporary camera reflection when it does not conceal part of the property. |
| Keep with a label and the original next to it | The image shows a possibility rather than the home's current state, and the change is obvious, specific, and easy to compare with reality. | Virtual furniture in an empty room, when it covers no flaw; a day-to-dusk treatment. |
| Never use | The edit hides a condition or invents, relocates, enlarges, replaces, or removes something a buyer could reasonably treat as part of the property. | Erased damage; enlarged rooms or windows; removed power lines or neighboring structures; invented views; added pools, fireplaces, doors, fixtures, or finished spaces. |
How to review each photo
- Open the unedited original and the proposed image side by side.
- Name every difference. Include changes made automatically by the photographer, editing app, or AI tool.
- Ask: Does this photo misrepresent the state of the home? Consider condition, size, layout, fixtures, finishes, surroundings, views, light, and whether the space is complete.
- Sort the image into keep as is, keep with a label and the original next to it, or never use.
- Check the complete photo sequence. A label or original placed somewhere buyers may miss does not make the comparison useful.
- Save the approved image, its original, its decision, and any required label together.
- Review the final listing, flyer, ad, and social post after upload. Confirm that the correct file and label survived the handoff.
Review the whole impression, not just the pixels that changed. A tight crop may be technically simple but still conceal a nearby condition. A dramatic exposure adjustment may leave every object in place but make a dark room appear materially brighter.
Keep as is: corrections that stay faithful
Keep an edited image without a label only when it still represents the photographed space honestly. Compare the edit with both the original file and what was present when the photo was taken.
- Keep color correction when walls, floors, counters, cabinets, and exterior materials still look like their actual colors.
- Keep exposure correction when details remain visible and the room's natural-light impression is not transformed.
- Keep straightening and lens correction when they do not stretch the room, raise the ceiling, or enlarge openings.
- Keep a crop when it improves composition without excluding a condition or nearby feature that changes the scene's meaning.
- Keep removal of a temporary photography artifact, such as the camera's reflection, only when the erased area is supported by the original and does not hide the property.
Keep with a label and the original next to it
Use this bucket for an image that deliberately shows a staging possibility, such as furniture in an empty room. The viewer should not have to guess what was changed. Name the change in plain language and place the unedited original directly before or after the altered image.
| Altered version | Useful label |
|---|---|
| Furniture added digitally | Virtually staged. Furniture is not present. |
| Exterior changed from daylight to twilight | Digitally altered day-to-dusk image. See the adjacent original. |
Do not use this category to rescue a deceptive image. A label does not make it useful to show a larger room, a different view, erased damage, or a feature that could be mistaken for part of the property. Show a renovation, paint, or landscaping concept outside the listing photos, as an idea, so it never reads as the home's current state. Staging that covers a stain or a crack misrepresents the home too: never use it.
Never use: edits that change the property story
Reject an image when the alteration changes what a buyer may understand about the home's condition, dimensions, layout, features, finishes, surroundings, or view.
- Do not remove cracks, stains, water marks, damaged materials, unfinished work, or other visible conditions.
- Do not widen rooms, raise ceilings, enlarge windows, stretch yards, or change the proportions of a space.
- Do not add, remove, or relocate walls, doors, windows, stairs, fireplaces, built-ins, appliances, or permanent fixtures.
- Do not replace the actual floor, counter, roof, cabinets, fixtures, or landscaping with a more desirable version and present it as current.
- Do not remove neighboring buildings, utility lines, roads, obstructions, or other visible surroundings.
- Do not add a view, pool, balcony, finished room, extra window, or outdoor feature that does not exist.
- Do not use a generated image as though it were a photograph of the listed property.
- Do not approve an edit when you cannot identify what the tool changed. Return to the original or request a documented revision.
Why the true-picture test matters for REALTORS®
For REALTORS®, the National Association of REALTORS® 2026 Code of Ethics provides a direct standard. Article 12 says REALTORS® must be honest and truthful in real estate communications and present a true picture in advertising, marketing, and other representations.
NAR's Standard of Practice 12-10 applies the true-picture obligation to Internet content and images. It prohibits manipulating listing or other content in a way that produces a deceptive or misleading result and expressly includes misleading images.
Standard of Practice 12-8 also says REALTORS® must use reasonable efforts to keep information on their websites current and take prompt corrective action when information is no longer current or accurate. That makes the review relevant after publication too: if the home changes or the wrong image goes live, check and correct the public version.
Send one instruction with every editing order
Give the photographer or editing service the approval standard before work starts. Ask for the originals and an edit list so you can compare the files instead of trying to detect changes from memory.
Please preserve the home's actual condition, dimensions, layout, fixtures, finishes, surroundings, and views. Do not remove defects or permanent features, add features, enlarge spaces, or replace materials. Return the unedited originals with the edited files and list every alteration made, including automatic or AI-assisted changes. Put virtual staging and design concepts in a separate folder so they can be reviewed, labeled, and paired with their originals.
Keep approved images from getting mixed up
Use three folders named Approved as is, Approved with label and original, and Rejected. Give paired files matching names, such as Living room 03 original and Living room 03 virtually staged. Keep the final label with the pair.
Before anyone builds a flyer, ad, or video, provide only the approved folder and require a final visual check. Reddy makes listing flyers, ads, and videos from a listing's own photos and your own videos. It never generates, edits, or animates a photo with AI: the camera moves in a video are zooms and pans over the real photos. You still choose and check the source images before you share the finished material.
- Can I locate the original for every altered image?
- Does every representational edit have a specific label?
- Is its original immediately adjacent in the published sequence?
- Did any rejected image enter another folder, platform, or scheduled post?
- Does the live image still represent the home's current state?
