If I were to ask if your house was leaning or was perpendicular to the ground, most likely you would say that your house is straight with the ground.
However, judging by many of the photos in our MLS system, it appears a number of homes in central Ohio are leaning quite a bit, or else the real estate agent that took the photo was a little tipsy. Crooked homes, walls, cabinets or doors are a pet peeve of mine. 
It’s so easy to take a perpendicular photo by lining up the image box in the viewfinder. Our image adjustment programs that come with our cameras also allow us to fix photos later.
Here’s a photo of a home (right) that I purposely made crooked for this article. Haven’t you seen photos online that look like this? Do you turn your head when you see such a photo? Do you wonder about the agent taking the photo? I saw one home where every single photo of the home – inside & out – was tilted.
The imaging program that I use allows me to easily define which visual line I want to be perpendicular. It takes about half a second to do. It’s just a matter of deciding which portion of the home’s lines should be perpendicular.
Since cameras tend to “bend” lines that are furthest from the center of the photo, lines like the back corner of this home will look the worst. But if I make that back wall straight, I know that it will tip the front of the home upward, as shown in this photo to the left. 
Generally, I choose a predominant line in the middle of the photo, since that’s where our eyes focus first. For this home, with all its lines and angles, I chose to have the left edge of the brick facing be perpendicular. (right) I thought that seemed to work the best.
The next time you’re viewing homes online, just for fun keep track of how many tipsy homes you see.
Maybe tipsy homes will become a pet peeve for you, too!
FYI, this is a new-build home in Gahanna that a buyer client purchased.
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