This Facebook Page Shares Cringe-Worthy Real Estate Listings That Somehow Made It To Market (New Pics)
The real estate market is brutal, and I just got outbid on a cardboard box. However, if you browse enough listings, you can still spot properties that are definitely not going to sell themselves.
The 'Real Estate Broker Disillusioned With Life' does, and he shares the most memorable ones on his Facebook page. They're a mix of bad taste, bad engineering, and bad luck—like a house with a "spacious backyard" that’s actually just a parking lot, or a "charming fixer-upper" that looks haunted and requires more much more than just a new coat of paint…
More info: Facebook
This post may include affiliate links.
If a potential homebuyer comes across an online listing with horrible photos (or no photos at all), I think it's reasonable to assume that they will quite likely move on to the next option.
To find out if spelling also matters, Redfin conducted a survey with experts at Grammarly, and surprisingly, an impressive 87 percent of their respondents said the description was either extremely or very important to them!
"When buyers are browsing homes for sale, everything about the listing has an impact on their experience," said Seattle agent Chad Dierickx.
"Photos grab your attention, but the listing description fills in the gaps by helping a buyer understand what photos can't."
"A home listing filled with misspellings or grammar errors sends a signal to potential buyers that details are not important," said Allison VanNest from Grammarly, the world’s leading automated proofreader.
The survey also discovered that the preferred length of a home description is around 50 words. Redfin data also showed that homes with descriptions of that length were more likely to sell within 90 days and were also more likely to sell for a higher price than listed.
You don't see many traditional Greco-Roman high-wall heat pump units anymore. Everything is so generic nowadays.
It reminds me of a small Eastern European Communist meeting building
If agents are involved, they are the ones who usually write the descriptions, but sellers still need to work with them to ensure accuracy and readability.
"Some people gloss over grammar and spelling errors, but if you're like me, you'll evaluate the quality of the agent and the home when you read a property description," Dierickx said.
That's actually not bad for a half bath. (for short people or kids.)
Spell-check is often helpful only if your typo results in a non-word. In the case of a home listing, one little misplaced letter could create an entirely new meaning:
- "Master bedroom with walking closet";
- "Low-grime area";
- "Oak bra with brass accents";
- "This is a real germ"';
- "Perfect home for smell family";
- "Fresh pain and carpet";
- "Miner work needed";
- "Curve appeal".
In an interview for our first article on the 'Real Estate Broker Disillusioned With Life', the person behind the popular Facebook page told us at first, they are "addicted" to scrolling listings themselves, but "as the number of fans grew, I started getting a lot of links [from them.]"
They choose to post the ones that seem strange to them, the ones that seem as if there's something wrong with them.
"I have a permanent collection where I compile them into something like a vinaigrette, one photo at a time, because it happens, for example, that a house looks normal but with some nonsense, like a cherry on the cake."
People seem confused by this. You squat over the hole to use the toilet (common in some places). You place the wooden gate looking thing over the hole to stand on when you use the shower.
The page focuses on Lithuanian listings, and the disillusioned broker said the locals "want to live well and beautifully. And they do."
"But they install many things themselves, trying to save money. Most of the time, this means you're working without an interior designer."
"There are a lot of non-liquid buildings erected during the time the country was under the Soviet occupation," the person running the account added.
"These houses often surprise you with their arches, canopies, the size and number of rooms, strange windows, and corners upon corners, plaster mouldings, painted panels, etc. The most interesting case was when the basement had a basement of its own."
There's also a lot of "imaginary luxury."
"For example, you get to see an apartment that was completely renovated, and everything is new (even the walls), but it sits within a cheap Soviet building complex, and you can tell that people invested more in the interior than what the whole property is worth."
One and a half years after the first publication, the broker is still actively posting, and it seems like they won't be running out of content anytime soon.
I like this. Minus the chandelier. To me, it just doesn't work dropping from the sky, like it does.
Tiny house? With stairs of death. Isn't it building codes that they need to have a handrail?
Where's the sink? You use the toilet and then have to walk half a mile to wash your hands?
Very efficient. Just looking at that wall decor for a few minutes would induce all sorts of involuntary bowel contractions.
100% there's a Lament Configuration puzzle box sitting on the mantle.
If you stick a caddy there that you can pick up to grab everything out of, the space is usable.
despite what the wall says, i'm not sure i want people showing me their genitals in the kitchen
I suspect photoshop. I've never seen a washing machine as long as a Smart car.
I like it except for the ugly ducts coming from the fiteplace. Actually thats probably not safe at all
Get rid of the neon blue, tone down the yellow, and replace pink curtains and change pepto bismol wall (but keep the ceiling)
I allready thought a lot of these look like former soviet union architecture/interior. Turns out the broker site is from lithuania
While none of this was my taste, these were so interesting. I kind of loved seeing most of them. Just very different, things I've never seen, some places I wouldn't mind visiting or temporarily staying in. Wondering who lived there. :)
One of the more interesting things is that nobody seems to be afraid of color. In the US we are.
I allready thought a lot of these look like former soviet union architecture/interior. Turns out the broker site is from lithuania
While none of this was my taste, these were so interesting. I kind of loved seeing most of them. Just very different, things I've never seen, some places I wouldn't mind visiting or temporarily staying in. Wondering who lived there. :)
One of the more interesting things is that nobody seems to be afraid of color. In the US we are.
