19 December 2010

Dear Agents: Please Try Harder

Here's an ad for a 2 bed apartment somewhere in the City Bowl on sale for R699 000. Now the place looks pretty crap but that's besides the point. Let's look at the ad copy:
2 bedrooms, both with parquet floors and built-in-cupboards. Living room opens onto balcony with wonderful city, harbour views. Tiled kitchen, bathroom and living room. Currently tenanted until end of Dec 09. Perfect for 2010 rentals!

Notice that last two sentences that I highlighted? This place has been on Gumtree for at least a year but the ad has not changed. Is the flat still tenanted? Who knows! Who cares! That attention to detail on the agents part plus the fantastic photos in the ad just compels me to make an offer!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Astonishing, however we expect little more from most estate agents. Dare I say some actually do have all the qualifications, and really do provide value even though not nearly as much as what one pays for when selling. Hence the fully deserving "bottom feeding" relation. Almost as bad as the conveyancing lawyers that bend you over on purchase. What's actually more scary are the prices here. There are many suburbs in CT that have deservedly been ripped a new one by people on this forum; but what are the real cons of living in the CBD as opposed to the suburbs?

- Lets start by the astounding proportion of ridiculous price per m2. Rent is crazy, buying could be related to a criminal offense.

- Speaking of which, crime (mainly petty), is a pain, especially since a garage is as rare as an Andre Rieu DVD is in Goodwood.

- Take too many people than what human nature is comfortable with, and make them live in close proximity too each other. Close enough to even share cockroaches. Joy.

I'm sure there is a much longer list of pros for some people, such as traffic, entertainment, social activities, a mountain etc. However, unless you are fortunate enough to own or rent property in the bowl exceeding 3 bar; there is no better fun than pissing in your own pool on a hot summers day.

Anonymous said...

Off topic, but here is a desperate seller advert I came across on gumtree.
http://tinyurl.com/24fyglc

Anonymous said...

We looked at a place to rent with an agent about 18 months back just off Ladies Mile ... probably Meadowridge area.

Anyway, the house stank of cats pee, the garden had bits of old broken kids platic toys lying around and there were bits of screwed up paper etc. lying around on the floors of the rooms.

I, thinking I was very observant to excuse this said to the estate agent, "looks like they have just moved out and not had a chance to clean yet" ... to which the imbecile, without any kind of acknowledgement or shame of the condition, replied "Oh no, they have been trying to sell it for 6 months and now decided to let it instead". I just replied "really - now there's a surprise it didn't sell" ... which still got a blank look from the estate agent. Unbelievable!

Re: the owners, you are not going to get your 2.5M asking price in a depressed market leaving your house as a rubbish dump (even if it was quite nice) ... but the only thing more amazing was that the 'expert' estate agent did not seem to even see this or comment! If I had been that agent I would have been making excuses and agreed up front that the owners had just left and the place would be cleaned etc. ... but not that pathetic excuse for humanity not interested in serving either the owners or me.