Your mother always told you to clean behind your ears.

But the owner of this condo in the King West area forgot to clean in a few other places as well.

The living room, the kitchen, the dining room….the bedroom, the patio, the hallways.

This unit is a freaking mess….and it’s for sale for $262,000…

I must sound like a broken record.

Not a day goes by that I say something like, “I’ve never seen anything like this,” or use ultimate phrases like “worst ever.”

Today I was browsing through the new listings in the downtown core, and I came across a 1-bedroom unit in one of the most popular buildings west of Yonge Street.  For $262,000, I assumed it had no parking space, and I clicked on the listing to see that I was in fact correct.

But when I clicked on the photos of the unit, I actually laughed out loud.  It’s not so much that the photos themselves were funny, but rather the idea of selling this unit in this condition was just ridiculous.

I wrote a post a while back about the importance of “marketing” and how people, both sellers and agents, believe that many condos and houses will simply sell themselves in this city.

I added that while this could, should, or would be the case, why take the risk?  Why not put some money, time, and effort into what equates to your largest asset?

Sellers spend thousands of dollars on staging, and more often than not, they reap the financial rewards.

But some sellers just don’t care, and their agents clearly don’t either.

Take a look at the photo below:

This isn’t the “worst” thing I’ve ever seen, but I’m very confused by it.

This building is one of the more popular residences in the city, and units are in high demand.

But for some reason, the seller didn’t feel any need to clean up or de-clutter the unit during the course of the listing.  And what confuses me even more, is that the selling agent didn’t have any qualms about taking these photos and posting them on MLS in an attempt to “market” this unit!

Is this marketing!?!?!

This unit is so cluttered it hurts my eyes to look at the photo!

Here’s another shot:

Could they not have cleared all those towels off the counter?  You’ve got beautiful granite!  Show it off!

What’s with the photos so high on the wall they almost touch the ceiling?  Does Bigfoot live here?

Take a look at the bedroom, and while it’s not quite as cluttered, it’s still pretty unattractive.

I’m not going to say anything about the “interesting” bed-spread, but I’m very curious to dig through the garbage can right next to the bed!  I can’t imagine what gems I’ll find in there!

Can’t the owner clear away all the crap on the headboard?  Again, what’s with the high photos?

If I was selling this unit, and I was asked what to do with the bedroom, I’d take out EVERYTHING except the bed, and add a small bedside table.  The room is large—show the space!

Now in the photo below, the eager picture-taker got creative and showed a view of the bedroom from the balcony.  All I see is more clutter…

Hey, you like to garden….so do I!  But not everybody likes plants as much as you!  You have a 60 square foot balcony, and you can’t step outside because there are plants everywhere!  This only means that buyers viewing this unit will skip over one of the more saleable features of your condo!

I just don’t understand.

If you were going to sell your car on AutoTrader, would you drive it through the mud and let your dog use the backseat as a toilet before you show it to a prospective buyer or take a photo for the Internet ad?  Probably not, right?

So here we have another asset for sale, except this one costs probably 10-15 times as much as your car.  Why not…..like…..um……ya know…..PUT SOME EFFORT IN?

To quote Ned Flanders, “We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!”

The seller and the seller’s agent of this unit haven’t put in a single ounce of effort, and what really gets me is that a month from now, they’ll wonder why the unit hasn’t sold, and probably blame the market.

Hold on a second while I check the listing.  I just wanna see if the agent is from Ajax or Markham….

….yeah, he’s from North North North York.  Thought so.  I never understand why an out-of-area agent gets hired to sell real estate in downtown Toronto.  Would you have your dentist give you physiotherapy for your back?

Who knows, maybe this is an opportunity to create some value.  If you can see the forest through the trees, and you can picture this unit empty, clean, and staged, there might be some money to be made here…