MLS Musings is often like a bucket catching dripping water.  Eventually, you get to the top, and have to dump some out or your bucket will overflow.

This last month has produced a lot of amusing MLS captures, and if I don’t dump a ton onto the blog today, my computer is going to overflow!

So here we go…

There’s something to be said for the professionalism that exists in our industry, is there not?

I mean the attention to detail, accuracy, and above all – accountability.

This listing below highlights all that we as Realtors are…

And in case that wasn’t confusing enough, I have one that’s even more awkward.

This is more overt, and the question of, “Why the hell didn’t somebody notice that?” is even more appropriate:

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This, I just don’t understand.

It’s not so much the “why” but rather the how.

Not only was this picture taken on a Blackberry 8700, but it’s a weeeeee bit off-centre!

How does an agent, in good conscience, and with even an iota of self-respect, get back to his or her laptop (or shared computer terminal at discount brokerage…), load up these photos, and then think that this is worthy of “marketing” the property?

Although, having said that, we can always grade on a curve.

Because the photo above, when compared to the photo below, gets an A+++

No, I did not rotate this image.

This is how it appeared on MLS.  It’s crooked, like the photo above, but upside-down.

Shame!

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You know one of my biggest pet-peeves is photos of inanimate objects.

I hate when people show photos of a bowl of apples, when they’re supposed to be marketing the property.

So photos of microwaves or sinks irk me.

But once again, if we’re grading on a curve, the photo below makes that photo above look like a thing of beauty…

Yes, that’s a quasi birds-eye view of a dirty sink, with poor lighting.

Why, oh why, is this on MLS?

What does the agent think this is going to do in the mind’s of buyers?

Last but not least, we have a sad bathroom counter-top, with dollar-store pump-soap, and the agent’s thumb in the left of the frame:

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For this next one, take a look, and try to figure out where my beef is:

Well, in addition to perhaps asking, “Is it the building in the background with the red glass that we’re supposed to be looking at?” you might also wonder where this agent was when he or she took the photo!

Because it’s obvious to me that this agent took the photo from the inside of his or her car!

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I’m all for “thinking outside the box,” but when you list a condo on the second floor of a building, do you really “need” a photo of the elevator panel showing the number TWO lit up in green?

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This, I just have no idea what it is.  Just no clue…

It looks to me like a “den” in a condo, except for some odd reason, the owner opted for glass instead of drywall, which likely cost about 100x as much.

I actually find this to be creepy.  Really, really odd.

If I didn’t see the door handle there, I would think it’s some sort of class cage, or maybe a water tank like we’ve seen in The Cell with Jennifer Lopez, or Now You See Me with Isla Fisher:

The fact that there is a second photo of the glass cage, er, I mean, den, with the reflection of a guy in the glass, makes it even creepier, and even more like the photo of Isla Fisher above:

Why is this on MLS?

Just, I mean, like, um………..words.  Words escape me on this one…

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This is what happens when you renovate a condo kitchen without having any experience, or talking to an architect or designer, or knowing how to use a ruler and a pencil:

Maybe the photo doesn’t do the scene justice, but just think about the last time you saw a condo kitchen with a fridge sitting in the middle of nowhere?

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Do you want to know where this escape hatch leads?

My colleague showed this to a client who said, “I don’t want to worry about goblins coming down from the attic while I’m sleeping.”

Weird?  Or just unusual?

Where does that ladder actually lead?

Nowhere special.  Just the goblin hangout…

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There might have been a better day to take a photo of this “spectacular” city view?

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I had been saving this for months, since I can’t “interfere with a listing” according to RECO rules.

I logged onto MLS one day and started to browse new listings on the east side, and I did a double-take.

It’s common to see similar houses listed on the same day, or even houses on the same street.

But waht about two houses that are literally side-by-side, listed on the same day?

Yikes!

Imagine that?

Imagine being that seller, spending weeks getting ready, hoping there’s no competition, and then the very day you go to list, your next-door-neighour lists too.

Don’t these neighbours talk?

I mean, neither of them saw the staging truck pull up, the photographer walk around the property, the real estate agent coming in and out?

And the best/worst part: these houses aren’t just side-by-side, they’re attached:

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Um……staging bear?

Ummm…..staging hats?

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I love hard lofts, don’t you?

Especially authentic hard loft conversions with brick-and beam.  The hundred-year-old character you get in these buildings is absolutely unparalleled.

Converted churches offer some of the most unique spaces in the city, like this one:

Those huge picture windows with rounded archways, 14-foot ceilings, and timber beams, wow.  So authentic, and so unique!

But then once in a while, there are features that are a bit too authentic and unique for one’s home…

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I have no idea why this is the “feature” photo on MLS.

You get one photo, and this photo is not only in black-and-white, and has the silly “Many Upgrades” and “Virtual Tour” riders on the bottom of the FOR SALE sign, but also shows two random dudes standing out front, taking pictures of the house…

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And last, but certainly not least, what in the world is this?

It looks like an open concept bathroom, with stairs to the upper level running next to the bathtub, where somebody has run an electrical cord over not one, but two different sources of water:

Have a great weekend, everybody!