More MLS Musings!

MLS Musings!

3 minute read

March 6, 2020

Let’s start with something incredibly simple, shall we?

If you listed a condo for sale for six million dollars, would you, the agent, put in a little effort?  And would you, the seller, check up on the listing once it’s posted?

Neither happened here.

Surely crooked photos aren’t the best way to market luxury condos…

Better yet, what in the world is happening here?

Do you know?

See how grainy that photo is?

See the small square-pattern in the print?

Here’s another:

Do you know what these are?

These are photos of photos!

Somebody took photos of the old feature sheet, when the property looked good, and put those photos on MLS.

Just when I thought I’d seen everything…

Also, just when I thought I’d seen everything…

…I saw a bathroom with a fireplace…

What’s with photos of living spaces with dogs in them?

Is this on purpose?

What about this one?

Is there such a thing as “over-selling?”

We all love the CN Tower, right?

I know that those of us who were born and raised in Toronto might not think it’s all that novel anymore, but, we all went to that one kid’s birthday during childhood, and we’ve all done the United Way stair-climb once.

But is it this attractive to condo buyers?

I think the #photo for reference# bit was a tad much.

However, the photos must be seen to really understand the “over-selling” element of this listing:

So that’s 6 photos of the CN Tower to start the listing, followed by six photos of the amenities, then one photo of a room (the kitchen), and four close-up photos of the appliances?!?!

Speaking of CN Tower views….

This agent had to work really hard to get this “CN Tower view” advertised in the listing.

If you stand in a particular spot on the balcony, in between the building next door and the brick wall in your face, you can catch a glimpse:

Wait a minute, can we go back to that MLS description for a moment?

What else did I see in there that I thought was amusing?

Oh yeah, the part boxed in yellow below:

Ummmm………what?

A “Backdraft Deposit,” what is that?

In my mind’s eye, I’m picturing something like this:

We had a conversation in Wednesday’s blog about “agents that do their own staging.”

Some folks believe that all stagers are created equal, just like real estate agents, mortgage brokers, real estate lawyers, home inspectors, et al.

I would obviously argue to the contrary, and as evidence, I would show you this photo below of a beatifully-staged bedroom:

Why bother?

I mean, seriously?  This looks worse than an empty room.

It’s miserable.  Absolutely pathetic.

But the worst part?  It’s not the only bedroom that’s staged like this….

If you were to pick one room in the house to “funk up” a little bit, what room would it be?

What do you think of this bathroom?

Alright, fine.

But what do you think of this bathroom shower curtain?

I suppose the listing agent could have asked this owner to “de-personalize” a little bit?

It’s actually hard to put this photo on MLS without specifically doing it on purpose.  Bathroom shots are tough, plus many listing agents don’t include them (I rarely do in a condo), so to see this shower curtain, I have to think this was planned.

I might also suggest that this garage should be de-personalized, but then again, maybe it shouldn’t be?

I love this next one so much!

You know I’m a fan of photos with fingers and thumbs in them, right?

Well not only did the agent below capture his or her thumb in the top-left corner in this photo below…

But the agent actually realized this, then took another photo:

But he or she put them BOTH on the MLS listing!

What in the world??

It’s like documenting your mistake!

Seriously, there are ten photos on MLS, and two are of the terrace – one with a thumb, one without.

WHY?

Is it possible that the agent just threw his or her camera to an assistant and said, “Put all these photos up?”

Or is this agent showing that mistakes happen?

Last, but certainly not least, another all-time favourite of mine: pillars.

Not the family that spawned the centre-field named “Kevin” who used to play center-field for the Toronto Blue Jays, but rather pillars as in concrete columns that can make or break the space in your condo.

In art-deco lofts, the pillars are beautiful fluted-columns that are integrated into the design, usually tied into a wall that splits up the space.

But in new condos, they just stick them in the middle of the goddam living room:

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Written By David Fleming

David Fleming is the author of Toronto Realty Blog, founded in 2007. He combined his passion for writing and real estate to create a space for honest information and two-way communication in a complex and dynamic market. David is a licensed Broker and the Broker of Record for Bosley – Toronto Realty Group

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14 Comments

  1. Appraiser

    at 8:37 am

    Great pics, as usual.

    I find the photo of the plastic-covered mattress set to be chic, ultra-modern and edgy?

    Anecdotally speaking from what we are seeing on the appraisal side, and in relation to the the latest TRREB data that you will be covering on Monday, it is my humble observation that the market is bordering on hysteria, reminiscent of spring 2017.

    P.S. People in this part of Canada that sacrifice their garage for a man cave ala the photo above, should get their head read…

    1. condodweller

      at 1:20 pm

      An expert estimates that ~60% of the worlds’ population will be infected by covid19 by the time it’s all said and done. With 2% mortality rate do the math and you might change your mind. If anything I find that the province is actually downplaying the risk if anything. We have about 6 new cases in the GTA most of whom have been circulating for about a week before developing symptoms and going to a hospital yet the report still says it is not circulating locally.

      1. Chris

        at 1:57 pm

        Bingo. We shouldn’t all enter a panic and rush out to stock up on toilet paper and non-perishable foods; but neither should people be cynically downplaying the potential severity of this soon-to-be pandemic, like appraiser is.

        The best course of action at this point, with an incomplete knowledge base, is to act prudently, wash your hands frequently, stay home if you are sick, and don’t dismiss this as just a cold.

        A mortality rate of 2-3.5% should be taken seriously.

    2. Chris

      at 1:51 pm

      “We are very likely heading toward the pandemic of the century…We must now face the reality that COVID-19 may have the potential to become as severe as the 1918 influenza. The CFR of around 2 per cent has appeared to increase over the last couple of weeks to about 3.5 per cent…” – Timothy Sly, epidemiologist and professor at the school of Public Health at Ryerson University

      “Speaking to reporters after an event on Tuesday in Halifax, Trudeau said Canada is following the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) on “best paths” to respond to the global spread of the respiratory illness caused by a new coronavirus. He said the virus presents a “real challenge” to health care systems around the world.”

      “A woman in B.C. has tested positive for COVID-19 despite not having travelled recently and having no known contact with anyone infected with the virus…B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said she is “really concerned” that there may be other cases linked to the new community case. A public health investigation has been launched.”

      “California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the novel coronavirus after a California man died after falling ill with the virus while on a cruise ship…Officials are trying to locate hundreds of other Californians who disembarked from the Grand Princess ship in San Francisco last month after a trip to Mexico.”

      “It has become clear in the past week that the new viral disease, covid-19, which struck China at the start of December will spread around the world. Many governments have been signalling that they will stop the disease. Instead, they need to start preparing people for the onslaught…A broad guess is that 25-70% of the population of any infected country may catch the disease. China’s experience suggests that, of the cases that are detected, roughly 80% will be mild, 15% will need treatment in hospital and 5% will require intensive care. Experts say that the virus may be five to ten times as lethal as seasonal flu, which, with a fatality rate of 0.1%, kills 60,000 Americans in a bad year. Across the world, the death toll could be in the millions.” – The Economist

      But don’t worry everyone, an anonymous Toronto-area real estate appraiser has reassured us all that COVID-19 is “over-sensationalized”, and what you should really be worried about is homicide.

  2. peggy

    at 10:13 am

    I love the MAN CAVE. The only thing that doesn’t make sense to me about it, is the fact that it contains a vacuum cleaner.

    1. Frances

      at 9:01 pm

      Me too – it’s perfect.

  3. condodweller

    at 1:13 pm

    What’s the deal with the star wars shower curtain? Someone likes it so much that they put a lock on the bath room door?

    What I find odd about the bathroom with the fireplace that it has no tub. I’m sure those women who love to take relaxing baths might like the warmth of a fire place. But having a #2 next to a fire, I don’t know. Maybe it’s one of those new millennial trends. Also, I find it strange that some one would dedicate an entire room to a powder room. Is this in a multi million house with 10 rooms that can afford to dedicate a room for this?

    That CN tower view from the balcony is actually pretty well framed. Might be nice to sit out there during the CNE eair show.

  4. IanC

    at 3:48 pm

    That shower curtain is plain NASTY.

    Move it away from the toilet and push it in the corner, please. We know that bathrooms are not spacious and so the shower curtain is too close (if not touching, BLECH) to the fecal spreading toilet boil, but we don’t need a clear visual.

    1. Nathan

      at 5:42 pm

      Great blog post as per usual Dave!

      Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but I think the dog in the first picture may be… a statue? Either way still a little odd.

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