Looking at the photos of this century-old Keokuk, Iowa, house listed for $25,000, a person can see why the listing agent needed to switch up her game to get it a little attention.
And the way to go is just straight-up honesty.
According to Realtor, listing agent Laura Bailey decided that she needed to do something different in order to sell this 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom home in a hurry, as the owners requested.
“[The owner] really needed it to sell very quickly,” Bailey said to Realtor. “My teenagers were sitting there with me, and I said, ‘I have to do something with this listing, and I don’t know what to do’.”
And what she did ended up getting some attention.
“Why not just throw it out there and be honest and put some fun into it,” she said to Realtor.
Bailey took a creative route to get the home noticed by penning a hilarious listing for the 1,746-square-foot property.
“If you like the outdoors, you will love the missing windows, allowing a cool breeze to flow through the home, saving on energy bills!” Bailey described in the listing. “If you are a fan of horror flicks and super natural, you will love the creepy feel this home has with all the creaky boards, cold walls, and the haunted exterior look with broken siding, weeds growing into the home, and save time scraping off the lead based paint, being half of it is missing!”
Bailey also took aim at the damaged basement and wreck of a kitchen.
“If you like to sleep listening to the sound of water, this basement comes with plenty of leaks. The kitchen is suitable for the buyer who does not like to cook, the owner took the appliances and floor, but left behind pots and pans in case you have a change of heart.”
Bailey told the Hawk Eye that while she usually has luck selling fixer-uppers, this one was proving to be a challenge.
“I thought this one would fly off the market and it didn’t. For like the first 10 days or so, I had one person message me and they weren’t even interested in it.”
Since the listing has gone viral, Bailey said that the offers have been rolling in.
“I think the lowest one, somebody wanted to trade me the bottle cap off of their beer,” Bailey told the Hawk Eye. “We got into a bidding war at one point over favors. Somebody was like, ‘I’ll take the hundred dollars and raise it to towing all the crap out of the house’.”
“If you think someone else’s trash is another persons treasure, then bring your dumpster, they left all of their trash behind for you! “
TJ Macías is a Real-Time national sports reporter for McClatchy based out of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Formerly, TJ covered the Dallas Mavericks and Texas Rangers beat for numerous media outlets including 24/7 Sports and Mavs Maven (Sports Illustrated). Twitter: @TayloredSiren