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Tony Bertucci with NOLA Living Realty decided to stage his abandoned home listing in Metairie, La., using stand-up porcelain dolls. The dolls appear in photos that show a home with moldy, torn-up kitchen cabinets and ripped-up floors and walls.
“I did it just to get the house some attention because the house was so hideous and horrifying,” Bertucci told WKRN.com. “I wanted to do something to lighten up the photos of the house.”
His plan worked: The home went under contract after one day. He attributed the attention to the photos. Realtor.com® had called out the home as its most popular listing last week.
Bertucci is the owner of the home. He bought the home with plans to fix it up and sell it. However, Hurricane Ida damaged several of his properties and he decided to give his other homes precedence.
He marketed the 1,370-square foot, three-bedroom home as-is to investors and flippers. It was listed for $149,500.
Bertucci said potential buyers asked him if the house was haunted and they wanted to know more about why the dolls were there. “I just told them the dolls were my clients,” Bertucci teased to WKRN.com. “I said they were selling because the house was much too big for them.”
View the listing—and the dolls—at nolalivingrealty.com.
Also, read about other creative ways that real estate professionals have staged listings with unusual characters or objects:
If All Else Fails, Wear a Panda Suit
A Roaring Success? Agent Uses T-Rex to Market Home
REALTORS® in Costume: What Would You Dress Up As for a Listing?
Brokerage Reveals Listings’ ‘Skeletons’
The Grinch Is Trying to Sell a Home
Bigfoot Sighting: Creature Appears to Lurk in Listing Photos
Agents Turn to Spider-Man to Save Their Listings
The Horrifying Reason This Listing Went Viral