Real estate agency criticised for 'rest home' property ad - Property News AU/NZ | propertynoise.co.nz & propertynoise.com.au

PHOTO: Real estate agent. FILE

According to the NZ HERALD a Hamilton real estate agency has been criticised online after sharing an advertisement that promised an elderly vendor was “not coming home” after shifting into assisted living.

The ad, placed for a property in the Hamilton suburb of Dinsdale, originally read: “GONE to a rest home, NOT coming home.”

The blunt phrasing was criticised after a screenshot of the original ad was shared to social media site Reddit.

The image was posted with the caption: “Your daily reminder that real estate agents are scum.”

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“I’ve worked out over time that most real estate agents are in way over their heads,” one commenter wrote.

“This one obviously thinks that line is marketing genius, when most people with a brain would find it at best a bit weird, and at worst offensive.”

Another said they would be horrified if their family member’s property was marketed in that way.

Others said the ad showed “reptile level empathy” and was “vulture-esque.”

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Campbell Scott, from Harcourts Hamilton, the agency behind the ad, said the agents had not received any complaints directly but had been shown the Reddit thread.

Scott said the property was originally marketed with an entirely different, less direct, approach and the shift was driven by the vendor’s family’s decision to get the house sold.

“That script was their pick,” Scott said. “They were entirely comfortable with it.”