Man's tongue-in-cheek real estate ad for waterfront property
A property owner’s tongue-in-cheek real estate ad is causing controversy in the industry over whether or not the playful headline is too ‘disrespectful’.
Pieter Hoekstra, the owner of the vacant lot in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, had received bad news from his cardiologist on the same day he signed the auction papers with his realtor.
After joking with his real estate agent that the property will need to be sold quickly before his condition takes a turn for the worse, the pair developed a confronting headline that divided its readers.
“Almost deceased estate – must be sold,” the ad reads.
Mr Hoekstra’s agent Lachlan Elder, from LJ Hooker Mona Vale, said many did not see the funny side.
“Some thought it was disrespectful,” he told RealEstate.com.au.
“But we all die.”
Mr Elder added some of his co-workers did not agree with the wording, while one newspaper was hesitant to even print the ad.
Mr Hoekstra purchased the land and the neighbouring block in 1985 with a plan to build his dream home overlooking the water.
The spectacular 710sqm block sits on the waterfront at Church Point and boasts a parcel of “untouched land in a unique tropical setting”.
The property goes up for auction on March 16 with a price guide of $830,000.
Mr Hoekstra is thankfully recovering at home, hoping to travel to Europe as soon as he is well enough.
Last year, the 63-year-old sold his neighbouring property for $1.15 million, after advertising the old shack as “cockroach infested, not fit for pigs”.
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