A Toronto real estate agent posted a picture of a $799,000 house that appears to be burnt down on TikTok saying it’s perfect for first-time homebuyers on a budget.
The agent, Ruthie Miller, was half joking.
Miller’s real estate career has run parallel to being a stand-up comedian. She found the run-down house as she was trying to look for a place to invest in herself.
Though she wasn’t the seller of the house, she thought posting the entertaining video on TikTok would attract more buyers to it.
The Yorkdale-Glen neighbourhood home is placed on a 25 x 130 ft. lot and the listing includes pictures of burnt down areas in the home.
Miller posted the video a week ago, but now the price is currently over $1 million on Realtor.ca.
“This house did have a fire and probably needs a lot of work. If you’re anything like me and you think to yourself, ‘Oh, I can fix him. All he needs is a little bit of TLC. He’s just had some bad relationships in the past,’ then you might be into this one,” Miller said in the video.
Some viewers were confused and wondered if the video was a parody.
“LOL genuinely can’t tell if this is a joke or not … a budget? Your gonna need another 200k to fix it it’s not even livable,” one person commented.
When asked if she thought her comedic approach to real estate could mislead people, Miller said, “I don’t know.”
Miller told Now Toronto that she was joking about some parts, especially about the house being suitable for a first-time homebuyer because of the structural issues.
Miller believes she’s bringing attention to real estate regardless of the method and people are going to look at the listing and request more information if they want to.
“I’m a comedian also, so why not mesh the two? It’s a clever way of doing it,” Miller challenged.
Miller believes Toronto’s real estate market always has room for humour.
“I personally like it. I hope I’m not breaking any rules with my professionalism. I like blending comedy with real estate. It’s easy to make fun of realtors because they’re usually advertising multi-million dollar properties when most of the city can’t afford rent.”
