AP, February 4, 2005
OSLO, Norway -- A Norwegian real estate investor tired of glowing but inaccurate property advertisements opted for blunt honesty in offering an apartment for sale.ADVERTISEMENT wrote:"Gruesome two-room apartment with balcony," said the advertisement posted on the Finn.no Internet portal this week. "A very worn-out apartment."
Some Norwegian real estate brokers exaggerate wildly in their advertisements, describing, for example, a total ruin as a "charming fixer-upper."
Or they can try to make the location seem more attractive than it is, such as one house "on a quiet side street." The side street was quiet, but the four-lane super highway on the other side was less so.
Arne Leo Soerlie, a professional real estate investor, said he had wasted so much time because of such advertisements that he wanted to be truthful to spare others the same irritation.
"I've learned to read between the lines, but still end up wasting a lot of time," he told the AP on Thursday. "I wanted people to know what to expect. I'd rather that they found it better than expected."
He said he has rented out the Oslo apartment for five or six years, and that it now needs total refurbishment.
This appears to be a case of honesty being the best policy. Soerlie said he already has an offer on the apartment.
(Full Story)
Heh, guess some things are the same the world over...
