The sound of trains roaring by as you try to show a home near railroad tracks, honking horns from a gridlocked freeway a mile away from your listing, a graveyard next to the home’s lot — these are all challenges real estate agents face when trying to market a listing.
But one East Lansing, Michigan, Berkshire Hathaway agent found humor in his situation and used it to market the home — with the sellers’ approval. The four-bedroom Cape Cod style house, as seen in the video above, is across the street from a cemetery.
Rather than seeing it as a negative, agent Shane Broyles reached back to a childhood memory for inspiration and decided to market it as a positive: “quiet neighbors.”
“Growing up, my grandparents knew a man who lived next to a cemetery, and the only joke in his act was ‘Well, at least I’ve got quiet neighbors,'” Broyles told the Lansing State Journal.
Broyles saw light among the tombstones.
Sitting atop the Berkshire Hathaway branded for-sale sign is a small sign that reads “quiet neighbors” with an arrow pointing across the street to the cemetery.
Broyles said he’s never used humor to market a home, but it’s fitting of both his personality and the property.
“If you can’t have a bit of fun, there’s not much point to life,” Broyles said. “I don’t know whether it will actually have an effect on people who may be interested in buying it.”
Sunday’s open house may just give him an idea of whether people are receptive and if the house will sell soon.