Just about all online real estate listings, from anywhere in the country, have one thing in common: picture-perfect, rather boring-looking photographs of one room after another.
That was mostly the case with a five-bedroom, three-bathroom Felton home listed for sale on Hillside Drive. But once viewers start scrolling through the images, they notice that the 23rd photo contains a surprising character—none other than Bigfoot, or at least a man in a Bigfoot costume. Realtor Daniel Oster came up with the idea for the Bigfoot photo shoot, although he initially almost talked himself out of it.
“I was on the fence. The sellers were like, ‘Yes!’ immediately,” Oster says.
He continued to mull it over. His wife Christina Cady told him it was a great idea and that he had to do it. Oster went online and shopped for a Bigfoot costume—it was difficult at first to find one that wasn’t scary-looking—and also for some other simple props. Before the photo shoot, Oster looked through his own bookshelf for books that it would be funny for Bigfoot to read. He decided on Humans of New York and Edible Mushrooms.
Then Oster took it to another level. His wife Christina Cady suggested Bigfoot sit in on a Zoom call. Oster’s mom suggested Bigfoot should be playing the ukulele. The property owners suggested Bigfoot drink from the drinking fountain and do some carpentry.
The daily page views on Zillow grew from 400—which is really good, Oster says—to 146,000. “I was hoping it would make people smile,” Oster says. “The home buying process is stressful. It can have its ups and downs.”
The Felton home is listed for $999,000. Oster says he is currently negotiating offers for the house.
Here are some of the highlights from the pictures:
