Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

May Day

by
September 2021, no. 435

May Day

by
September 2021, no. 435

Listen to this article as read by the author.

 

The real estate agent told me not to bother cleaning the house. All the serious buyers would be developers, he said: they’d only knock it down. They’d cut down the row of feijoas and the Japanese maple and build all the way to the fence on three sides. And they’d go up, of course, to take advantage of the views. A corner block on the highest hill in the inner east? Tell your dad he’s laughing.

He was trying to be kind, this real estate agent. He said developers would see past the fuzz-covered cereal bowls that were cemented onto the benchtops, and the sodden carpet and the caved-in ceiling. The stench wouldn’t put them off, either. I should give myself a break, he said. Don’t kill yourself cleaning. Just get rid of the rubbish and make sure it’s safe for potential buyers to walk around.

From the New Issue

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.