McGrath Real Estate & the Strange Case of the World’s Most Expensive Strawberries

Thanks for your massive sales commission; here's a few old strawberries. ©

I hate selling a house. I hate it for so many reasons. I hate real estate agents, I hate open houses, I hate paying money for lawyers, I hate talking to banks, I hate the crap advertising I am expected to buy, I hate mowing my lawn every weekend, I hate the contradictory advice from friends. I just hate it.

Now that I have sold the damn thing I am desperate for something to make the hate go away. To wash away the bad taste in my mouth. To reassure me that all is right with the world and that I sold it for the right price. Ideas came to me. Should I research the market and reassure myself that the price was right? Should I take the missus out for a big nosh up at the new Neil Perry-extravaganza-joint and say, “screw it, let’s party”. Should I rush out to the nearest financial advisor and blow the proceeds in a cloud of Ponzi smoke. Should I swap “when I was in the last Depression” stories with my Granny before heading to the nearest Cpt Snooze for their “we’ll give you a mattress to stuff it in” sale.

What I never considered - and now realise - was the best medicine for a post-house sale hangover: a Fruit Flower chocolate basket.

McGrath Real Estate sold my house for me. I got a fair price (not a killer price, but a fair price) so can’t complain. What amazed me is the mechanism that McGrath chose to say “Congratulations”. Sure they shook my hand and called me, but they also arranged for a courier to send me around $100 worth of strawberries dipped in chocolate, tooth picked to an apple and stuck in a small teacup. As we all know, nothing says “thanks for a $20,000 commission cheque” like $100 worth of strawberries dipped in chocolate, tooth picked to an apple and stuck in a small teacup.

Unfortunately I have let you down and did not photograph this amazing thank you before my seven year old ate the lot, but I have found an equivalent looking product from Flowerfruits.com.au to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

This is what a $20,000 commission cheque gets your from McGrath (in addition to them selling your house, of course)

I do not want to tell McGrath how to do their job, and am sure they are making plenty of money doing the opposite to the advice I would give them. But next time they profile me for a post-sale present and want to make me feel better about a $20,000 commission cheque, I suggest they look to this next photo for inspiration… rather than to $100 worth of strawberries dipped in chocolate, tooth picked to an apple and stuck in a small teacup.

(By the way – my seven year old boy thought the chocolate strawberries were the greatest thing in the world (ok…number two to ‘Lego Batman & Robin’ on Xbox 360)).