How one Sun City listing agent is using duct tape to repel insects – and buyers.

Me on Facebook:

Hard to see what’s going on? Here are the three photos at full size:

See the duct tape? Why is it there? Much as any buyer would, I read the worst possible portents into the mystery.

My wife Cathleen, herself an exemplary lister, explained to me what’s going on.

First: Sewer Roaches. Big, red, ugly, crunchy when dead. They’re not an infestation but an accident: They live where the unmild things are, not in houses.

But: When plumbing J-pipes dry out, as they will in the desert, dumb roaches climb up and get lost in houses, where they die of starvation, dehydration or ennui.

They are NEVER found in occupied homes, where the drains are in steady use, but ONLY in vacant homes that are not being serviced.

That last clause matters: The listing agent for an Active property should be in the home every day – if only to make sure it wasn’t left unlocked from the last showing.

But for the entire time a vacant Sun City property is subject to the listing contract, the home should be serviced at least every-other-day. Why? To keep the Sewer Roaches out. All you have to do is run water down the drains.

And that’s why the drains are taped over, Cathleen reveals: Either the seller or the lister doesn’t want to service the property and yet doesn’t want for it to be cemetery to a dozen red warriors.

Hence it was truly inspired on the agent’s part not to remove the tape prior to taking the photos: The house should be safe from roaches and buyers, both. 😉