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We're used to bear markets and bull markets - now the gloomy property market has produced an elephant market.
Estate agent Win Manu has been dubbed the Elephant Man by colleagues after pasting a photo of a pachyderm on to images of an Auckland house he's trying to sell.
Adverts displaying the $365,000, three-bedroom Manurewa home show everything an eager seller might want to emphasise, with an elephant thrown in. The large grey animal is shown standing at the bottom of the long lawn, head turned to camera.
Despite the scarcity of elephants in Auckland, Manu said a number of people viewing the advert had assumed the animal came with the property.
It also earned Manu a feature in the company newsletter entitled: "How not to market a property".
Manu disagreed. He said the image drew more attention to the house than it might otherwise have enjoyed.
"Everybody got to know me as the Elephant Man."
The property is still on the market, despite the elephant and the estate agency's new pledge is to find a buyer inside a month or give the seller $1000 cash.
To qualify, the seller must agree to market the house at the recommended market value, and contribute $3500 for marketing.
