While marketing a property is often about staging, lighting and showcasing its best features, Realtors like Darcy Schlechtleitner might prioritize differently, especially when unique opportunities knock.
She listed a three-bedroom condominium directly across from Insite, a safe injection site in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, by choosing a strategy of complete transparency.
A view of the mountains—and the safe injection site
Instead of cropping out the street encampments or glossing over gritty realities outside the building, Schlechtleitner did the opposite. Her listing video opened with graffiti, people on the street and blunt narration.
“If you’re looking for a really good deal but in a really gritty area,” she says in the opening shot, “we have a listing on Main and Hastings right across the street from the safe injection site.”
The condominium sold in just nine days. In a market where units in the same building have sat unsold for months, that’s no small feat.
“It was a wild one. Even my social media guys didn’t want to do the video,” thinking they’d get in trouble, Schlechtleitner recalls. But she knew what the situation called for.
The public’s reaction
Schlechtleitner, a managing broker at Stonehaus Realty Rethink Real Estate Group and 21-year industry veteran, feels unfiltered honesty not only works but is demanded in the current market, because consumers are very smart and have all the information they need readily available.
Her instinct proved correct. The listing video quickly gained traction online and drew media attention, but not without controversy. “I wasn’t surprised by the feedback, to be quite honest,” Schlechtleitner says. “Because there’s a lack of understanding in education, in my personal opinion.”
She notes the conversation wasn’t as much with her, about the listing, as much as it was with the public, about social issues.
Although some commenters didn’t see eye-to-eye with her, she says how nice it was to see many standing up for their beliefs and bringing some humanity to the topic. “Although maybe some didn’t see it as that. People just lock their doors and drive by (the area).”
Finding the right buyer
One of the most compelling aspects of the sale was the alignment between the property and its eventual buyer.
“Our buyer (a young couple) wanted to come from contribution on East Hastings, and the buyer’s agent has a history of family members down there. So, all parties involved were very compassionate,” including Schlechtleitner herself, who notes she’s in recovery and does charity work in the area.
A shift in industry and consumer expectations
Transparency in real estate isn’t without its challenges. But Schlechtleitner believes it’s the only sustainable approach in today’s information-rich environment.
“Honesty is the best policy,” she says. “If you harm the public by sugarcoating, misleading or lying, you will end up at the governing body in about two seconds. You will hurt your brand.”
Schlechtleitner recalls a “tainted time” for British Columbia’s industry in 2018, when she was embarrassed to say she was an actual Realtor.
“We were worse than car salesmen, because there was so much lack of transparency. The Real Estate Council of BC closed down, and BC Financial Services Authority started. In the last seven years, the industry’s levelled up,” she observes, thanks to tougher entrance requirements, more robust continuing education and mandatory courses like ethics.
Now, she’s proud to call herself a Realtor again.
Aside from industry expectations, Schlechtleitner also sees a generational shift in consumer expectations, noting that even Millennials are used to being “bamboozled” and that today’s first-time buyers want the full truth.
Still, she recognizes that honesty must be balanced with seller pride and notes there’s always a way to find an angle and your market.
How to handle tough listings
For example, “If my seller’s home isn’t very well-maintained, I would talk to them about presenting it as more of a bring-your-own-ideas or a fixer-upper (property).”
For agents working with stigmatized or difficult listings, Schlechtleitner’s advice is clear: Be creative and be fearless.
She stresses the need to stand out by offering incentives or bonuses, particularly in the buyer’s market that many regions, like Greater Vancouver, are experiencing. In May, the region had over 17,000 properties in inventory, the highest in over a decade, along with a sales slowdown of over 23 per cent from the year before.
But above all, Schlechtleitner says to protect your brand and your ethics.
“Talk to your managing broker because you might get in trouble. Don’t appear racist. Follow social cues of society,” she advises. “Your name can get jaded in this industry very quickly—it’s very small. We know who’s who and who does what. And we know who’s good and who’s not.”
Call out who it isn’t for
Toronto Realtor Julie Rutherford, of Keller Williams Referred Urban Realty, wholeheartedly agrees with Schlechtleitner’s philosophy.
“In a market where over-polished marketing is the norm, I’ve found that truth delivered thoughtfully can be one of the most effective tools we have,” she says.
For a property previously listed with multiple agents, Rutherford explains she relaunched the listing with more transparency to build trust without diminishing the property’s value. Instead of glossing over the home’s rural setting, which could be a disadvantage for many, she re-framed the location as “just 50 minutes from Toronto” to emphasize a quiet setting with accessibility.
“I avoided trying to make it a one-size-fits-all home, focusing the message instead on retirees and downsizers looking for peace without isolation. By being upfront about who the home wasn’t for, I clarified exactly who it was for.”
And so far, it’s paying off. Rutherford has seen a steady stream of showings, strong, positive feedback and inquiries from serious, qualified buyers, not just casual browsers.
Emma Caplan-Fisher is an editor and writer for REM. She has over a decade of experience in various content types and topics, including real estate, housing, business, tech, and home & design. Emma’s work has also been featured in Cottage Life, the Vancouver Real Estate Podcast, the Chicago Tribune, Narcity Media, Healthline, and others. She holds a Certificate in Editing from Simon Fraser University.