A house or a ho-ho-home? Magical chalet on the market in Glossop
- Glossop estate agent offers magical property for sale
- Elf on The Shelf's former home listed for £120,000
- The listing is a response to Elf on The Shelf tradition popularised on social media
Looking for your dream home? Perhaps your wishlist includes stunning views, spacious living accommodation and outbuildings, but how about self-filling cupboards, 24-hour Christmas music and parking for eight reindeer?
Glossop estate agent Simple Lettings and Sales attracted attention online last week when they advertised a ‘detached magical chalet’ for £120,000.
(Photo credit: Simple Lettings & Sales)
The advert for the ‘VIP Residence of The Elf on The Shelf, featured in Hello-ho-ho-ho Magazine’ was the brainchild of estate agent Christina Stafford, who says it was a playful way of embracing the festive season.
”We always like to get into the Christmas spirit, putting up decorations and having a staff secret Santa,” said Stafford.
She said the advert was a bid to spread Christmas joy with some festive frivolity:
”I thought it would be fun to run it like a celebrity exposé and it’s kind of snowballed since then – pun intended!”
Reactions from the public have been largely positive, even provoking messages from other estate agents congratulating Stafford and her team on their idea.
Stafford said the response hasn’t always been merry and bright: ”We had one person complain to Rightmove saying it wasn’t a legitimate property listing”.
This hasn’t been obvious to everyone though. Stafford said they have made sure anyone wanting to view the property receives an appropriate response.
She said: ”We’ve had a few enquiries about it. I’ve changed the automatic response email so that it says the Loch Ness monster has reserved the property, or something whimsical like that!”
She said the Christmas property had raised a smile in the office and had given her licence to be creative:
”I loved coming up with the details like the piped Christmas music and the never-ending hallway!”
The idea for the unusual house listing was a response to the growing social media trend which sees parents taking part in the Elf on The Shelf tradition – moving an elf around the house each night and creating scenes of mischief for children to discover.
Elf on The Shelf has become an internet phenomenon since its arrival in the UK in 2013. Originating in America, the festive tradition was the result of a book written by Chanda Bell about an elf who watched children’s behaviour and reported back to Santa Claus.
Earlier this month, journalist Tom Harwood shared a graph showing the frequency of tweets about Elf on The Shelf this year surpassed those featuring Father Christmas and Santa Claus.
Welcome to 2018, where ‘Elf on the Shelf’ is more popular than Father Christmas. pic.twitter.com/G5Qp8Z1cm5
— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) December 6, 2018
The popularity and competitive creativity inspired by this month-long tradition continues to rise, with 2.9million Instagram posts under the hashtag #elfontheshelf.