Discovering Real Estate Truths on the Internet
Posted on April 20th, 2008 by Jonathan Dalton
Last night I discovered that my beloved Tobey is a phony. Since his dual knee surgeries last summer, Tobey has been claiming that he can’t climb onto the couches in our family room without someone lifting his fat carcass up there.
Then came last night … after fighting with Morgan in the backyard, Tobey came charging into the family room, took two quick steps and jumped onto the couch without the slightest hesitation. It turns out that what he advertised wasn’t necessarily an accurate portrayal of his abilities.
There’s no end to the similar stories in the online real estate world.
Some continue to beat the drum for disintermediation - the elimination of the real estate agent caused by the growth of online information - without realizing not everyone has the expertise, the time or the inclination to do everything that needs to be done to complete a real estate transaction. (I can change my own oil, for instance, but still take my car to the shop because it’s worth the money to save the time and hassle.)
Some argue vehemently against dual agency - the practice by which one agent represents both buyer and seller in the same transaction - and then quietly act in just such a capacity when necessity strikes.
Many, many, many promote their listing presentations or short sale seminars or their systems for turning expired listings into gold … but not all actually are licensed or selling real estate.
Some will tell you again and again that they do things from a marketing standpoint that no one else will do … and then you discover they only have a couple of listings and haven’t sold more than a couple of houses over the past several months while proclaiming marketing brilliance.
Many believe the Internet is bringing transparency to the real estate process and to some degree it has. But it also has led to a new level of obfuscation, where those who know the ins and outs of the search engines and client psychology can position themselves to be what they are not.
Now, more than ever, caveat emptor is the dominant theme.
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>>>Some will tell you again and again that they do things from a marketing standpoint that no one else will do … and then you discover they only have a couple of listings and haven’t sold more than a couple of houses over the past several months while proclaiming marketing brilliance.
Yeah. That was fun. I called a guy out on his MLS stats when I was still an agent. “Oh, I don’t want anyone to know my business, so I give all the transactions to other licensees in my office.”
Fast forward 6 months, and I was at his office attending a Training class, and his car got repo’d in front of everyone. This was 2004. Funny day.
So so true! It bends the mind.
The local real estate rag is full of the guys and dolls who proclaim being #1 at something. It’s so sad when a quarter of the ad space is dedicated to telling you that. Why doesn’t the consumer get it?
Call me naive but, I always thought the ad was supposed to be about the property you are selling.