Monday, December 4, 2006

Real Estate Gimmicks!

There are many Realtors out there who are using gimmicks to lure in people. I also forewarned readers to beware these gimmicks. They, like the proverbial book, aren't to be judged by their cover. The adage, "sounds too good to be true," is very fitting in most instances where these gimmicks are concerned. For instance, you may see an advertisement in a magazine, on the Internet, or even on the side of a van that says, "We will sell your home for free..." Often times, in fact, most times, there is no fine print below, above, or present, explaining the catch. And believe me, there is a catch. I mean honestly, would an Agent of any brokerage sell a home for free??? Or, you may see an advertisement that says, "We will sell your home in 24 hours...guaranteed!" When the general public sees an ad like this the immediate thought is, "Wow, in the real estate market the competition is high. Agents are doing everything they can to grab Clients. This person is really putting themselves on the line."

Now, they ARE in fact putting themselves on the line, but not in the way the consumer may be thinking. Another advertisement that is pretty popular is, "We will sell your home in ______ days or we will buy it!" This advertisement is more true than not. Your home will be purchased, but at what price? In most cases the deceptive agent WILL in fact buy your home if they don't sell it in 30, 60, or 90 days, but it will be purchased at appraised value - and I bet the appraiser used may be a good friend of the agent. Regardless, your home won't be purchased at list price.
My point is that these advertisements are very misleading. They are borderline deceptive.

I had an interesting conversation with an attorney at the Texas Real Estate Commission today. I explained to her a hypothetical scenario. My hypothetical scenario was a "what if" type of event. For example, what if I said this, that, or the other (one of the gimmicks mentioned above) in my advertising as an Agent or Realtor? She immediately let me know that I was being deceptive and/or misleading. I agreed. She also told me that if a client were wise enough they could report me, I would be investigated by TREC, and I'd be in trouble. It was an enlightening conversation.

Now, some of you reading this may say, "Gosh, aren't you kind of shooting yourself in the foot? You aren't going to be able to use these gimmicks now. You have knowledge of their motive." No, we aren't shooting ourselves in the foot. We don't use these kinds of gimmicks. We never have. Call us here at 4Front Real Estate Group old fashioned, but we believe in stellar Client service as the best tool for growing and sustaining our business. Smoke and mirrors aren't necessary. When we advertise, "Wow - under contract in 8 days," that's because the home went on the market 8 days earlier and had a receipted contract on it in 8 days. Or, when we advertise, "This home sold in _____ weeks," it really did. Or when we advertise that we give unique and preeminent service, we really do. You see, if we advertised using gimmicks then we'd be more worried about avoiding the catch in the gimmick than we would be concerned about you - the Client. Thus, you'd suffer. This is unacceptable.

Agents have enough trouble competing against each other in the marketplace without gimmicks. And Agents who advertise like this, in many instances, give the rest of us bad names who work in this industry. There are enough car salesmen in the world.

Dustin...
www.4fronterealty.com

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