Remarkable Marketing

This property at 5946 Llano Ave. in Dallas was just listed by an Edwin Dolatkhah with Plugin Realty. It's priced at $209,000, which is pretty good for the area. It's also listed as a "short sale." But how about those photos, huh? I mean, nothing says "Welcome Home" more than scary pitch black photos. Amiright?

But seriously, how in the hell can any reasonably intelligent person upload those photos, knowing they will be distributed to all major real estate websites, and not think to themselves, "You know....These photos are a little on the dark side. I wonder if I should retake them?"

And then there is the person who snapped these photos. Did you even think to try a light switch or maybe open the blinds? You didn't? Okay. No. That's fine. No, no, no. Really. You did a great job. :/

Buyer Incentives Are Pointless

But perhaps one of the most ridiculous incentives I've seen recently is a $1,000 buyer's agent bonus for this home listed at $800,000...wow. $1,000 extra bucks. Great idea Ms. Listing Agent.

P.S. You're an idiot.

Bad Real Estate Photos: Not Just For "Cheap Homes"

Lately I've been working with a large number of buyers. This translates into hours upon hours of looking through hundreds of homes - and their photos. Now, we all know there are tons of bad real estate photos out there. But what I don't understand is why sellers put up with them? Surely the owners of these homes realize the photos their agent took are terrible. One would also think bad photos simply won't be acceptable for high-end homes, right? (See the two listings below for the answer.)

I spend several hours taking professional photos of every single one of my listings, regardless of the list price. I even have special computer software that I use to process the photos and touch them up as needed. I do this because I understand the power photos have when attracting potential buyers. Yet for some reason there are still agents out there - and their sellers - who don't seem to get this. Here are some examples. Enjoy!

7225 Turtle Creek Blvd. - $2,295,000

Loving the Casa Magnetica angle.

Kitchen is "light and bright."

More beautiful side yard. Comes complete with water hose.

We're uncertain what this photo is supposed to show us.

BAD REAL ESTATE PHOTOS BONUS: 4223 Bordeaux - $7,450,000

You would think a $7,450,000 home would have a little more, I don't know, pizazz! in the photos. Someone PLEASE help me understand how this is acceptable.

Marketing 101: How NOT to Photoshop Pictures of Your Listings

I admit that from time to time I will photoshop some pictures of my listings. You know, get rid of a few brown spots on the lawn, enhance the colors of the landscaping and grass. But the above photo is just embarrassing. Did this agent have his 6-year-old photoshop this for him?

That being said, the house in under contract. Let's just hope for the seller's sake this agent's negotiating skills are better than his/her photoshop skills.

New Marketing Technique Using "Artistic" Photos?

Nope. Just another poor seller who is not getting their money's worth. Or maybe they are? Either way, this is poor form and should never be acceptable to any real estate agent or their clients. At this time, there is only 1 photo. And this is the one they picked? Hopefully the seller speaks up about this.

Agent to Meet? Or Not to Meet? That is the Question.

I've been showing homes to an out of town couple around the $2 million price point over the past few weeks. Each time we view approximately 6 to 8 homes. I give at least 24 hours notice as most of these properties are "agent to meet"...the last thing any Realtor wants to see in the showing instructions section for any listing. I'm not exaggerating when I say at least 5 of the agents attempt to reschedule the 30 minute time frame I give them because they "can't make it at the time we've requested".

On the surface that sounds fair but you have to look at it from a buyer's point of view - and their agent's. When you're looking at 8 homes from Russwood Acres to Jan-Mar to Bluffview to Greenway Parks to UP/HP the listing agents should be THRILLED that I only gave them a 30 minute time frame. Let me give you an example you probably won't care much about. And that's ok. This is my own form of therapy time so let me have it, dammit! :)

You have to have a starting point so let's pick Jan-Mar (Royal and Hillcrest) at 11am. From there we're heading to Russwood Acres (Royal and Midway). Then down to Bluffview and Greenway Parks. And shoot across the toll road to the Park Cities. We'll probably end around 2pm.

But...The first agent can only meet me at 1pm so we'll need to reschedule that one. But then what about the other home in Jan-Mar we just scheduled with the other listing agent for 11:30am? I guess we can move her to 1:30pm.

And then...The second agent can't do 1:30pm because she has a massage appointment.

And then...Both of the Russwood Acres homes we want to see are having an Open House from 2pm to 4pm so it would be nice if we could reschedule our times to view the homes at that time instead of from 12pm to 1pm.

So now...I have to call the Greenway Parks listing agents and the Park Cities agents to reschedule with them and hope they can make the new appointment time after they've probably already made plans.

You see what I'm getting at. It's a pain in the arse and we typically have to cancel at least 2 of the homes on our orginal list because the agents can't meet us to show the home.

I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of "agent to meet" showings. They are pointless and my buyers find the listing agents more distracting than helpful as they prattle on about how "special" their listing is while following us from room to room.

In my opinion, no home in the Park Cities or Preston Hollow areas under $3 million is special enough to require a Realtor's presence at the home when it is being shown. If you want to brag about the special features of your listing then open up Microsoft Word and prove it by placing an information sheet in the home. You running your yapper and rattling off the 1,000 special things about this home is lost on every buyer that walks through the front door. I don't care if Lambert's did the lawn or the guy standing by the DART bus stop. If it looks nice then it looks nice. That is not a special feature of any home.

The saddest and most important part of all this is that sellers of these homes will never know someone tried to show their $1.8 million dollar home. No wonder it has been on the market for 178 days. I mean seriously, do you think the listing agent will tell their sellers they couldn't make the showing because they were too busy? I didn't think so.

Ridiculous.

Stupid Realtor Comment of the Day: Virtual Tour vs. Multiple Photos Edition

A real estate agent posted the following comment on this post - anonymously of course - saying that virtual tours are a must and that I am a fool for thinking otherwise and need to consult with the Almighty Google to reinforce my foolishness. (My comments are in italics.)

THIS IS INSANE

A prospect has pictures in the MLS to view anyway. Really!?!?!?!?

Adding a virtual tour gives them the sense of being there. Kay....

The Real Question to ask is: If you found a house you thought you really wanted to see, that truly caught your interest, and that exact same house had two viewing options one had pictures only and the other had pictures and a virtual tour would you pass up the virtual tour? The answer would be emphatically NO! This is your question. Not mine. This is also a stupid example.

The virtual tour connects all the dots. What dots are you referring to?

Sure it takes more time then looking through A dozen pictures and less convenient...IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN THOSE HOMES. But when you find the one you want. You take that virtual tour and call your husband and email your kids and let your friends see it to get their opinion, not 15 pictures. Not sure where to begin with this one...

I know, because that's exactly what my buyer and seller clients have told me. What do seller's have to do with virtual tours?

Virtual tours are priceless, just ask Google you fool. Ouch. *crying*

Look Anonymous, if that is your real name, before you go around calling people "fools" you should brush up on your reading comprehension and pay more attention to the logic behind your argument.

As I said in my post, the purpose of online photos and virtual tours are to attract potential buyers and to make them want to view the property in person with their agent. The "real question", as you so eloquently put it, isn't whether or not people will view a virtual tour of a home they are interested in. That's a stupid question. OF COURSE A POTENTIAL BUYER WILL VIEW A VIRTUAL TOUR OF A HOME THEY LIKE BECAUSE THEY LIKED THE 15 PICTURES THEY CLICKED ON SECONDS BEFORE!

Please do the real estate profession a favor and send your license back your local and state associations.

Love,

Jeff Duffey

Acclaimed "30 Under 30" Realtor Faces Mortgage Fraud Charges

Realtor Magazine releases it's choices for the best 30 Realtors under 30 each year. So says the home page,

"These bright young professionals, chosen from more than 600 applicants, showed they have what it takes to open doors in any market."

And from the sounds of it Eve Mazzarella (pictured) of Las Vegas was opening plenty of doors for people. But it's just that she may have been making millions doing so fraudulently, according to the Feds. Among the allegations,

The government alleges Mazzarella and Grimm bought more than 200 properties at inflated values using limited liability companies and more than 400 straw buyers to make purchase offers.

The couple allegedly controlled transactions worth more than $100 million."

Geez. No wonder she made the list. And no wonder Realtors have such a bad rep.

Gives a New Meaning to "House Porn"

Old news but still gross. I doubt this is what Candy over at Dallas Dirt had in mind.

Yet Another Reason Realtors Have a Bad Reputation

This is an absolutely awful story about a real estate agent with Remax out of Milwaukee who conspired with her seller not to sell or show the home to a buyer because she is African-American. The Department of Justice handed down a $35,000 fine to both seller and her broker but chose to allow the agent to continue selling real estate in her market.

Author, Blanche Evans, brings up a good point. What the hell does a Realtor have to do to lose their license? If a Realtor learns one thing in real estate class I can attest to the fact they will leave understanding the concept of Fair Housing Laws quite well. It should be a no brainer that this agent never handle another real estate transaction for the rest of her life. So how does something like this happen?

Realtors Are Our Own Worst Enemies

Now Realtors are giving into terrible real estate market hype which is REALLY bad! Check out this email I just got from an agent representing a buyer on one of my listings. They made an offer, we countered and now the buyer is having “second thoughts” about raising his offer. Here is the agent’s email to me:

I just don't think my client will come up that high. He really feels it's a declining market. I would love to make this work too but we feel $XXX,XXX is a bit high. I'll let you know when I hear back from my buyer as to if he wants to come up. some. Thanks

Now I could get into how justified my clients asking price is (and it really is) but that’s not the point. The point is that we all know buyers think the real estate market is tanking but if Realtors start buying into the hype then we’re all in big trouble. So consider this a prime example of why the real estate market IS tanking. It’s because buyers aren’t even willing to pay market value for a home and their agents don’t have the wherewithal to educate them. Notice how the agent said “we” feel the price is too high. Not just her client, but the agent who should know the market!

The issues:

· Buyers want to buy below market value or else they move on to the next one.
· Agents aren’t properly educating their clients that not every property for sale is a foreclosure or short sale so they can’t expect sellers to give away their homes for lower than market value.
· Agents blindly let their clients lead them from house to house making offer after offer that is not accepted. After 4 to 6 months of searching the buyer decides to stay in his lease and renew or stay in his house until the market “gets better”.
· Buyers and sellers think they know the real estate market better than the experts which should be local Realtors.
· Local Realtors are letting their clients tell them how bad the market is and Realtors aren’t standing up for themselves and educating their clients.

My question to the buyers out there is what are you going to do when the market gets better? There will be less inventory and chances are you’ll be paying more for the home than if you were to buy it now. So you are willing to potentially pay a premium for the same home years from now rather than to buy it at market value right now? Makes perfect sense to me. (Sarcasm)

My theory on the real culprit behind this? Immediate equity. Too many home improvement shows have shown how young couples live in a home for 2 years and make $100,000 without drastically improving the home. That has never been the case in Dallas and never will be. So I think the buyers are afraid of the commitment a home offers. The average person needs to live in the home for at least 3 years and put at least 5% down (or 5 years if they put nothing down) if he or she wants to sell and break even. But buyers don’t want to hear this. Sellers have put their home on the market after living in it for 2 years with very little equity and can’t sell it at a premium and get stuck. Buyers are catching on to this so they don’t want to “overpay” since they may or may not want to sell within 2 to 3 years and if they “overpay” then they won’t have immediate equity just in case they need to sell and get out.

What a Gem

Jeff Janus of Keller Williams shares his real estate profile and impresses us all with his tagline "Life is short. Get a divorce. Let me sell your house." His clients must be very proud to work with such a fine professional. Keller Williams must also be proud to claim him as one of their own. Kudos to you, Jeff Janus. You are a great example to your fellow Realtors. Not to mention the real estate consumer.

What's behind door number three? A dead body

There are so many things wrong with this story I don't even know where to begin. Ok I'll give it a shot:

A Janesville [Wisconsin] real estate agent can't believe she didn't realize that a form on the bed at a house she showed Monday night was a woman who apparently had been dead for two weeks."I've smelled death. I know what death smells like," she said. "I can't believe my sinuses were that bad."

What??? Who says that??? Then the agent had to be coerced to "call someone" so naturally she calls - no not the police - but the listing agent. Wait. It gets better. The Realtor's client was the one who eventually called the police hours after spotting the corpse. So did they make an offer or what?