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"Dirty Harry and Local Real Estate Experts" - Trulia Voices Q & A's

I've always been a big fan of Clint Eastwood. When I served onboard a submarine in the US Navy, we watched "The Outlaw Josey Wales " a gazillion times while out on patrol. There's just some very basic and wise counsel we can derive from the rich history of 'Clintisms' found in his archive of quality male-bonding films. trulia voices

For instance:

From Pink Cadillac: "I have strong feelings about gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be the one controlling it."

From The Rookie: "If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster."

From Dirty Harry: "Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?"

From Sudden Impact: "Go ahead, make my day."

In the movie "Magnum Force " the Oscar-winning actor made the memorable quote, "A man's got to know his limitations ."

The other day, I was responding to a question I had received through Trulia's Voices . This is one of the better features of their platform where consumers accessing their site can pose questions relating to real estate. ActiveRain used to have something very similar that had dominant placement, but its been lost in the wake of other value-added features.

On Trulia, if you register for a specific geographic market area, they will automatically notify you whenever a question is submitted for that area.

Unfortunately, Trulia has the same kind of problems we experienced here on ActiveRain. Everyone's an expert. It doesn't matter if you're licensed in Alabama, and the consumer is submitting a question from Alaska, everyone with a question is fair game!

On Trulia, you can gain some notoriety for being one of the 'Top Real Estate Professionals on Trulia Voices .' All you have to do is answer the most questions. It doesn't matter if your advice/answers have any bearing on the question, or provide any substantive value to the consumer. Whoever has the most answers earns the Top Spot, period (And I thought we had problems with people gaming the point system here on ActiveRain!). Personally, I think there would be greater value in scoring/ranking their top members by using the rating they receive from the actual consumers who are posing the questions. To me, that would be the most realistic and meaningful measure of a real estate professionals worth.

Regardless, the bigger problem, as I see it, relates to so-called real estate professionals who are attempting to answer questions beyond their area of expertise. Now granted, there are aspects to our business that apply to virtually all markets. And some people are legitimately licensed to conduct business in more than one State. But that's usually the exception, and not the norm, in these kinds of forums.

For me, it's normally a dead give-away when the first part of their answer begins with "I don't know how they do it in your State, but here in XYZ we".....

If you're not licensed to do business in a particular State, or aren't familiar with their specific State laws or statutes, don't answer! There are few things worse than giving unqualified advice. You end up being like that guy on the Holiday Inn Express commercials:

"No, I've never performed open heart surgery, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night! "

And who in their right mind would open themselves up to the increased exposure for potential liability by giving an unqualified answer on the Internet where the digital record is such an enduring source of incrimination?

The other thing that really bothers me (and this is more of a personal pet peeve), are those whose actual answers are shorter and of less substance that the incessant volume of blatant self-promotional banter that they cram into the body of their weak, emaciated answers.

Do you really want to earn the consumers trust? Do you really want to provide them with information that is relevant, helpful, and practical? Do you want to establish your credentials as the local resident real estate expert? Do you want them to contact you if they want further assistance? Then answer only the questions you are clearly qualified to respond to, and make your answers complete/meaningful. Don't try to bait them into accessing your website, or contacting you by email for more details. Give them the good stuff, right up front, and in its entirety.

"Go Ahead, Make Their Day!"

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com , SOUNDBITEBLOG , and Crabbing in the Hood , or e-mail: kitsapagent@gmail.com

Posted by Rich Jacobson Your Kitsap County WA Real Estate Agent on 05/27/2009 04:27 AM

Comments (55)

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55 Comments on "Dirty Harry and Local Real Estate Experts" - Trulia Voices Q & A's

MAY

How Interesting - Sylvie Conde just wrote post a couple of days ago about this - and we were wondering why the consumer question/realtor response wasn't highlighted with a/r - but this explains it!

Hi Rich... this is another GREAT post! Educated consumers are impressed with intelligent, informative and original content, whether it is on A|R, Trulia or any other website. There's simply no point in luring people to you if what they find, when they read what you have to say, is incoherent dribble, blatant self-promotion and/or questionable advice. Isn't there an old adage that goes something like "It is better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt?"

Rich, Clint would be proud! I feel the same way. I rarely even answer questions on any of the platforms because of all the agent "rock star" wannabees. I get so tired of seeing the same old peeps from CA or WI or CT answering questions in MY area! When a consumer asks a specific question to a region they want a specific answer from someone that is in the region not on the Battle Star Galactica a million miles away.

If they just must answer a question for some type of ranking I would rather see something like... I know Rich Jacobson in WA and I know he will be able to give you a great answer, I will call/email and let him know to come on over and lend an answer - now that would be networking at its finest!

Oh - and what am I doing up making comments at 3am!!

Rich: It is pretty bad when all a person can do is either drag and drop a post from somewhere else (some folks call that stealing) or provide answers to questions that are so goofy that one has to slap the back of one's head (like Mark Harmon does on NCIS) to see if they are in some bad dream.

Thanks for a great post, Rich. Take care...

Rich

A lot can be learned from that movie, as well as "Pale Rider"

Rich, I think when it first was launched everyone wanted to be an expert. But, long ago I stopped commenting on anything but Michigan questions and even then not on questions that I couldn't access through my MLS.

If someone asks about a house in Grand Rapids, Detroit, Travers City I just pass them by and let the the Realtors from those area's answer.

It is frustrating to me too to see an agent comment from CA of a Mi question.

Other than that I have one buyer under contract from Trulia, one listing coming up soon and a prospect called yesterday so it definately worth using.

I've never answered a Trulia question outside of Ohio. In fact I've only answered Central Ohio questions. I believe my time on the internet is better served elsewhere. Occasionally I see a question in my email that I answer from Trulia.

I've NEVER answered a question on ActiveRain or Zillow.

I'm amazed when I go to answer a question in Virginia to see an answer from someone outside the state. I don't even answer questions that aren't about Northern Virginia. We also need to be cautious about the answer we give. Giving specific about their situation can be tricky since you have never seen their contract and have no idea whether they can do x or y. Some folks dive right in an answer questions about whether this is a good school or a bad neighborhood and I just cringe. There is liability in ever answer we put out for the public to see and we need to remember that as we jump in to try and save the day.

It seems realtors like to hear the sound of their own voices....internet or otherwise...and I sooo agree..the echo of comments from California, Fllorida on Wisconsin, Illinois etc. real estate rings very hollow...have they nothing else to do...or do they think they are national authorities....thanks Rich...!

Answering questions on anything outside the scope of your license is inappropriate. I see it all the time on Trulia but nothing ever seems to be done to control it.

Rich, I'm a huge Clint Eastwood fan as well. I see the same problem w/Trulia voices. Consumers ask for specific information on an area and agents from other states give answers...doesn't make sense. There should be a little more control on that site in my opinion.

Rich - Very well written post. I think "man's got to know his limitations" applies to many facets of our industry. I remember Bullwinkle as a child, and there was a segment called Mr. Know-it-all. Seems like some come across this way at times.

Did you see "Gran Torino"?

Loved it.

Can't believe it did NOT do better at the theaters or in awards. It's Clint Eastwood for pete's sake.

It is amazing what you see there Rich. I love the fights you see as well. It is pretty comical when you see Realtors and the Real Estate haters bicker amongst themselves.

Gracious Rich...

I find Trulia Q&A to be one of those icky real estate experiences. I avoid it like the plague. It really is an embarrassment to this industry to watch grown ups bicker the way they do. Oh, and Clint is Da Man :)

TLW...ROAR!

Rich, I have found some incredibly bad advice on Trulia. Mostly from the general public, but occasionally from Realtors also. It's a great place for a buyer or seller to get themselves into some serious difficulty.

"The other thing that really bothers me (and this is more of a personal pet peeve), are those whose actual answers are shorter and of less substance that the incessant volume of blatant self-promotional banter that they cram into the body of their weak, emaciated answers."

But wait, can you be a little more open with your real feelings? Let it out man!

Rich - I learned very quickly that the tone of the forum at Trulia is not nearly as welcoming as ActiveRain. I was publicly insulted by a fellow member on one of my first attempts to answer a question there (I didn't realize that answers couldn't be edited at all, so I had to add another comment), and I immediately emailed him to confront him on the matter. He backpedaled and apologized, but it left a bad taste for me.

It makes one wonder about the caliber of the potential client as a whole using this medium. If they have been using the Internet in general , they would be better served to contact one or two agents directly in their preferred market, instead of issuing a blanket question out into the unknown.

But like rock star agents ,I guess there are folks that want to be groupies as well.

I haven't spent much time on Trulia Q&A and now I am glad I haven't. I do check when it notifies me of a question in the Valparaiso area.

I have alerts set up for the communities I serve and I am showing a buyer today that I answered a question for on there yesterday. However...I understand what you are saying. I am in Texas and one question from a person in my community had the first three answers from California agents!! What is up with that???? Annoying...stay in your own stinking market and that would "make my day!!!"

Thanks for the great comments, Everyone! We already have a reputation management issue with the way the general public perceives us without adding gas to the fire.

I think there can be value to one's involvement on Trulia. If more knowledgeable professionals were responding to the questions, maybe the unqualified responders would diminish.

Rich, I've had the Trulia thing linking on my to do list for a couple of weeks now. Thanks for the reminder to be able to check it off!

I agree with you Rich. I have set up my alerts on Trulia to tell me when someone asks a question in Northern Nevada. Other than that, I keep my nose OUT of it!

Ha what a great way of putting it! Good post for sure.

Patricia Aulson/Portsmouth NH Real Estate

Rich,

Those early Dirty Harry movies were really manipulative but I loved them. You wanted to shoot the bad guy yourself from the theater seat.

We are like Missy and only answer questions that pertain to our state, and even more specifically to just our local communities. We have e-mail alerts set up for that. One other thing I can't believe I see all the time there is how agents are recommending things they shouldn't be or giving advice they shouldn't be giving (like legal or accounting issues). ~Rita

Rich....When first reading, I thought I would have another tool.....NOT... I haven't spent any time on Trulia Q&A and do not plan to after reading this post and comments. I love Clint Eastwood's movies. His last one, Grand Torino, was priceless.

Rich: I've always been a big fan of Clint. Did you know he did a short stint as a life guard at Kennydale Beach and tended bar at the Melrose in Renton way back in the day (early fifties)! I haven't really followed commenting on Trulia. As a title person, I do get asked questions about ownership issues etc. One thing we were taught early on is "never give legal advice!" (There's an exception to everything.) Our industry (like real estate) is so very driven by city, county, state, and federal laws and guide lines. You can only be a real expert in your local market. I really learned a lot about title when I became a regional and started traveling around Washington, Oregon, and California. The laws really do vary. I haven't done any actual title work for a few years now because I'm so involved with the technology, our web site, and our marketing (my true passion). But if you do have a question regarding title, I know who you need to talk to! I do my best to live by our IT Marketing mantra: Practice what you preach, and demonstrate. thx... Rene'

I don't know much about Trulia and from the sounds of it I don't need to even bother. Practicing outside one's scope of experience is a no no here in AZ. It's been the buzz topic for several years. Why i would comment on another state I knew nothing about is............nuts.

Thanks for the spin on Clint!

Amen to that! If they gave positioning props or whatever for the feature where the consumer picks the best answer it might be worthwhile!

I actually stopped looking for questions here on A|R because of the crap/reality ratio. It seemed like there were bored people from all over the place answering questions about license law of which they always had to add that it might not apply where the consumer was... fast but inaccurate is still inaccurate...

Rich - I am only licensed in New Jersey and will only answer questions about New Jersey since that is where I am licensed. Does that make it simple punk? Well does it?

Nice Post Rich :-)

I tried to answer questions on Trulia for several months, but as you mentioned, there was usually a barrel of of "experts" racing in and climbing all over one another that I was just frustrating. Also, the self-promotion was shameless!

Great post...

Rich,

You have definitely enlighten me on this trulia stuff (I was avoiding it like the plague..)..

sounds like I'm still doing good..

but had to comment on the Dirty Harry moments :) I was laughing so hard because my husband is quoting "Josey Wales" ALL THE TIME. He watches this movie over and over...I started to think I was living with him....

thanks for making me know that he's not the only one:)

Ah, a man after my own heart. You must have been watching all the Clint Eastwood movies on television last week. I can never get enough of him. I even finally sat down and watched all of "Unforgiven," albeit it had commercials.

You should see the question I was answering today. This guy was REALLY worked up about a fee that a buyer's agent had charged him. Then a couple of non-agents started agent bashing. But overall, I was really disappointed with the crappy answers by other agents. Instead of explaining WHY there might be a fee, even though most of us don't charge one, they all just said to dump the agent. Did any of them consider the fact that if the buyer switches agents, the first one is still entitled to a commission, since they did the work? The buyer can choose a different agent, but he cannot decide who gets the commission. I ended up practically blogging an answer. And I still didn't address this latter part about who gets the commission if he dumps the current one.

"Everyone's an expert." and from behind the keyboard all of these so-called experts seem to have an increasingly arrogant attitude. I've said it before but sometimes it gets so deep, it takes wings to stay above it! Great post Rich!

Hi Rich!
Your timing of this post is serendipity. I am one of the guilty parties...and didn't even know it! I have been answering questions on the Q & A for some time now. I enjoy trying to help. What I didn't realize is how really different some laws are in different states. It was pointed out to me this week that I shouldn't answer questions for Ontario, even though I qualified the answers with "ask your attorney". The other agent was absolutely right and I now pay more attention to where the question is coming from. Thanks for reinforcing her thoughts!

Rich, you said: If you're not licensed to do business in a particular State, or aren't familiar with their specific State laws or statutes, don't answer!

To that I say, AMEN! I've seen a few of those both on Trulia and here on ActiveRain. Annoying, to say the least.

Exactly. Being in one of the top spots does not necessarily mean that that particular agent knows the laws of another state or states. Thus a caveat.

Me personally I stick with my state (i.e. Florida) and do not respond to questions about other states and/or countries.

Can I just stay in my own little corner and not get caught up in all that :) Another 'matter of fact' facts by Rich :)

Hi Rich -- I was on a submarine rescue ship, then an aircraft carrier. We never got to resuce a sub -- a good thing indeed. Great post about being realistic and non-self promoting.

I agree, that has always bugged me when people do that, and add their website, or contact info.,someone from a different state is not going to hire you.

MAY

It is hard to believe someone would dare answer a questions about Texas from New York... I say stay local... Just my 2 cents.. Great post.

Hi Rich,

As always good post and good content. I loooovvvvve Clint! But that aside, I really don't like those that always try to be the expert. The "look at me," individuals. If I had a dollar (used to be a dime, inflation you know) for everyone that has said to me, " Yeah I know about psychology I took it as a freshman in college." I'ed be a rich person. Gees why did I bother to get the rest of my degrees?

Besides the legal implications that insue from giving answers to questions you are not qualified to answer, what about the harm you might do by wrong info.?

MAY

Rich - I SAW YOUR POST AND WAS SCARED TO READ IT! You see, I've been feeling a little guilty, because I know we're not supposed to self-promote......YET........

I only answer questions in my area and if I KNOW I have a brilliant, extremely detailed and thoughtful response. However, I must admit, I occasionally will go into a little self promotion if it's snuck in at the end of one of my responses that I put a lot of time and effort in to. The one sentence guys from other states are doing it and sometimes even the ill-advised agents in my area are, and it made me so furious. And I know two wrongs don't make a right, but at some point in time, I confess, I found myself stooping to the level of a wee bit of self promotion. Again, after putting significant time into actually helping these people.

Tell me I'm not the only one?! ~ Julia

MAY

Rich, I didn't know how much I didn't know about Trulia! It sounds like it has some value to a few agents so I guess it is worth checking out a bit more. I like the way you tied the incomparable Clint to the post!

MAY

Rich, I can't imagine Clint Eastwood giving advice on topics he didn't know about. Neither should we.

JUN

Rich - I love the post, great job and I am a Clint Eastwood fan. I like Clint's line "This is a Smith & Wesson 44 Magnum, the most powerful hand gun in the world"

Vegas Bob

hey, go easy on the "answering questions on Trulia Voices from out of region". Not all questions require a regional answer. There are plenty of questions that can be answered by any Realtor in the country.

I've spent years answering questions on Trulia (and Zillow), and am one of those who has gained some notoriety as a Top Voice on Trulia Voices. Just as I've built a following here on Active Rain who value my writing and opinions... I'd gained a followiing on Trulia, based on the answers & advice I've given.

Yes, a question like... "how much should my 2br condo in the Pearl in Portland sell for?" should be answered by a local expert. But a question like "Do you feel Open Houses are useful?" could be answered by agents from Alaska to Miami...

Clint Eastwood rocks and so does the characters he plays!

Trulia is a great place to get new business, all you have to do is actually ad value and answer with relevance. So many don't bother to do it, so it's basically a cake walk for those that do.

JUN

Alan: As stated, there are exceptions, and you may be one of them. However, I am curious as to your 'following.' Is it comprised of consumers or fellow professionals, or both? In what sense do they 'follow' you? And has their 'following' resulted in closed transactions?

Yes, it has resulted in closed transactions... both listings and buyers... (as I hope Active Rain will one day) and my "following" primarily consists of people who often "agree" with me... or quote me... or give me online kudos... or simply like my style of answers (many have e-mailed me privately)... as well as other fellow professionals. I also get a fair share of dislike-mail (I don't wanna call it hate-mail) from those who don't agree with my points of view.

...but my point is... I answer "out of region" questions, when appropriate, all the time. And I don't do so to try to get business in Las Vegas, Akron, Bethesda or Miami. I reply when I can adequately answer the question. When it requires a regional answer, I tend to stay out of it.

But a question like "What standard commission do Realtors charge in Portland?" Can be answered as "Commissions are fully negotiable and there is no standard" from an agent anywhere in the country. And it's not an attempt to usurp local agents, nor to develop business in the Pacific Northwest.

I'll accept that I might be an exception (I am, after all, an exceptional Realtor)... but I also feel that there are as many agents answering non-regional questions with acceptable answers... as there are buttinsky agents answering local questions when they shouldn't, in an obvious attempt to drum-up referral business.

JUN

Rich,

I have no problem if Clint is hired to go over to Trulia and clean up the present abuse there. That magnum in his hand would definitely carry some weight.

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