Hi All,
Let me start by saying that I am fully aware of the fact that making a statement like the one in the title of this post "I Know What's Wrong With Real Estate And I Know How To Fix It", is bold, brash and yes, cocky. However, I think I do, I really, really do. Are you ready? Here it is... Television! Television is what is wrong with Real Estate.
How can that be you ask? Well let me tell you...
The recent proliferation of reality and pseudo reality shows that profile every aspect of the industry, present a picture to the consumer that is amusing, and it makes good TV. But it is no more accurate a portrayal of the business, the agent, or of the buying, selling or flipping process than soap operas are of real life.
Shows like Million Dollar Listing (no offense Madison Hildebrand, I know you were only on the show, you didn't create it), Flip This House, Take This House and Sell It and Real Estate Confidential, to name just a few, are taken by the vast majority of the public to be accurate, actual fact and not just entertainment.
The good news is they provide easy access and ready availability of information. They even sometimes have great tips. People today have the opportunity to become better informed, better educated and better prepared before they choose to become a real estate consumer than they have ever had before.
The bad news is, they also have the opportunity to access inaccurate information, half-baked concepts and down right lies all presented as fact, almost instantly. It's hard enough to inform consumers especially when you are telling them something they don't want to hear, but to have to combat television, especially programing that purports to be "reality" can make the job difficult, if not impossible.
Sure, it is entertaining to peek behind the gates at multi-million dollar estates, and see them wheel and deal, but what does that have to do with the average house? I can even imagine the conversation "Yes, the house on the show looks almost the same as yours but their's is in Malibu and yours is in Hemet so..."
The other thing that makes television bad is that they run and re-run these shows constantly. So when the consumer sees the show, they are not necessarily aware of the fact that they are watching a snapshot of a wrinkle in time that might as well be of a galaxy far, far away.
On one program the agent holds a broker's open and gets over 100 people in - in two hours. He says the results were "OK"... So your client watches that show, sees those results and then when you hold their home open and are jumping for joy because you had 20 people come, they are disappointed by the dismal turn out.
And let's talk about the home flipping shows shall we? They show you a house that is practically condemned. Throw ten grand at it, and in seven days they are putting it up on the market, and it sells just like that. Reality? I don't think so. When did they get the permits? When did they get the inspections? Where did they get a licensed contractor who will do everything from demo to install with a crew of 10 for under two grand total? I'll tell you: They don't, they didn't and standing in front of Home Depot.
While I stick to my conviction that television is what's wrong with Real Estate, it is not too late to fix it. I think if we keep offering our client's consistent, informed, intelligent and accurate information they may come around. Just as long as we wait until the commercial to try to get their attention.
Take care, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
Tisza
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