Special offer

Consumers Beware: Smoke and Mirrors ARE on the Internet

By
Real Estate Agent with EXP Realty 414-525-0563 57026-90 Broker

  The other day we became aware of a property for sale.  In another life, we knew the seller who had long since moved away from the market and entrusted a friend of hers to get the property listed.smoke and mirrors

   The friend did what lots of consumers would do...she looked on the internet to find a realtor who would be well suited as a listing agent...that sounds logical, prudent...the "right thing to do."   The friend found the listing agents...lots of blogs....lots of what appeared to be "market knowledge"...what she would never find....and of course did not appear anywhere she could see easily....was the track record of the listing agent.

    If she could peer into the MLS ....or ask the lister for a printout of sales (likely the lister would say they were "outside of MLS"...yeah right !) she would find out that gross sales for the last several years didn't or barely hit the million mark...which puts the listing agent at below the poverty level. Hoe much time, effort, money can a listing agent put against a listing with this kind of income ?

     Smoke and Mirrors aren't just in magic shows....we see them every day...the ability to create them makes it a little more difficult for consumers to discern who the REAL real estate agents are....and who the ones are that hide behind their blogs and imagine their sales.

Posted by

Sally K. & David L. Hanson, ABR, CDPE, CSS, e-Pro,ILHM, REDS


home worth iconemail iconhome searchLinked In  facebook

Glenn Roberts
Retired - Seattle, WA

There will always be bad apples and some people will be fooled. Part of our job as Realtors is the continued education of the public, and posts including the public, like this one, help us along that road.

Feb 28, 2010 12:22 AM
Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

Thank you Glenn...you can't believe everything you read, no matter where you read it !

Feb 28, 2010 12:24 AM
Sharon Tara
Sharon Tara Transformations - Portsmouth, NH
Retired New Hampshire Home Stager

You are so right...sellers beware!  With the right web designer and clever text and attractive graphics any realtor can appear to be the professional of choice.  It takes more than searching the web to find the right professional!

Feb 28, 2010 02:50 AM
Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

Anyone can say whatever they want about themselves....and they do...and therein lies the danger, Will Robinson.

Feb 28, 2010 02:55 AM
Ellie McIntire
Ellicott City Clarksville Howard County Maryland Real Estate - Ellicott City, MD
Luxury service in Central Maryland

Way way way back when I started blogging and was very green I did a post about how most of the agents on Active Rain in my area (ones who I could check their sales) were very inactive. I remember getting blasted for that one about how sales and productivity don't count! Go figure

Feb 28, 2010 03:24 AM
Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

You are not alone Ellie....while Wisconsin is not just chuck full of bloggers....we know from reading the numbers in MLS...they are shall we say "imaginative"....their sales are imagined and not actual as recorded in MLS...and the story about how they were not IN MLS....oh pullllleeez.

Feb 28, 2010 03:42 AM
Janna Scharf
Keller Williams Realty Coeur d'Alene - Coeur d'Alene, ID
Coeur d'Alene Idaho Real Estate Expert

I had an out of town referral for my first listing after relocating to Idaho.  I was competing with a local high producer.  After the seller told me she was going to use me, she sent me an email asking for my production for the past two years.  I know my competition, who could see in the MLS that I had done NOTHING, had planted that seed.  So I sent her my production for the past two years - in Colorado.  You gotta start somewhere! 

Feb 28, 2010 07:50 AM
Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

Food for you Janna...it is the people who have been here forever...and pretend they sell a zillion that may think about finishing rather than starting.

Feb 28, 2010 10:27 AM
Russel Ray, San Diego Business & Marketing Consultant & Photographer
Russel Ray - San Diego State University, CA

Smoke and mirrors via computers and technology has created smoke-and-mirror professionals to compete with real professionals in all industries.

Feb 28, 2010 12:29 PM
Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

You can be an imaginary anything you wish....and probably find someplace to download the credentials to "prove it" as well !

Feb 28, 2010 12:56 PM
TeamCHI - Complete Home Inspections, Inc.
Complete Home Inspections, Inc. - Brentwood, TN
Home Inspectons - Nashville, TN area - 615.661.029

I have graduated from the school, "If it looks too good to be true, it usually is..."

Helping you help others live their American dream...

Feb 28, 2010 08:07 PM
Jay Markanich
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia

I'm not old enough to smoke.

Feb 28, 2010 08:53 PM
Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

Leave it to home inspectors to see thru the smoke ...thanks guys !

Feb 28, 2010 10:21 PM
Dick and Dixie Sells
Sells Real Estate, LLC - Trinity, FL
Realtors, Tampa Bay Florida Homes For Sale

Marketing a listing well and correctly takes time and money. I usually comment in a listing presentation that the person should choose an agent that has the ability to finance the marketing of their property.

Mar 01, 2010 12:01 AM
Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

I think becuz they see the agent "all over" the internet...they "asume" they have money for marketing....and in this case as I am sure others....not soooo much !

Mar 01, 2010 02:15 AM