BEWARE OF THE BAIT AND SWITCH MARKETING!

Beware of Bait and Switch Marketing Tactics!
By Michelle Shelton

Have you ever been searching for a home and found one on the web that was perfect for you and the price was unbelievably low? When you called the real estate agent on the other end of the line said, "I'm sorry but that home is already sold but we have others like it, what are you looking for and what is your price range? This is a common tactic called bait and switch. It is so subtle and looks so attractive that much like the trophy bass in the lake, we take the bait and WHAM, they have hooked us and we are telling them exactly the home we want.

Many of these agents turn out to be very good in the end...others, well, it is questionable. So, if some of them turn out to be good, what exactly is the problem with this type of marketing?  The problem is it is a REALTOR® CODE OF ETHICS violation to advertise a property as available after it has already sold.

So, why do these agents do it? They do it as a bait and switch tactic. They are looking to generate leads...in other words, they are baiting you, in order to switch you to another property.