I was so excited yesterday morning when CBS news called us to do an interview for the local nightly news. I asked the reporter how she found us and she said I did a Google search on the Internet. Of course our Active Rain blog came up with our articles about Foreclosures and Short Sales.

She said she wanted us to show her some bank owned properties that were ransacked and destroyed. She also wanted me to set up an interview with one of our buyers to talk about how hard it is to buy a nice house and that they are all destroyed because the banks are not taking care of them and that the interest rates are going up so they can't buy a home. She said that she was doing the story because Florida is in the top 4 of most foreclosed property states.

I seized this opportunity to spin the story.

First I told her about our seller who we were trying to save from Foreclosure and we would love a story about that in hopes that it would reach someone at Countrywide that would help us. She was NOT interested.

Next I told her about the short sale crisis and how the banks would do better financially if they would streamline their short sales process and how we would love to do an interview to let people who need help know that we and others can help them. She was NOT interested.

Then I told her about how we have buyers who are buying right now, the interest rates are still extremely low, that I worked in the business with interest rates at 18% and how FHA is giving our buyers some great options. We need more buyers to come into the market because here in our town, now is a good time to buy. She was NOT interested.

So then I told her I would look up some properties and see if we could meet her at one of the bank owned properties. I was still excited at this point to do an interview because I know and teach about how powerful media coverage is to our business. I am a PR queen just as Patricia Kennedy is a PR hound. We understand how to leverage a chance to be in the news in print, radio or on T.V. This is the best way to create a reputation and an image. People don't believe your ads but they do believe the news. When you buy and editorial style ad versus the obvious ad in a paper, you will get a larger response from the editorial ad even though you must disclose at the bottom of it that you paid for it. It is just the way it is and so in our business a press release or an interview is far more valuable than a print ad, which we don't even do anymore.

I called Nestor to tell him that he would be the one showing the houses because she wanted to meet in an hour and I was not ready and I would do the research. Nestor told me take a deep breathe, not get so excited and then asked me, " What is her objective? Honey, we don't want agents around here to hate us because we are spreading negative news. We also don't want to be the bearers of the bad news, if there is any." He had a very good point.


Then I researched the foreclosed on properties in Wellington and there were ONLY 39 Bank Owned properties on the MLS! In all of Wellington. Even I was surprised. I looked through each one and guess what! They all looked great and well taken care of. I called buyer agents from other companies who I know work with lots of buyers and show lots of houses. They all told me that ALL the houses they look at that are bank owned are in great condition. Next, I called the agent I know who has the most bank owned properties, in fact that is all she does and she has 274 Bank Owned Listing across 5 counties. She told me if I go down to Miami or Broward County I could find some homes like that but not around Wellington and West Palm Beach. Not these days she said.

It is great that I did this research because it really gave me the opportunity to discover that it is not bad in our area like the news says it is. We do have tons and tons of short sales and lots of lis pendens filings but not bank owned properties compared to other counties in Florida.

The reporter called me back at our appointed time and I told her my discovery. She was NOT sharing in my joy! I even looked in the blighted areas of our county and even there the banks were fixing up the properties to sell them. There was one very bad one that had been torn apart but it was already bought so her theory that if they are torn up they will not sell was not the case either. I tried to get her to see the truth and asked her to do a story on the many reasons buyers should buy now and how they could help us get the word out about short sales and foreclosure defense. I told her that here in our county, there are a lot of people with a lot of money and they care about their homes and take care of them no matter what. Sure, there are bad apples here and there. But is she wanted to really see this massive bank owned areas she would have to go and visit my friend Bryant Tutas in Poinciana Florida or other parts of Florida. Of course, this was for our local news so she was not going to do that.

Now my issue became weighing wanting to do the interview versus my integrity. Well, my integrity and values supersede fame any time. Do I want those 10 seconds up in lights to assist her in spreading her doom and gloom, the sky is falling reporting or do I want to maintain my positive outlook by staying firm and fast to my resolve to share the good news and the truth?

She asked me on more time, " So you can't help me?" My answer was, " No, I am sorry but what you are looking for is just not here and not the truth!"

Stay away from the negative reporting and stop reading the papers and watching the news. Do not support bad and untruthful behavior. I was telling Patricia Kennedy about this on the phone yesterday and she told me how the Nightly News called her broker and asked her to take them to Washington Row and show them a street with all the foreclosure signs up and down the street. Well, the problem there too was, there were no foreclosed property signs and the houses were not getting foreclosed on in the area they wanted to see. This is appalling behavior and irresponsible journalism. The sad thing is more than 80% of people watching believe the news.

Contact Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset, CIPS, Realtors®, International Properties and Investments, Inc. Licensed Realtors® in Florida at 561-753-0135 to list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee, Lake Worth, Hypoluxo Island, Lantana, West Palm Beach and the rest of Palm Beach County Florida. We are accepting referrals.

Copyright © 2008 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.*CBS Wanted Us To Do An Interview- But There Was A Problem...*

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