Real Estate Blog - The "The" Magazine Vs. The Powerful But Financially Strapped Realtor

Home : Blogs : BILL CHERRY : BILL CHERRY'S GREATEST DALLAS PARK CITIES REAL ESTATE BLOG

The "The" Magazine Vs. The Powerful But Financially Strapped Realtor

There is an interesting thing going on in Dallas right now. Lots of the power Realtors are in shock.

One of "their own" who has sold multi-millions of Dallas estates every year, year after year, has found that what she had hoped would be a private misfortune, is the cover story of a very popular Dallas slick magazine. You see, what happened provoked no criticism of the representation she gave her clients. That was and remains stellar, according to all I've heard from those who know and work with her.

The story is about some private financial investments and interests that went south, and some vague accusations that her husband had brought other people into those same investments. And that didn't appear to have beans to do with Dallas people or Dallas real estate.

What's interesting to me is that for all of those years, she was a regular advertiser in that magazine, along with many others. I'd suspect all together their ads represent a sizable portion of the publication's revenue. We're talking about $100,000 probably much more for her account and many hundreds of thousands for all Realtors' ads combined.

So the shock to fellow-Realtors is a double-wammy:

Few if any knew she and her husband were in very serious financial trouble. Now they know and so do her clients
All are shocked that the publication would so blatantly bite a set of the hands that feed it. I, for one, found myself wondering what could the publisher have been thinking when he approved running that story?

It'll be interesting to see if their revenues from other Realtors' ads significantly diminish, or if it'll be business as usual; hoping that the magazine will never find that their personal lives merit a cover story.

What do you think about this?

Posted by BILL CHERRY on 01/07/2009 10:41 PM

Comments (12)

D Magazine Frys Realtor in the Regional (Localism) Channel

d, dallas realtor, sheets

This post has been included in Texas Information Dallas County, TX Information Highland Park, TX Information
Post is included in group: The Art Of Marketing You
Post is included in group: Everything is Bigger in Texas
Post is included in group: Dallas Real Estate
Post is included in group: Almost Anything Goes
Post is included in group: All Thing's Texas

12 Comments on The "The" Magazine Vs. The Powerful But Financially Strapped Realtor

JAN

Greed seems to be the name of the game in this day and age. Guess 'biting the hand that feeds you' is not known by this paper?

I think it is the media modus operendi and it is shameful. I would hope that the Realtors would do some serious calling and writing to the editor...and he should publish the letters. I, for one, would never trust the magazine again and would probably cease from ever advertising in it again.

JAN

Thanks so much for your notes. The two of you have helped me to clarify in my mind that my thoughts were not incorrect ones.

I don't shine up to the idea of having to buy one's accolades to begin with. And I'm not attuned to being personally flashy -- the right car, the right club, the right "friends," and on and on. I'm not particularly opposed to it for others, it's just that I don't find it right for me. So I've not spent my money like this.

However, if I were one of the advertisers, I wouldn't be next month or any month thereafter. I'm pretty sure of that...and that I wouldn't never quake. I'm not for rewarding bad behavior.

hi, Bill:
Is this Dallas Slick Magazine more of a Brag Rag than a News Publication? For example, IMO, Texas Monthly is a Brag Rag. They have some content (usually biased) but mostly features on their advertisers.

IMO, You are either a glorified advertising publciation or a news publication. But you can not be both. How can you expect people to believe you are a newsworthy publication when most of the time you are publishing features on your paid advertisers?

Brag Rags should not pretend to have journalistic integrity some of the time. Leave the news to the news industry. Was the story even covered by the News media? Note: I do monthly advertising in an Austin Area publication - it is a Brag Rag. I have nothing against these publications - but a duck is a duck... And nothing is worse than a Duck pretending to be a Goose.

Just my 2x cents. Thanks for sharing.

The Stage Coach Home Stager Austin Home Staging Round Rock Home Stager

Michael,

You and I are joined at the hip on this. Thanks for your comments. I 100% agree with every sbuject, verb, adjective and pronoun you used.

Bill

Hi Bill,

You bring up a great point that has seemed to elude most others. The fact that her years of stellar real estate service to the long list of high profile clientele was, and has never been, at the heart of this entire story. It's only about how Eleanor and Nicky may or may not have been good with their personal finances.

All I've read or heard about this issue ends only in personal attacks on the Sheetses and nothing substantial. Hopefully area Realtors and many others can understand the point you've made here.

Jeff Duffey

Jeff, thanks for putting in your fine and helpful message. I think what offends me in the main is that I despise bullies. And that's the mentality of the magazine in this case.

They can say whatever they want to and it immediately gets in the hands of their readers.

Mr. and Mrs. Sheets have no equal venue for 1) a response 2) to say bad things about the writer and the publisher, should they know some and be so inclined.

The public as well as advertisers really ought to, in all fairness, voice their opposition to this cruel nonsense. As it is now, they've paid the writer and publisher for beating this woman up.

JAN

If you read the article, and the associated articles at the DMN along with the Federal Indictments, you would get a vastly different picture of Eleanor and Nicky.

She has over the past years failed to pay numerous vendors for services rendered in furthereance of those million dollar listings.

As a realator, and someone who espouses the values of morals in todays world, I would imagine you wouldn't look too kindly on this.

This story is a shining example of why the ad side and the news gathering side of a magazine/ newspaper should be seperate.

Derek --

I appreciate your thoughts and comments. Please understand why I feel the need to respond. But let me first tell you, I don't know either of these people...have never met them, have never done business with them. Nevertheless, I take strong exception to the magazine's choice to print its diatribe.

Indictments are not convictions.

The magazine had no problem taking her money for ads, year after year, and it appears whatever her personal financial problems were, they didn't start recently.

I'm only concerned about one thing: Did her real estate clients get good representation? Apparently most did or she couldn't have done as well as she has for many years.

And, of course, federal indictments have nothing to do with whether or not she paid vendors unless you're talking about those arising out of a bankruptcy case whereby one or more creditor is trying to keep their lien from being discharged. Those claims, by the way, are usually bogus and, in my experience, rarely survive the court's scrutiny.

Bill,

Based on the coverage this story received in the Dallas Morning News, I think magazine in question needed to report this story.

JAN

Derek,

Who are all of these phantom vendors? Certainly you aren't refering to that ridiculous group of anonymous bloggers on that magazines blog? The only vendor who has gone on record as not having had his bill paid is The Hamburger Man. Not that I feel The Hamburger Man shouldn't be paid. Quite the opposite. I love those hamburgers.

So unless someone wants to come forward with an unpaid bill who has a name other than Orange, Dooner, yikesdallas, Dallasachiever, Eat Macarono Slowly, or any of the other goofball names these people use, stop making accusaions which are inflammatory with no back-up.

Bill, FYI. This agent spent $380,000 with that magazine over three years, canceled the advertising after deciding she couldn't support a magazine that allowed its blog to anonymously attack homeowners and listings, paid her last bill in May and by June 6 the blog posted a story which the author knew to not be true (and never retracted to this day) about her not paying her bills. A follow-up post a few days later reiterated the original fabrication which started this whole "vendors not paid" story. That magazine has allowed the most horrible things to be said about her on their blog while fanning the flames in hopes of a big pay-off when the article hit the newstands.

And you are right. The quality of service to her clients and her professionalism is unquestionably the best in the industry.

Lance, I'm appreciative that you added your comments. It would be more helpful, though, if you would add another post in which you give your full name and how you know your testimony to be true.

This blog does not allow anonymous comments