RealtyChat.com Blog

This one is just funny…

Saw a house that had 3 real estate signs on it. I’ve seen instances where 2 might be appropriate, maybe on a big corner lot, but I’ve never seen 3 before. And then I saw another one! LOL

Now this isn’t exactly the most high-end of companies, but doesn’t it just seem a little too desperate? Yard sign, one on a tree (merely 4 feet away) and then one on a fence abutting the house (about 8 feet behind the other two). As a consumer, I would most certainly notice it, but I’d be terrified.

Looking around Boston at much of the new construction I see the term “luxury” absolutely everywhere…

MY favorites so far:

• “Luxury” condos overlooking a car lot and a tralier park.
• More “Luxury” condos no more than 15 feet from traintracks.
• Some BEHIND other homes (sort of in their backyards) abutting traintracks, AND part of an auto-body scrapyard.

Do you think they have “beautiful views of ‘rust’” on their flyers?

As I was driving around Boston today I realized the true loss during a real estate boom.

It broke my heart to see. Every single scrap of land, every yard, every lot has been built on. Houses jammed into every corner. TINY little places in many cases. Next to train tracks, behind other houses…

It is going to hurt these communities in the long run.

People buying old homes that they can barely afford, not realizing the long term costs of maintaining an old home.

This is going to be an ugly end for some beautiful communities…

To me these is little more shameful than “professionals” in any business misusing their own tradename…

I run the directory here at RealtyChat.com and one at InternetRealtyNetwork.com. I am astonished at the number of times I must correct this with AGENTS!!!

How are consumers ever going to treat this industry if no one can be bothered to learn how to spell REALTOR® properly??

And yes, it IS a trademark of the National Association of REALTORs®. Which means it needs to have the registered trademark logo next to it at all times. And if I am correct, it needs to also be capitalized.

REALTOR® Trademark Manual

Be proud to be a REALTOR® no matter what ‘reality’ you are in.

Sigh… There are few things that get to me like some company trying to pitch the same stupid product and bombarding me with endless repetitions of the same message. Even better when they get an affiliate program going and offer some hapless fool the ability to make more money by bombarding me more!

Do they seriously think that sending me the same message 40 times will make me more eager to buy???

Latest culprit:

ComeListMe.com

Unbelievable! I get 3-4 of their stupid emails every day. They do everything to keep ahead of spam filters. They make up email addresses, people, testimonials, etc.

I would NEVER do business with any company that advertised this way.

And while Proquest technologies might not be a bad product (I don’t know personally), the people that use their affiliate program are relentless. Every single week I delete dozens of posts from people pretending to be offering “advice” to other agents in the forums here only to get people to use their affiliate link.

Never ending stream of “hey does this really work?” and “I heard about this, is it legit?”.

But I guess fortune favors the irritating.

I don’t get it… Never have and probably never will.

People that are selling leads are just setting up websites, marketing them, and getting you to subsidize their advertising.

These are the same consumers that COULD be going directly to YOUR website! (whether your website works is the topic for another discussion)

Why not build your own “lead generating” site? Don’t know how? LEARN, or as so many in this business tell their own clients “hire a professional”. Why pay someone a ridiculous sum to get BETWEEN you and a consumer?

How much are you paying for leads and percentages? 100 leads @ $30 = $3,000. Figure $1,500 for a good custom website from MANY places and another $1,500 for advertising on Google or wherever the generators are advertising and you’re underway. If you don’t get 100 leads then you should be questioning what you are doing wrong in your marketing and advertising.

What they are doing isn’t a miracle, isn’t magical, and certainly isn’t divine. Simple promotion and advertising. No matter the new approaches they take to the classifying of leads whether ranking or whatever, Website + advertising + forms = “leads”. Simple.

I am AMAZED that people will pay referral fees to companies that are really only setting up websites! I just don’t get it. They are competing for the same leads but their website deserves 30%????

I’ve always felt that many in this industry have a self-confidence problem. They are convinced that someone else can do it better, get better people, and make more money and that they only way they can keep up is to join up.