My wife and I were watching HGTV this weekend.  We were watching “Love It Or List It”.  During one of the commercial breaks I saw an odd commercial.  Have you ever seen something on TV or in a movie where you can spot something fake?  For example, having some experience with music, I can always tell whether or not the fellow playing piano in the show is really playing the piano (spoiler alert, they usually aren’t).  It’s the same thing with car scenes.  You look out the back window, and the cars behind are never stopping, never changing lanes.

The commercial started with a creepy fellow.  He says, “we tried two different realtors for a whole year and they couldn’t sell our house”.  As an real estate agent in the field, I can easily know that is fake.

8 thoughts about this real estate commercial

  1. On the left side of the screen it says that this is an actor portrayal.  So the testimonial that we are seeing isn’t real.  That should be a sign that the entire commercial isn’t worth watching.
  2. The timeline of the events makes no sense.  You had two realtors, over the course of a year, who couldn’t sell your house.  Why a year?  Why not two?  We are to believe that the seller listed with one agent for six months, then immediately went with someone else for six months?  It doesn’t make sense.
  3.  The fake seller makes no mention of the condition of the home.  We don’t know if the house was a closet in New York or a barn in Minnesota.  If you had a house that had serious structural issues, and your asking price was the same as your neighbor who had no such issues, your house isn’t going to sell for the same price.  This is true in any market.
  4. What was the pricing strategy?  Did the seller ever lower the asking price?  Why or why not?  Houses that are priced too low sell very quickly.  Houses that are priced right sell quickly.  The only reason that your house is going to sit on the market for a year with three different agents is when you’ve badly misjudged the value of your house.
  5. We don’t know when this event occurred.  We don’t know what the real estate market was doing when this seller was trying to sell his home.  There are two scenarios that could happen.  One, the seller was trying to sell in the worst possible real estate market.  Two, the seller came to the market higher than he should, and due to an appreciation in real estate over the year plus, the value increased on the home to the point where someone would make an offer.
  6. We don’t know the commission splits being offered. If you have too low of a commission, you are going to have a terrible time attracting a buyers’ agent for the sale.  It may sound unfair, unreasonable, mean spirited, etc.  Agents work on commission.   They can be salaried, they can be salary plus, but if they aren’t actively selling homes or helping buyers who buy homes, they will not be in the business for long.  In our local MLS, I see commission splits sometimes that are ridiculous.  If you want to sell your house, it’s best you set a commission where it will attract buyers and their agents.
  7. It is possible that the seller never actually made an effort to sell the home. Selling your home is a team effort.  For example, when you have a showing, it’s best practice to have your house clean and not cluttered with trash.  It’s also not a great plan to stay at the house during a showing and badgering the buyer.  There are things that sellers do that can have a harmful effect on selling a home.
  8. We don’t know the talents of the seller. Think about it, this seller could be someone who constantly makes bad decisions.  Perhaps the first agent was a friend, and the second agent was getting ready to leave the business.  The seller might be the fellow in the stock market who always buys high and sells low.  We have no way of knowing.

Always Question

This commercial was awful.  If you were persuaded to use their product to find an agent, you have been hoodwinked.  Bamboozled!  The real estate sales process doesn’t work like this actor portrayal would lead you to believe.  A good agent can sell your home in some markets in less than a day.

Out of curiosity, now that you know that this commercial was totally a lie, would you really want to do business with this group?  When you work with Deerwood Realty, we start out with mutual respect for our clients.  We learn about their goals and objectives, and we offer solutions to help them reach their goals.  The last thing we would want to do is start of on a foundation of lies.  If you are thinking about listing your home for sale, or considering buying a new home, give us a call first.  We will walk you through the sales process, and I guarantee you’ll never have the need to have an actor portray you in a shady real estate commercial