It would seem that Lamborghinis on YouTube Trend For A Reason.  Why do you think that they garner thousands of views but your local luxury home doesn’t?

Tavarish got a Lamborghini, now he has two

B is for Build got a Lamborghini, now he has two

Samcrac got a Lamborghini, and then a Ferarri

And now, Hoovie’s Garage just got a Lamborghini

Do you think any of these purchases are accidents?  They aren’t.  Youtubers exist by views and subscribers, and exotic cars are a view factory, if you will.  Why is that?

I think it has to do with branding.  How many of you have ever seen a Lamborghini in person?  One that you could walk up to and see the interior and touch it?  I’m willing to be that not many of you have been able to do that.  If  you walked up to some guy on the street with one of these exotic cars, they probably aren’t going to be too thrilled with you sitting on the hood taking selfies.

There’s something different about the YouTubers above.  They allow you to see a car you’ve never seen in person in perfect 4k clarity.  Sure, it’s not the same as actually being there, but it’s a whole lot better than never getting to see these cars up close at all.

These exotic cars are for most, an aspirational brand.  That is, everyone would buy a Lamborghini if they could afford one.  But you can’t, so you don’t, and you watch it on YouTube.

Aspirational Brands and Home Sales

I’ve looked around for some comparison to real estate sales, but there isn’t a good one.  It seems that it’s easier to find an aspirational brand with something that can be picked up or driven versus a home.

The Closest Thing To An Aspirational Brand In Home Sales

The closest thing I can get to an aspirational brand in real estate would be a location in St. Louis that instantly draws an image.  For example, when I say “homes for sale in Huntleigh”, what do you think of?  Are you moving to Huntleigh any time soon?  How about Clayton, Ladue, or Chesterfield?    These locations have a built in brand in St. Louis.  It’s very similar to the “Where’d you go to high school?” question.  Fair or not, whenever you tell someone where you went to high school, at least around St. Louis, you are telling that person something about yourself.

All Homes For Sale Are Aspirational To Someone

Far more people look at Zillow just to see the way other people live than actually buy a home.  It’s considered entertainment.  The reason why no real estate agent or brokerage can garner any serious YouTube views is that all real estate is local.  As an example, no one in South Dakota is looking at homes for sale in Brentwood unless they know the area beforehand.  With a worldwide brand like Lamborghini or Ferrari, you get a concentration of viewers; the whole world wants a product, just like they do houses, but there are far fewer exotic cars for sale than homes at any one time.

 A YouTube Real Estate Star?

I don’t think we are going to see a Youtuber who does anything serious with real estate, at least on a national level.  It’s really hard to write a clickbait title like “Look what happened to my new home on 4434 Riverdale” and have anyone be interested.  There’s no context to drive viewership.  In the mid ‘80’s we had “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”, but that show used celebrity to draw you to the homes.  The homes weren’t the beginning of the search.

A Comparison in Scarcity

How many Lamborghinis were produced in 2018?  Only 5,750 in the world!  How many homes sold in St. Louis over one million dollars in 2018?  There were 288.  Lamborghinis on YouTube trend for a reason.  And, while you can guess where in town those homes may have sold, the rest of the world has no clue.

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