Real Estate Agent Spam
Posted on January 28th, 2007 in General | 1 Comment »
A while back I listed our home for rent or purchase on Craigslist. Since that time we’ve received dozens of real estate agent spam. Some of the tactics these agents use are hilarious. The most popular is the patronizing, “We understand why you’d want to sell your home on your own” spiel. followed quickly with a list of reasons a person would have to be stupid to sell a home my himself. Here’s where the horror stories come into play. They give examples of people who were sued, lost money or got duped out of their home due to a legal technicality. I’m sure this happens but these pitches make it sounds like 9 out of 10 deals go terrible wrong for the seller.
One agent has been sending us email and snail mail spam for over 6 months now. Here is what I wonder about: Does this agent think that if he keeps sending us horror stories eventually one will “hit home” and we’ll cave into having him represent us?
We’ve used an agent for every home transaction we’ve ever made. I see the value of having an agent especially when you’re new to the game. And it really is a game. But the last home we purchased Kim and I found the house. The value of the agent came in the form of making sure the right paperwork was taken care of. There are many attorneys who can do the thing for possibly a lot less money. We decided not to sell our house last year. But when we do we’ll evaluate all our options. And one of them won’t be calling Mister Windermere Spammer.
My favorite real estate sites: Trulia, Zillow, Refin, Housing Maps
One Response
I can understand youre frustration with spam. I do not like receiving it from any type of industry.
However some of these responses you are getting from real estate agents are very true.
NAR did a study and yes I understand there may be some bias there. NAR through their study of FSBO found that 90 percent of those who had tried or sold their home as FSBO said they would never do it again.
One of the primary attractions for those selling their homes to use a Realtor is the marketing opportunities they afford sellers.
By selling your home yourself you lose thousands of potential people marketing your property.
I am not sure what city you are located in but if your city has 10,000 real estate agents in it then thats 10k people you have lost to promote your property.
As for the horror stories if I may be so bold check out my section on homes sold by owners
http://www.chattanooga123.com/tennessee/fsbo/preparing-as-a-fsbo.html
I wish you the best of luck selling your home and please update your blog as to the process. I believe it could be quite informative for others online.