Agents Should Be Careful What They Say

There I was in the midst of an all too rare real estate sales story with a positive slant when a quote segment from a local agent took the wind out of the sails.

This business story about the increase in home sales during the month of March along with a dip in housing inventory 'should' be the best possible news for current sellers as well as real estate professionals to come along in quite some time.

As much as I preach to agents that I provide either media coaching or advertising critiques or assistance for that you need to get the name out there and be a local "expert", a big part of this process is most definitely saying the right thing at the right time.

Normally, being the only agent quoted for a San Diego Union Tribune story appearing in the Business section would be a wonderful thing for a local realty agent:

https://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/17/spring-homebuying-season-heating/

However, the section about agent Clemente Casillas clearly hurts the cause. Saying, in effect, that it's too soon to tell and "could be a fluke" and revealing that Casillas had a listing on which there were "no calls" until the price was reduced were actually damaging things to say.

Bad publicity is not always better than no publicity, especially in this case. Casillas seemed to have overlooked the "message" she sent out to thousands of local home owners by those quotes.

Some of the readers are certain to "believe" that if a an agent prominent enough to be quoted in the major local newspaper is not convinced that the market is improving ("could be a fluke") that there is no reason for them to think so either. And more properties will sit for even longer.

Other readers who might be considering looking for an agent to help with a sale or purchase now are aware the Casillas carries listings which are not priced right, as evidenced by publicly admitting that there were "no calls on it" until the price came down.

In other words, this golden opportunity Casillas had to make the local real estate community AND herself look good to thousands of readers went down the drain because of a couple of quotes.

I also understand that Casillas wanted to be quoted for the story and needed to have an angle to be sure quotes were included. But they should not have been damaging ones, nor did they have to be.

All she needed to say was something like "I hope this trend is here to stay, even if it is too soon to know for sure. I can tell you that I had a listing that has been getting calls lately after a slow start."

Not to make an example out of Casillas, but the point needs to be made to other realty professionals and to current and potential home sellers. An agent is supposed to be positive and show the positive about the current market, rather than telling thousands of people it "could be a fluke". An agent is supposed to walk away from a home in which the seller wants an unrealistic price in today's market, let alone reveal that it "wasn't getting any calls".

Instead, the only positive I got from her quotes is that I'm glad she doesn't have any listings for anyone I know.

It's not what agents "think" about the current state of the housing market. It is what they are doing about it that matters.

Broker Blames Advertising For Bad Market????

As long-time readers of this blog are aware, I have spent hours sharing my thoughts of a variety of specific real estate advertisements from web sites and newspapers, and demonstrating how much room there is for improvement in most cases.

This, along with continuous questioning of why realty associations continue to publicize negative statistics about home sales instead of only taking a positive slant.

Imagine my anger and frustration when I saw this story from this afternoon about a San Diego realty firm President complaining about how regional and national web sites which use information his office, and other realty offices, provide in order to enhance their (site's) home search capabilities.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/166773/arg-realty-claims-ip-theft-pulls-real-estate-list.html?edition=42796

The subject actually has the nerve to complain that this practice is partially to blame for the state of the current real estate market.

Immediately upon reading this nonsense, I offered up the following response on MediaPost, which originated this article:

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There are two sides to this story, which seems to only have covered one side. The story fails to point out how often (or seldom) some of the "other" sites update their listings and information. For example, my understanding is that Yahoo updates every week.

In addition, I have seen numerous instances where the content of a listing ad on a "national" site has differences compared to what is posted on a realty office web page or site. This story does not reflect that point of view. Furthermore, I can't believe that Mr. Abbott (who I do not know and to the best of my knowledge has not previously been a client) has the nerve to be publicly quoted that these other sites have "slowed the recovery of the housing market". He can't really think that if a potential buyer who has to enter specific criteria to search for homes in locations where his office has listings will give up if the one listing they look at is no longer available.

Having personally created more than 12,000 individual property ads during my 23 years of real estate related marketing and advertising duties, I can easily show him examples of how many realty firms do not even inspect ads they have directly placed within a variety of media and distribution sources.

All this while the very realty associations his office and its agents belong to continue to publish negative statistics about the current local housing markets. He should be asking his association people how reporting that (for example) "Local home sales were down 4.8% last month compared with a year ago" is a help to local sales. But, sure, Mr. Abbott can go ahead and blame other web sites which, so far, have been promoting information his people have created without his office or agents having to pay for it.
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I have yet to check Mr. Abbott's office web site to review the listing advertisements on there, but it probably will be a fun task at some point in the near future. Considering the thousands of realty agents that love the fact that Yahoo, Trulia, and other large real estate related web sites bring themselves and their listings "free" additional publicity, there must be a reason why Abbott's advertisements are not producing any results for him and his people.

After all, he and I seem to agree that it takes better advertising and marketing of properties to improve the real estate market.

Depends on which part of California.......

For those who wonder why I constantly gripe about how real estate is marketed, Southern California has provided still another example of the need to get it right.

The most recent home sales statistics are coming out around the country this week. Since the Southern California marketplace is not always a reflection on national trends (to put it mildly), I decided to pay special attention to news from the area.

Overall, it appears that home sales have risen and selling prices are down, at least for those who find it significant to compare against previous months and years. My opinion is that there should not be the automatic comparison that people in the industry insist on. In a challenged market, especially, the emphasis from within the industry should be on the positive.

Links are below to some of the articles I reviewed. You can see the issue here. Portions of Orange County clearly show an increase in sales, a positive statistic indeed. Yet, less than an hour drive to the south, San Diego home sales statistics are not bright.

According to the latest statistics, home sales are down while prices are up around San Diego. Granted, you can't twist the truth. But there are times when it could be hidden just a bit. My issue continues to be that realty associations and people within the industry continue to endorse publicity for these negative statistics. We have different realty associations, all with thousands of dues paying members and wanting the same things, counteracting each other by feeling the need to put out the negative along with the positive.

To put it another way, if I were a licensed realty agent in San Diego, I would be furious about the release of these statistics. The smart thing to do would be to release ONLY the positive statistics, such as the portions of Orange County and L.A. County and how the market is looking better on average throughout Southern California. Instead, a potential investor doing even mild research for Southern California is going to pass on San Diego upon seeing the information in question.

Already today, I have had a mortgage lender advertising client of mine, who services Southern California, pass on the San Diego area while still considering Orange County. Based on the research I shared, and I am not at all biased toward one area or the other. He wants the most bang for the buck in an active marketplace.

Of course, there will be regions and communities which do better than others in any real estate market and climate. We should hear about those. It helps to spur interest and attract attention to properties in those areas. But we should NOT hear about the areas that are suffering. It does not serve current home owners well at all. Which I thought local realty firms are supposed to be doing.

Here are some of the articles I explored. With so much difference between one area and the next, the positives are negated, and the negatives sour the overall impression.



http://southcoasthomes.freedomblogging.com/2009/11/18/laguna-beach-home-sales-up-619-over-last-october/

http://www.kpsplocal2.com/news/local/story/Riverside-County-Home-Sales-Prices-Fall-in-October/HJyF9VB3U02JxhZXtKUgdQ.cspx?rss=2276



http://www.10news.com/news/21641119/detail.html (San Diego)



http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/nov/17/government-is-helping-stabilize-the-housing/?partner=yahoo_feeds