It Depends Who’s Talking “Have you ever noticed that their stuff is sh*t and your sh*t is stuff?” –George Carlin Part of real estate sales — make that a big part — is handling clients with sensitivity and respect. That’s especially true for elderly clients, who haven’t moved in decades and have strong emotional ties...Read More
. . . Emailed Directly to Clients In theory, automatic searches on MLS are the greatest thing since sliced bread: the Realtor inputs their client’s purchase criteria — price range, preferred area, home attributes, etc.. Then, whenever something comes on the market meeting those criteria, the client automatically receives an email (and presumably contacts their...Read More
(More) Realtor Euphemisms Realtors will seldom come right out and say that a property they’re representing is overpriced. Instead, what you will privately hear from the listing agent (like I did yesterday in Kenwood) is, “The Seller priced the listing.” That’s invariably followed by, “make an offer (any offer).” For more real estate euphemisms, see “Real...Read More
Real Estate Synonyms — and Antonyms Test your knowledge of real estate marketing and answer the following “True or False” question: “Meticulously maintained” means the same thing as “updated”: A. True B. False Answer: False In fact, “meticulously maintained” is almost always Realtor code for not updated. P.S. : Ditto for synonyms such as “well-loved,”...Read More
Deciphering Realtor-Speak To non-Realtors, “immaculate” suggests an updated home in mint condition. In real estate sales, however, “immaculate” simply means that the home is exceptionally clean and everything is in working order. So, the mechanical’s may all be functional, but they’re ancient; the Kitchen and Bath’s date to the 1950’s (or earlier); there’s no Master...Read More
“Pride of Owner Builder-ship” Want to know if a home is well-built and in stellar condition? To be absolutely sure, you really need to do a professional inspection. However, the best predictor I know is this: the seller also built the home. Seller-Builder’s The reason that that’s the gold standard — especially for more expensive...Read More
