REAL ESTATE’S MOST COMMON CON

Avoid it and save thousands of dollars!

by

Neil Jenman

Reading Time: Apx 1.5 minutes

The common con in the real estate world today is the “premium advertising con”.

It may also be called “platinum”. It depends on the website on which your home is advertised. Most agents con sellers into using more than one website.

Here’s what happens:

Agents give you a big spiel about the importance of advertising. You’ll be told it’s “essential” to advertise on big websites.

Convinced? Don’t be. Often you get a better price without advertising – but that’s another topic.

Now comes the next part of the con.

You will be told that you must pay thousands of dollars (yes, thousands!) for an “upgrade” or a “premium” advertisement.

Whatever name they give it, agents now tell you that your home will be at the “top” of the homes for your area. Yes, that’s right, by paying thousands of dollars extra, you’ll get the impression that you will get the ‘edge’ on all the other sellers in your area.

Yea right – as if buyers are going to love your great big ad at the top of the list of homes and become so besotted they won’t look anywhere else. “Give me this home,” is NOT what buyers do.

Don’t be fooled.

There is a nasty psychological trick played on you. It’s called “the Scarcity Principle”.

If you are interested in understanding how you are being manipulated, read a book called ‘Influence’ by social researcher Robert Cialdini. Basically, if we think we are getting something rare or that we are getting an advantage in a marketplace we pay extra for the privilege.

And that might be true if, indeed, “premium advertisements” were scarce.

But they are not.

Every seller is given the same pitch: “Pay extra and you will be first.”

Oh really, well how the hell can every seller be first?

How can something that’s offered to everyone be scarce?

Many agents now make it compulsory that every seller must pay for this purported upgrade.

What a con.

As a writer, I am not supposed to tell my readers how to think. But, in this case, I can’t help myself. It makes me so wild to see thousands of sellers ruthlessly conned.

Here’s a true story – that I have only shared with a few people:

In 2019, I was on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney. Sitting beside me was a senior executive with a major website. As the flight progressed, our conversation grew intense. This person was knocking back beers like lolly-water. I was listening – fascinated by the admission of how “upgrade ads” are a con.

And then my travelling companion said: “I just sold my home in Northcote. The agents asked for six thousand dollars. I told them to get —–ed. I said that I work for that big website, and I know that a small hundred-dollar ad is as good – or often more effective – than multi-thousand-dollar ads.”

What a confession. I was writing furiously in my journal.

Suddenly, as we were coming into land, this person (the executive with the major website) said: “You’re not Neil Jenman, are you?”

By then, I had three pages of notes. I replied: “If you get fired, you can work with me.”

If you are selling your home and the agent tries to “upsell” you to an “upgraded” ad costing thousands of dollars of dollars, here’s what I suggest.

Show them this article.

And then call us and find an agent who – like agents in other countries – will not charge you anything before your home is sold and you are happy.

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