Hashtag sells 1400 homes first two years in the business, and other headlines you will never see!

It’s amazing how the real estate market has changed over the years, even in Riverside within sunny Southern California,  and the crazy things trending with real estate agents.  The new marketing trend is to sit back, do nothing, use a #hashtag and just wait for the business to float to you.  There are even articles illustrating how these passive agents who are not proactive or aggressive to get their homes marketed  can make their job even easier by using the “right” hashtags.  http://www.zillow.com/agent-resources/news/tips-and-advice/30-twitter-hashtags-for-agents/

These real estate agents who use this type of marketing are often trying to create excitement and hype, and are really nothing more than a hype man.

The reality, is that a hashtag doesn’t give these agents experience, market knowledge or the ability to negotiate.  You can fake it all you want, and by putting up tags over and over again like #success #topagent #escrow gives an illusion of more production and experience than exists.  These agents will even recycle old posts over and over again to give the illusion of producing more results than they do.

Another trending marketing tool tends to be these paid celebrity endorsements.  For thousands of dollars you can have several celebrities and athletes endorse your business.  The problem…. a paid recommendation is NOT an endorsement!  That’s call an advertisement!  It’s no different than listing to a Dodger game and Vince Scully starts talking about Farmer John Dodger Dogs.  It’s not because for 60+ years Vin Scully just can’t get enough of Dodger Dogs, it’s because Farmer Johns is paying the Dodger organization money to say it!  These endorsements do absolutely nothing for you as a consumer.  Sean Hannity isn’t going to come sell your house, and he sure isn’t going to take responsibility when the agent you hired can’t get the job done.

We are now starting to see the return of the guaranteed sale which often go hand in hand with these programs. They essentially get you to sign a listing agreement stating if they don’t sell your home in 29 days or 68 days or some other weird number that no normal person could come up with, they will be your home.  There is also teeny tiny fine print that outlines the automatic weekly price reductions as well as the buy out price being a fraction of the market value of your home as determined by an appraisal.

The moral of this story is whether you are buying or selling a home, gimmicks and nonsense will never get you the results you need.  Stick with a true professional and someone who has a track record of delivering, not a twitter or facebook feed of blabbering.