Jack proudly proclaimed
that the phone would ring off the hook whenever he did any kind of
advertising with that headline.
He went on to explain,
however, that he rarely had anyone who took advantage of his "39 days or
free" offer. You see, that program had some "conditions".
For example, to qualify for this program, a seller had to agree to the
following conditions:
-
Pay for an appraisal by one of Jack's appraisers and
list the house at the price suggested by Jack's appraiser. (conflict of
interest?!)
-
Pay for an inspection and fix any defects uncovered
by that inspection. (Seller's rarely end up having to fix every defect
in a normal transaction)
-
After every 10 showings without receiving an offer,
the seller must reduce the asking price by 3%.
-
Seller must pay a commission that is about 20% higher than the fee
commonly charged in the market place.
Let's just say at this point what may be obvious to many
of you -- the most incompetent agent in town could get your house sold in
39 days under those terms and conditions. It wouldn't be sold for anywhere
close to full market value. You'd be paying unnecessary repair expenses
and commission fees that would greatly reduce your bottom line. But, the
house would be sold in 39 days.
And so, the question
arises: Would you agree to these conditions? If you say "No", you are in
good company. These "conditions" were so onerous that very few sellers
opted for Jack's "39 days or free" program.
Most sellers
ended up agreeing to Jack's Plan B which did not have all these
restrictions. And, as you might suspect, this alternate plan did not
guarantee to sell the house for free if it was not sold in 39 days.
Of course, this was Jack's intention all along. He wanted the sellers to
select Plan B.
Jack, again very proudly, pointed out that
he was not guilty of any fraud or false advertising or bait and switch
tactics because he did in fact have a "39 days or free" program.
Jack may very well be right from a legal perspective.
But doesn't this kind of tactic just make your blood boil! It is so
deceptive and manipulative.
As a consumer, you have to ask yourself this question: On the purchase or
sale of a house (one of the biggest financial and legal transactions in
most peoples' lives), do I want to work with someone who begins the
relationship by deceiving me -- by tricking me and manipulating me?
We're guessing that the answer is "No".
So, here is the last bit of the story that you must know: At the end of
the seminar, about 65% of the agents in attendance agreed to pay Jack
$1,500 to get dozens of marketing campaigns from him that were designed
"to get the phone to ring".
This means that you will be seeing lots of outlandish claims from real
estate agents -- claims that look too good to be true.
All we can do is to warn you to be on the lookout for these shady tactics.
When you encounter them, do not reward their practitioners with your
business.
Instead -- call Mike Cooke! You can click on the following links to learn
more about the benefits of working with Mike.
