OMG, I had some time on my hands so checked out another Realtor’s blog to see what sorts of things this person was writing about.  

It was fine. 

It was entertaining enough. 

It covered all the basics in modern day advertising about frequency of posts, which other services to link to like Twitter, and had the various news feeds one can incorporate into their real estate sites.  It covered all the checkboxes any marketing person would tell you it should.

I always like to read the “ABOUT” section on any website I go to – a business, a restaurant, a product, you name it.  I’m nosy to know the whys behind things.  And, oftentimes I will not buy from a website if this section is missing.  I like having a reason to buy from a particular vendor – I’m a big softy for gushy stories, down home yarn spinning and reading about someone following their passion.

Well, this particular Realtor wrote why you should use him in the ABOUT section.  Again, more standard stuff – no sorts of Harry Potter tricks up his sleeve on how he could sell your house any better than another.  But on the Buying side he DOES have a special trick…

He can give you secret access to the MLS listings the moment they hit the market.  He will hook you up with your own unique id and password and you will have all the data in the blink of an eye!  Speaking of eyes, mine were rolling at this point…

This super secret tool is something called LISTINGBOOK, which every Realtor has access to and which every Realtor you meet with will hook you up with in a split second in hopes of you becoming their client.

Please people, please, be educated consumers and do not let Realtors pull the wool over your eyes.  Do not let them sell you a bill of goods they and only they have. 

…An exception and we actually don’t know if this story is true.  Years ago up in Litchfield County, Connecticut, one Realtor sold ABOVE the standard commission rate because she would provide invitations to “elite” parties up there.  If you don’t  know, that’s the playground of the Kissingers, Diane von Furstenburg, the Chanel family, etc. etc.  We never found out if those invitations actually came, but that’s a very nice differentiation point. 

Other than that, we maintain you do not need a Realtor to buy or sell your home.  Not at all. 

What Realtors can provide, however, is efficiency, time savings and a hand to hold during the sometimes stressful home selling and buying process.  To fool you into thinking a Realtor is anything more magical than that would simply be doing a grave disservice to you, the intelligent client.