Broker on ‘Million Dollar Listing New York’ Under Investigation by State for “A Little White Lie”

As I’ve always said, virtual tours can be a nice enhancement to a listing photograph, but too much enhancement should be considered an unethical practice and should also be considered fraud.  Here is an example of too much enhancement. Continue reading

Haunted Listings – Real Haunted Houses For Sale

 

Halloween by Salvatore Vuono – used with permission by freesdigitalphotos.net

Agents specializing in niche markets is nothing new to real estate, but specializing in the buying and selling of haunted houses is something I’ve never seen… until now.  Are you looking for a house with a ghostly presence?  The San Diego Paranormal, and Medium, Bonnie Vent can help your real estate agent find that perfect haunted house to fit your needs.  Their website lists several houses, currently occupied by ghostly tenants.  Some of the descriptions of the goings on in these houses may effect resale value somewhat.  Here are a few of the paranormal activity descriptions of the houses for sale on that site.  Here are a few: Continue reading

Real Estate Agent Accused of Sexual Staging

Image created by ImageryMajestic provided courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Maple Grove, Minn. couple has filed a lawsuit against a real estate brokerage company and agent alleging the agent used their home for sexual encounters while they were out of the country.  Apparently there still are a few FULL service real estate agents out there.  I’m not sure what the real story is here.  Is it that the agent used a client’s home for sexual escapades or is the real story that those sexual escapades result in a $7000 cost to clean or replace the soiled furniture, bedding, carpet and other things. Continue reading

2264 Real Estate Clients In Dallas/Fort Worth Are Getting Ripped-Off

no-mls-photo

Here are a couple of shocking statistics you should know about.  Did you know that as many as 4.2% of the houses currently listed on MLS for sale in the Dallas/Fort Worth area do not have any pictures in their MLS listing?  And 4.7% only have one picture.  Added together, that’s 8.9% out of all active real estate listings in DFW.  That’s a total of 2264 homeowners currently trying to sell their house with inadequate MLS listings? Continue reading

Psychic Staging – God, Witches, Pegans, Psychics & Qi Sell Houses


What do God, ancient Chinese philosophy, psychics, witchcraft and Saint Joseph all have in common?  These are the new tools in the real estate agent tool bag.  Apparently some agents are willing to blame their unsold listings on  “bad energy” and are using mystical techniques to get rid of all that negative energy to bring more ying & yang balance into their listing.  While other agents don’t believe it will work, they also believe it couldn’t do any harm and are desperate enough to try it. Continue reading

Virtual Staging: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Lies


Imagine looking at a picture of a beautiful house with an updated kitchen, new carpet, paint, floors, and best of all, at a very low price.  You jump into the car with your real estate agent by your side and you check it out.  When you arrive, the beautiful house in pristine condition you saw pictured on the MLS listing has been replaced by something quite different.  What you see is an ugly house with dingy walls, stained carpets, vandalized kitchen and not a shred of copper to be found in the place.  Believe it or not, it’s the same house pictured in the MLS, except that the house in the MLS has been “virtually staged.” Continue reading