I’ve always heard that “Sex Sells Real Estate.” Apparently sexiness combined assertiveness doesn’t make a good combination. Real estate agents can be known for being assertive, after all, that type of personality trait is often advantageous in sales-based jobs such as real estate. However, one real estate agent’s over-assertiveness landed him behind bars with a sexual battery charge. Continue reading
Tag Archives: real estate agent
War Declared On Real Estate Agents By Prior Lake, Minnesota
Prior Lake, Minnesota declared war on real estate agents on August 21st, by enforcing a sign ordinance law that hasn’t been enforced in years that prevents the posting of signs promoting real estate listings, open houses, garage sales, etc. Sign ordinances like this hit real estate agents the hardest. What better time to start enforcing than during a slumping real estate market. 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
Dog Held For Ransom For Unpaid Rent
Talk about harsh. The real estate agent acting as property manager for this New York apartment complex not only got this tenant fired from her job, but held her dog for ransom to attempt to collect back due rent. Her inability to pay her rent stemmed from being a victim of identify theft. Apparently this property manager wasn’t too sympathetic. While there is no doubt that she owed rent and they had a right to collect, the means in which they pursued the matter were a bit harsh. Creative, but harsh. Continue reading
Sexy Staging – Using Sex To Sell Real Estate
Want to attract buyers to your listings? Ever thought MLS listing pictures could be sexy? You will from now on. Peters & Associates, a brokerage in the Charlotte, N.C., that specializes in luxury properties, has taken a unique approach to attract buyers to their listings.. Sex! This Charlotte, N.C. brokerage firm sells “lifestyles” instead of houses and have created a unique approach to achieve this through their listings. They created two test listings. The first listing had traditional house photos, but the other listing had “lifestyle photos,” featuring beautiful women posing in the rooms being photographed. Did it work? You bet! Continue reading
Former Real Estate Agent Chauffeured A Mummified Corpse In Her Car For Months
In Costa Mesa, California, a 57-year-old former real estate agent, was caught with a mummified corpse of a woman in the passenger’s seat of her 1997 Mercury Marquis. The police are trying to discover the female corpse’s identity. All they know is that she was a transient from the Fountain Valley area, known to the driver as Signe. Police estimate that Signe had been dead for three to ten months due to the amount of decomposition and mummification. Her body only weighed 30 pounds when she was discovered. Police officials are studying her DNA and dental records to discover her identity. Continue reading
Selling Property in Perth Is Easier Than You’d Think
Owner’s property sold without his knowledge by scammers. At least they used a real estate agent.
Apparently it’s pretty easy to sell houses in Perth, Australia, as one property owner found out when he discovered his $485,000 investment property had been sold by scammers posing as the property’s owners. The sale occurred in June 2010 and was conducted by a series of emails and phone calls claiming the owner needed to sell his duplex due to financial hardship. Continue reading
Dead Body Found In Open House
Image created by Simon Howden, provided courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
No, this isn’t a home staging consultant’s tribute to Halloween. The owner actually died in the house and the agent was the first on the scene, showing the home to a potential buyer. In Texas, if the owner died of natural causes, you don’t have to disclose it. However, in this case, that buyer will probably figure it out without reading the disclosure statement. Continue reading
Pimping Real Estate By Using Sex
To get buyers’ attention, real estate agents are resorting to sexual images in ads to sell real estate listings. Here are a few examples. Continue reading
Real Estate Agent Tries To Earn Business At A Funeral
Sadly this is a true story that happened to me before I became an agent.
About 17 years ago, my grandmother passed away and I inherited the family house in Montrose, Alabama. At the time, I lived in Memphis, Tennessee so I didn’t know too many of my grandmother’s friends in the Fairhope, Alabama area. So, during the visitation, the day before the funeral, people were coming up to me introducing themselves all day long. During the visitation, I noticed one individual who was purposefully hanging back. Continue reading
Man Arrested For Apartment Rental Scams In Harlem
Image created by Simon Howden, provided by FreeDigitialPhotos.net
Rental scam: A man posing as a real estate agent showed a would-be Manhattan renter an apartment and takes your $2900 deposit. On move-in day, when the man discovered he’d been tricked, the agent, and his deposit was nowhere to be found. This happened to one man in the East Harlem area, but this time, they caught the guy posing as a real estate agent.
Bombs Found In Two Houses
Image created by Graur Razvan Ionut, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In District Heights, Maryland, a real estate agent was inspecting a recently foreclosed home and found what appeared to be two pipe bombs left in the basement, believed to be left by the previous owner. In an effort to retaliate against the bank, he is suspected of booby-trapping the house with two explosive devices. The real estate agent called the bomb squad and the devices were disposed of. So, while buying your next foreclosure, you’d better get a home inspection, termite inspection, foundation inspection and now, a bomb inspection too. Continue reading