With as many properties as we are seeing for investors, we should have our own Real Estate TV show

Call it investing in Historic +Jacksonville, as we could very easily have our own show on how to buy investment properties. Yesterday, my investors from Miami were here, looking at properties. I have touched on my displeasure with Realtors wasting our time with no cap rates or details on rents, 32205 Living in Historic Avondale: So how do you feel about Realtor listings that are....

I realized today that I owe at least a small debt of gratitude to cable channels like HGTV, TLC, and A&E which are full of real estate TV shows. They have done an OK job of setting expectations with buyers and sellers. Education is half the battle when working with buyers and sellers, so anytime people can watch a primetime "video" on Real Estate, albeit 30 minutes, its great to educate the masses.  On the flip side, I recognize that they might make things seem a bit too easy. Nonetheless, I have frequently benefited from the lessons my clients have learned therein.

A few thoughts on this:

For buyers: I have found a number of clients who really enjoy watching shows like “House Hunters,” “My First House,” "Flip this House", and others. Consequently, it seems that some of them expect that they’ll look at only a few homes and we’ll get a contract in place quickly. I know that “House Hunters” features three homes, and they’re able to wrap things up neatly in 30 minutes. Needless to say, I appreciate the idea that we don’t have to visit a virtually endless number of homes to make a solid decision. I recently had a buyer who seemed to expect that we wouldn’t look at more than a handful of properties.

For sellers: Many times I can credit television programs for some of my seller clients who already have a strong understanding of the basics of home staging and de-cluttering, which makes my job a good deal easier. They also seem to respect that proper pricing is a critically important part of marketing the home, even if they have an idea of "how much their house is worth", and I have to manage this expectation. Frequently I hear, "Well the TV program made it sound so easy"....thanks to Survivor we have REAL Realty TV.

For agents: I have been in expansion mode as we move closer to 2014, having recruited experienced agents in the second half of this year. More than likely, I'll have some new people on my team in 2014. One interesting thing I’ve noted, particularly with younger, newer agents, is that they frequently mention how much they love watching real estate shows. It would seem that these shows have inspired a whole generation of budding agents. So when I watch the shows, we have something to relate with each other.

If you would like to be a star and possibly get a role on a Realty TV show, in many cases it is as simple as creating a demo tape/video (demo reel sounded so old or even demo tape) and submit to the show's producers on their website. As with real actors and actresses, this process can take time and lots of submissions, but then again, you are practicing on what directors/producers want to see. And you may be working on a new profession as a director/producer of Real Estate Videos!

#LizBobeck