Back on the subject of misleading advertising!

I'm sorry, but I just have to write about this again!  Misleading advertising!  And once again, in the real estate field!

So I recieved this post card from a local company that advertises that they will help you sell your home and do so for a way reduced comission.  Sounds good right?

Well, the postcard advertises that you could save a bunch of money by hiring this particular agency because they will sell your house for some flat fee.  Their claim is that you can save thousands of dollars in comissions by hiring them to sell your home.

Here is where the misleading comes in.  When this particular ad says they will sell your home for $2995 versus the 6% that other agents charge,  they then come up with a dollar figure to overstate the savings.  For instance, if your home is worth $300,000, they would compare their $2995 fee versus the $18,000 that a broker charging 6% would cost the seller. A whopping savings of $15,005, right?

Well not exactly.  That is ONLY if this particular agent sells your home.  If another agent or agency brings the buyer to the home, then you pay that agent a 3% coop fee (this is part of the 6% spoken of before).  So instead of claiming a $15005 savings over a full service traditional broker,  they should be comparing apples to apples.  The savings in this example should be $3010 and NOT $15005!  Why?  Because you will still have to pay the other agent 3% of the sales price in order to have them show and sell your home. 

Why is this important? Because the agent that lists your home for sale in the MLS, while the are responsible for marketing your house, they are rarely the one that produces the buyer.  Usually a co-broker agent supplies the buyer.  In this particular case, of the 69 houses listed by this particular broker in 2006,  only ONE home did they provide the buyer as well as list the home. 

 That means that only 1 in 69 clients saved as much as they claim in their advertising!  How in the world can they claim that and more importantly,  if they are making these claims that are just not supported by the MLS data, how can you be sure they are not also doing other things that are not quite what they claim.

This particular subject makes me so mad that I would shout it from the roof tops if I could.  Look, any business has the right to sell any product or service they sell for whatever they wish to sell it for...however, to be deceptive about it is a totally different story!  To present such a slanted view of their charges, when in fact those charges were only applicable to 1 in 69 in 2006, is just simply....misleading!