James L. “Jim” Jones’s Blog

Advertising has, since its beginnings, used personal testimonials to validate claims and to present an atmosphere of success and customer satisfaction with products and services. Real estate agents are certainly no exception to this practice. Most every agent and team will have a testimonials page on their web site.

It was brought to my attention over a year ago that a web search through your search engine of choice will produce some interesting, if not disturbing results. Just Google “Bryan & Yvonne Carpenter testimonials” and you will see what I mean. Now these people, along with Gary & Diane and the McGinnis family are either the most prolific home buyers ever known to the housing industry, or their testimonials are being plagiarized by a large number of unscrupulous agents or, the most likely option, part of a web designer’s boiler plate testimonial page that is not being updated.  As a Realtor, since the example involves real estate professionals, this bothered me. 

I am amazed at the number of real estate agents, using vendors to create their websites, who have no idea about the content of their business websites. In most cases, agents can give you a one sentence summary of their content but have never bothered to critically read through their site to confirm that the information displayed there is accurate. These “testimonials” are a very blatant example of the issue.

I said these testimonials are likely part of a boiler plate web page, but that is being kind. If you take the time to review the different sites you will notice that in each case the testimonials have been customized to fit the agent/team and the city or general market they serve.  If it were offered in a boiler plate fashion, I would expect to see, Mr. & Mrs. Seller, Your Home Town, USA or John & Jane Doe, Imagination, NZ as an identity for these grateful clients. These adaptations display intent, on someone’s part to present the information as valid. The craziest thing about this is that Bryan & Yvonne Carpenter have been the subject of numerous blogs and emails for more than a year that I am aware and the agents using these bogus testimonials either don’t get it, haven’t noticed or have ignored it.

I emailed one team about their fraudulent testimonials and received a quite indignant reply, “Which testimonials are you implying are fraudulent?” (emphasis mine). Once the facts were made known, I received a sincere sounding apology and a commitment to correct the error.  This was repeated with more than a dozen agents, each time producing similar results. “I didn’t know that was there.” “I will remove it right away.”  Most did.

Come on! We are supposed to be professionals. It’s a lot easier to make deals happen when you know the agent on the other side of the deal is honest, trustworthy, professional and attentive to detail. 

Are you aware that there is still 100% financing readily available? Most people aren’t, most Real Estate agents aren’t, and this is causing some first-time home buyers to not even try.

This is not FHA, which requires 3% down, but a true $0, no money down loan. It’s not a VA, restricted to qualifying veterans. This government program actually allows for 102% LTV (Loan to Value) financing. Flexible credit guidelines, No mortgage insurance, No maximum loan amount, Include closing costs/repairs/renovations in the loan, No minimum credit score, and Non-traditional credit may substitute for lack of traditional credit history. These are just a few of the features that make this a great opportunity. The best thing is it should be available from YOUR lender. No magic, no gimmicks. Imagine being able to advertise your for sale property with this option or a new home buyer getting into that first home with no money out-of-pocket.  

Of course there is no magic bullet and some restrictions do apply, but they are few. If you know someone who could benefit from such a program, perhaps you should check into the USDA Rural Development program. For details go to http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rhs/sfh/gsfh_information/real%20estate%20professionals.htm and learn how it can work for you.

 Remember what Leonard Ravenhill said, “The opportunity of a lifetime, must be seized in the lifetime of the opportunity.”  

Welcome to James L. (Jim) Jones’s Blog! Team Leader for the Team Jones3 real estate consultants with Keller Williams Advantage Real Estate in Beavercreek, OH. This blog will provide you with valuable information, tips, and general insight into the real estate market throughout Dayton and the Miami Valley.