Counter Intelligence: The Real Estate Cafe Weblog

If airlines have fare sales, should real estate agents?

If airlines have fare sales, should real estate agents?  We think so.  We understand buyers are waiting for prices to fall, but candidly, that's translated into a cash flow crisis for The Real Estate Cafe.  Still, as one of the nation's first fee-for-service real estate concepts we've had the experience to develop a menu of fees and rebates to get through slow times.  The key is offering compelling saving opportunities for clients -- so compelling, we hope at least one new or existing client decides to select one of our "flat fee" options the next three days.  So, if you think you'll be buying a home in the next six months and want to "buy down" your hourly consulting fee, we'd be glad to explain how you to save up to $75 per hour.  (Current client case study available upon request or just read what the Wall Street Journal said about our 100% rebate options.).  If our $3,000 to $5,000 flat fee options are beyond your budget, consider these SPECIAL OFFERS:

• Prepay for 5 hours of consulting service ($500), get one hour FREE ($100 savings). 
• Prepay for 10 hours of consulting service ($1,000), get three hours FREE ($300 savings).

Limited to the first three existing or new clients to respond. 

April Fool's Day 2007: Real Estate Parodies & Predictions

Yesterday, a leading real estate technology news service published it's Top 10 predictions on the future of real estate blogging.  Preliminary comments agree with Prediction #5:

The blogging community will give voice to those in the industry who previously didn't have one -- making them a force to be reckoned with. This has already happened, but will grow stronger this year. The open dialog will spark change the industry has never before seen.

What role will real estate consumer will play in that revolution, and what are the most effective ways to get homebuyers and sellers involved?  Humor -- the kind that has turned political commentary into infotainment -- could be an effective way to attract and engage real estate consumers. So a year after launching our original menu of wikis, which was so serious that it is still password-protected, The Real Estate Cafe's newest wiki has a more light-hearted goal: 

Prediction #11:  Real estate bloggers and zillions of homebuyers and sellers will pool their wits on April Fool's Day to publish a parody of the current housing market and real estate practices.

Hopefully, like satirical TV programs, there will be some serious content between the laughs.  Better still, maybe ordinary home buyers and sellers, turned "radical consumers advocates," will launch some lasting reforms; insuring they have the last laugh.  Who says real estate professionals, homebuyers, and sellers don't have a sense of humor?  Anyone reading the paper knows that housing prices are a joke.  What else about the current housing market or real estate practices makes you laugh (or drives you crazy)?

Last year, our April Fool's Day post asked:  Is designated agency an April Fool's Day joke?  Use this "April fool's real estate" keyword search on Google to see what others have done in the past.