Are real estate agents masterful at selling properties, quicker, for more money? Or are they simply masters of deceiving people into thinking that?

Article By: Neil O’Donnell

If you’ve bought and sold real estate, whether that’s a single house or dozens of investment properties, you undoubtedly have heard the promises that agents make.

Prominently advertised on the radio, there is this one: “Call John Smith today. 1-800… He’s so confident he can sell your home fast and for top dollar, in just 39 days, Guaranteed, that if he can’t, he’ll step in and buy it himself.” Of course, I can’t know or predict your gut reaction to hearing this.

Maybe your B.S. detector is firing on all cylinders.

Or do you buy into it hook line and sinker? And think, “Damn, that’s one hell of a deal. I should give John a call.”

The assumption is, on behalf of the homeowner, “If John is so confident that he’s willing to guarantee my home sold, in just 39 days, or he’ll buy it himself, then “man John must be good.” And while that may actually be the case, the skeptical, less trusting and shrew homeowners says, “Fine Print … Where is the fine print?”

Every day though, I see homeowners taken by this promise. Only to be disappointed when the “promise” doesn’t turn out to be credible. The FTC has a term of this. You might call it bait-and-switch. But really it’s not illegal, it’s just deception.

Every day I see homeowners taken by this promise. Only to be disappointed when the “promise” does not turn out to be credible.

You expect fine print and the use of **asterisks** in situations where terms and conditions are obvious. The lottery. Publisher’s Clearinghouse. Or in Vegas, where you know and are pretty certain going in, that you’re going to lose.

But in something like real estate, where the person you hire is supposed to have your back, the use of fine print and asterisks seems oddly out of place. As a result, the homeowner who falls for this promise, ends up being disappointed. Feeling misled. Sometimes they feel stupid. “Why did I believe that?” they ask. In the process, they learn the truth about agents, the commission-driven business, and what many are willing to do to make the phone ring.

In something like real estate, where the person you hire is supposed to have your back, the use of fine print and asterisks seems oddly out of place.

Then comes the next promise, “Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner, the reason we can guarantee that your home will sell fast, and for top dollar, is because of our Marketing Arsenal and proven 113-point marketing plan.” Again, I can’t know your gut reaction. Maybe you’re impressed by the “113-point marketing plan.”

Or maybe you’re not.

Maybe your B.S. detector again is firing off, so loud it sounds like a howler monkey, causing a ringing in your ears and can be heard by all around you.

Maybe you say to yourself, “Really, you have a marketing arsenal? That’s what you call it?” And maybe inside, or if you’re more vocal, you demand to see of this “113-point unicorn,” to be able to scrutinize its legitimacy for yourself. Again, I can’t know your response (or anyone else’s) to the promises that agents make. I can only share with folks, something powerful that I learned about sorting fact from fiction, truth from deception.

In his book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, author Scott Adams outlines six filters for truth—in essence, to hone your B.S. detector. He points out that each of the six filters, individually, is a complete train wreck.

• Personal Experience (Human perception is iffy)
• Experience of people you know (Even more unreliable)
• Experts (They work for money, not truth)
• Scientific studies (Correlation is not causation)
• Common sense (A good way to be mistaken w/complete confidence)
• Pattern recognition (Patterns, coincidences, and personal bias look alike.)

But here is the magic of these six filters, when you use at least 2, preferably more. Adams writes, “In our messy flawed lives, the nearest we can get to truth is consistency. Consistency is the bedrock of the scientific method. Scientists creep up on the truth by performing controlled experiments and attempting to observe consistent results. In your everyday, nonscientist life you do the same thing, but it’s not as impressive, nor as reliable. For example, if every time you eat popcorn, one hour later you fart so hard that it inflates your socks, you can reasonably assume popcorn makes you gassy. It’s not science, but it’s still an entirely useful pattern. Consistency is the best marker of truth, imperfect though it may be.”

He then writes, “When seeking truth, your best bet is to look for confirmation on at least two of the dimensions listed. For example, if a study indicates that eating nothing but chocolate cake is an excellent way to lose weight, but your friend who tries the diet just keeps getting fatter and fatter, you have two dimensions out of agreement. (Three if you count common sense). That’s lack of consistency.”

Identifying consistency can be your savior against the promises of deceptive agents.

In closing, if you have real estate needs. I urge you to utilize two or more of these filters to sort truth from deception. Identifying consistency can be your savior against the promises of deceptive agents.

And while you are at it, you might want to pick up a complimentary copy of The Value-Driven Approach to Sell Real Estate: A Practical Guide to Protect Yourself from Real Estate Greed.  In the book, we dive deeper into the topic of real estate agent deception … or in other words what to look and listen for to ensure that you align yourself with an agent who is not making promises with his fingers crossed behind his back.