Usually it’s in self defense…
“Can you send me more information?”
If you sell real estate long enough, you’ll get that message over and over.
Usually it comes through one of the big portal sites.
The first time I got one, Looked legitimate enough, and it was on a fairly large listing so of course I was excited.
They wrote in a reasonably normal way and seemed interested in the property. I sent the information they requested.
A few minutes later they responded that they were out of town and would like to schedule a Zoom call with their spouse.
Still sounded reasonable to me, then came the link. Luckily my antivirus software had a stronger opinion about that link than I did.
The whole thing was a scam.
Since then I’ve seen it repeatedly.
For whatever reason, most of mine seemed to come through a certain brokerage company’s website. I don’t blame them for it too much. It’s probably not something they can really stop, short of not showing properties on their website and having links for info.
Once you’ve seen it a few times, you recognize the pattern pretty quickly.
Today I got another one.
This time it came through one of the big portals. I’d name them, but I really don’t want to hear from a lawyer.
The message asked for additional information. I sent it. A few minutes later came the request for a Zoom call.
At that point I already knew where the conversation was headed.
Goodbye.
The interesting part isn’t the scam itself.
The interesting part is what happens when agents get flooded with junk inquiries.
Consumers assume every inquiry is treated equally. It isn’t.
After you’ve spent enough time sorting through spam, scammers, tire kickers, people gathering information, and people who accidentally clicked a button, you stop getting excited every time a portal notification arrives.
You become skeptical.
That’s not because you don’t want buyers.
It’s because most of the signals turn out not to be real.
The portal I mentioned above has managed to create a different problem too.
I’ve had people call me angry because I supposedly wouldn’t stop calling them. The only problem was that I had never called them in the first place. Somewhere along the line their system apparently glitched and attached my information to something it shouldn’t have. The person was frustrated. I was confused. Neither of us knew what was going on.
That’s what happens when technology gets between people.
Everybody assumes the system is working. But sometimes it isn’t.
If you’re wondering why an agent isn’t responding to your inquiry through a portal site, this may be part of the reason.
Pick up the phone and call them. Or send an email directly. You’ll have a lot more luck.
Do something that looks like a real person trying to have a real conversation.
And if you’re a seller wondering why your agent isn’t sitting by the computer refreshing portal inquiries all day, this is part of the answer too.
Most experienced agents have learned that quantity and quality are not the same thing.
A hundred notifications can still be worth absolutely nothing.
PS- Most landowners are not planning to sell today.
But markets change. Development pressure changes. Buyer demand changes too.
The people who make the best decisions usually aren’t the ones scrambling to learn everything at the last minute. They’re the ones who already have a pretty good idea of what’s happening around them.
That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check is for.
It looks at nearby sales, competing properties, market activity, and the factors affecting value that are easy to miss if you don’t spend much time in the land business.
You don’t have to do anything with the information.
But is it a bad idea to know where things stand?
PPS- If you’re not ready for a Land Reality Check but enjoy reading about land, negotiation, markets, and how business actually works in the real world, you can sign up below and get future posts in your inbox.
No hype.
No sales funnel.
Just new posts when I write them.
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