June 15, 2006

Question: Why do realtors use their photos on their ads, signs, websites and business cards?




Does any other serious profession do this? I know hookers, models and actors do, but at what point did what someone look like matter in any type of real business?

An HP'er sent me this direction. I'm scared. Very scared. And cracking up...

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, she's hot, in a cheap slutty kind of way. The ad makes a subliminal suggestion: you can stare down the front of my slinky dress while I show you the bedrooms - maybe you'll get lucky - you never know. The guy with the bowtie - gay!

Anonymous said...

She looks old and gross, he looks like a big dork.

I usually can't find any pictures of houses in the home magazines with all the realtors head shots in the way. They all go for that cheap, Glam Shot look. Maybe they are hoping to use these photos for their mug shots when they all get thrown in jail.

Anyway, I know quite a few in the RE business, and in person they are very unattractive (at that is being kind).

I am sure they believe they look like their glam photo portrays, just as they believe the housing prices will continue to rise next month.
UGLY & DUMB-GREAT COMBO!

Anonymous said...

I saw a good one once. The picture on the card was great. The guy looked so hammered. Got to love a job you can be a raving drunk an still live.

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh those Boca RE scum and their promises to be honest and fair. Keith missed the opportunity to parody the promises made on the Boca site where the pics came from.

Anonymous said...

Because they are glamour whores, and they’re all filthy rich. Plus, they want to be recognized while at Starbucks.

Anonymous said...

Someone told me that it gives the ads a more "personal" touch. I find it kinda stupid, cause a picture of the house servers the purpose than the RE's ugly mug.

Anonymous said...

Could it be the same person?

Anonymous said...

Both unsuccessful sex changes.

Anonymous said...

what a fugly biatch

Anonymous said...

Most agents make their money by drawing in listings, or at least getting you in so they can be a buyers agent. Their business development advertising is based around them, and not the properties which change from month to month...

That said, I find it a waste of space and advertising dollars in my local paper when I see 1/4 - 1/2 page adds from local realtors with just their picture and "what they can do for you" with *no* properties shown. I am not interested in them, but a certain property, since "relationship" is a bunch of crap for an occasional transaction.

I will say most of the realtor pictures in my neck of the words are professional business suit type adds, and not an ageing Paris Hilton wannabe... But then again, this site is Boca, which I used to live, and their rich snowbird customers like the "where going to the symphony" fake style....

Of, someone said the guy looks gay, I don't know, since he reminds me of Jim Rogers, who is certainly not gay with his young wife ;-)

Anonymous said...

She looks like an orc.

Anonymous said...

I think they use the photos to keep other realtors from stealing their business.

Anonymous said...

You're all a bunch of hostile limp-dicked losers who are jealous of success. Without a talented realtor like me, how would young couples find their dream house? I provide them with wit, intelligence, a nice view, and weeks of experience. Without realtors, where would the RE market be? The homes are inconsequential to the realtor experience. Besides, we really care about our clients' happiness, not money, like all you hypocrites. I would work just as hard to sell a house for $50K as $500K, really. You think it's easy making a $25K commission after hours of farding in the car, smiling at cheap husbands being dragged by their wives, getting to the house early to make certain all the toilet seats are down,and touring countless kitchens and rooms, describing all the amentities ad nauseum. Yeh! I'm worth it!

Anonymous said...

i am gay. that guy looks scary gay. we don't want him.

Anonymous said...

it is called BRANDING
since Realtors must use their REAL NAMES to market it is very hard to distinguish one name from other.
Thus the photo becomes a BRANDING solution.
Some are pretty and some are not but it works...
Does that help all you hp knobs

Bill said...

the top of her head looks good!

Anonymous said...

Thus the photo becomes a BRANDING solution.
Some are pretty and some are not but it works...
Does that help all you hp knobs "

- if my face looked like my ass I wouldn't brand myself that way - bad idea

and if that's true, why don't accountants etc do it like realtors do?

Anonymous said...

I think this is a serious question and deserves a higher level of discussion than appears here. I would really like to understand when and how the biggest financial decision of people's lives was changed from an analytical cost-benefit analysis based process to a purely emotional decision. Any thoughts? I mean some ads I see don't even tell you the size, price, or number of bedrooms a property has but there's a big photo of Buffy the realtor! I know part of it's cultural. When I bought property in France I didn't see much of this, although now I notice it's beginning. How is it in the UK, Keith?

Out at the peak said...

From 'Tiffany Trace' RE site: "Surprisingly, most real estate agents do not understand marketing in the age of cyberspace. We do."

Wow, I could not find one listing from the site. If you click "list" they ask you to phone in or email and expect a 24 hour response. The #1 important thing about cyberspace is 24/7 immediate access to information (and instant gratification).

Anonymous said...

I think the bottom line is that in our very recent histories ,society functioned without realtors. They are a product of the information age. They are no longer needed because of the computer. They will waste billions buying politicians and lawyers to keep us scared to buy and sell properties without them.

Anonymous said...

Realtors that don't provide all of the information I ignore. They are luddites, and feel they can waste my time by "hooking me in" by a phone call.

I ignore listings in adds with no price, and I ignore properties with no "info sheet" out front, with price.

blogger said...

not a picture of a realtor (estate agent) to be found over here in the UK - just the houuse, details, price, picture

I think the realtor photos give the world just another reason to laugh (double over laugh) at the fools in the states

Anonymous said...

They are the same person, different clothing

Anonymous said...

A few years back someone told me that 60% of the average car buying decision is about color. I didn't believe him then, but I think I do now. I'm convinced that most of the Bu$h voters were looking at the candidates hair in 2004. Any form of cost-benefit anlysis has been removed from the decision making process. We are nothing but marketing now.

Anonymous said...

Because their narcissistic whores.