Every few months, something happens to me that fully illustrates a Real Estate lesson worth sharing.
I am so angry there are people calling themselves "Real Estate Professionals," who advise people so poorly, or not at all.
My hope is that if I can help ONE OF YOU not go down a bad road, then this short story is worth it.
I went to a listing appointment somewhere in West Houston pretty recently.
The couple's home had previously been for sale for over 6 months and it wasn't going the way they hoped.
They had selected a family friend as a Realtor and clearly didn't check the track record.
They were frustrated by the lack of work ethic and effort on the part of the agent.
So they made a plan to interview FIVE new agents, to make sure they didn't make the same mistake again.
I met them at the house to show them what we would do to get the home sold.
I brought my pre-listing walk through checklist to make notes and help them get the house ready.
I show up to the house 5 minutes before go time.
All the grass is dead / dying.
Huge tree roots are snaking over the front yard.
The front brick above the garage is covered in green mildew.
There are 2 massive wasp nests in the covered porch ceiling.
The driveway and front walkway are in desperate need of a powerwash.
Front door is totally beat up and needs to be refinished.
They answer the door.
The smell of cat piss hits me like a brick to the face. About 5 minutes into the walkthrough, I carefully and kindly recommended a deep cleaning once the cats had been removed and they asked me, sincerely, "You can smell cat pee?"
One of the kitchen cabinet doors was hanging off a hinge looking broken....
The entire upstairs carpet was over 20 years old...and likely a huge source of the cat pee odor.
You get the idea.
I'm going to spare you...but the rest of the walkthrough went like that, every single place I went in this house...something to stop a buyer from wanting to own it.
It was like they designed a buyer experience to ensure they never sell.
They told me their previous agent said not to do anything and it would be an easy sale. 2 weeks tops to get a buyer.
That was in early 2025.
They proceed to tell me they don't want to do anything to the house now because after getting a piece of feedback a few months ago that the house was "too dark" they spent $9,000 to have the house repainted white inside.
Get this. They painted all the walls stark white.
The original ceiling color was a creamy off white.... that now looks like a sea of YELLOW.
It is WILD to me how people will spend a bunch of money on something that doesn't solve anything at all...in fact sometimes it creates yet another problem. For example....if they had painted the walls with accessible beige or agreeable gray...the ceiling would actually still look white. Now...a buyer is going to think they need to paint every ceiling surface in the house....because it looks like someone painted the ceilings yellow.
So, they've wasted $9,000 and more than 6 months of their lives and their frustration is high.
Their solution now?
Talk to 5 different agents, with 5 different track records, and get 5 differing opinions about how to sell this house.
I could see the desperation in their eyes...combined with skepticism because of their distrust of Realtors. They don't know who to believe at this point.
I asked them if they'd had a chance to read my client reviews and look at my track record to prepare for our meeting.
They had not. :(
Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Capital, has a great book called Principles, where he lays out the strategies that he used to build a company that manages $100 billion in assets.
One of the key aspects of Bridgewater's culture is they always look to the credibility of the person that has an opinion or idea. They weigh that opinion based on how credible the person has proven to be in the past.
They determine credibility by RESULTS.
If you want advice from someone, but you don't check to see how credible they are, how do you know you're getting good advice?
Don't go looking for someone to tell you something that feels good...that will get you nowhere. A good doctor will tell you the truth. A good lawyer will tell you the truth. A good Realtor will tell you the truth.
So the lesson here?
If you're thinking about selling a house...
...call me please.