Real Estate Agents: The Real Spin Artists

For a long time, us in the PR and Marketing field have gotten a bad rep for being spin artists. We prefer to see it as presenting a strong argument for our team - we're not lying, we're just stating it as we believe it to be true. This does not account for the fact that we (or our employer) may in fact be slightly delusional, but let's set that aside for the moment.

When you work in the business of pitching, you develop a healthy dose of skepticism, along with a strong radar for detecting when you, yourself, are being pitched. You also get pretty good at predicting "the sell" when you know you're headed in to the lion's den.

And such was the case as I ventured over to West Midtown to look at a new apartment complex. West Midtown is generally considered to be an "up and coming," "transitional" neighborhood. I use quotes here because these are exactly the words I expected to hear come from the leasing agent's mouth as we discussed the property, and more importantly, the price.

I wish I could say he surprised me and told it like it is - 'Listen, you're on the edge of a very dangerous neighborhood, you'll probably hate living near train tracks, but we've jacked up the price because we have a great saltwater pool.' Instead I got his version of spin - 'This is a really artsy neighborhood. You can take dance classes right across the street and there's five-star dining steps away.'

It happens to everyone in the real estate market, buying or renting. And these agents are very good at their jobs. I can attest, because 24 hours later I'm still thinking about putting a deposit down on that apartment - car jack-ings and all. After all, who wouldn't want to get in on the ground floor of somewhere so "up and coming." Sigh. They've beat me at my own game.