Real estate-related gun show display. Need opinions.

[Brad Johnson]

but the reality is that your employer is paying 7.5% of your income to FICA for you, you pay the rest.

It's called SELF EMPLOYMENT tax for a reason. If your employer pays the "other half" of your FICA, and you are the employer ... well ... you do the math, genius.

my frustration stems from this...extreme respect for the Freedom of this country and the rights and liberties that the founders of this great Nation agreed upon as "inalienable rights",

I seem to remember something about that ... "Life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness." Well, I'm pursuing happiness, bud. Get over it.

As for getting your drug stash raided... cry me a river. If you had a safe that you "put all the valuables in..." you should have included any prescription meds. Besides, no one held a gun to your head to list the house with a broker or to have the open house. You made that choice.

You claim to have real estate experience and you still didn't think far enough ahead to prepare for strangers parading through your home? Tough cookies. You had a leg up exerience- and knowledge-wise on most everyone else who lists their home and you still screwed the proverbial pooch. You want to get mad at someone? Go look in the mirror. You just want to grouse to everyone else instead of owning up to a problem you created for yourself.

No, you're just looking for a place to solicit business.

Finally we agree on something. I never said it was otherwise. Your point is...?

Tell you what, to appease your delicate sensibilities I will divest myself of any real estate / firearms association. To that end I will no longer use any of my real estate income to buy guns or ammunition, to support local childrens' shooting sports and firearms safety education, or to support local, state, and national gun rights advocacy.

I will begin sending the Suspension of Donation notices today. Forward me your name and address I will include it with the notices. That way the groups I'm no longer funding with my "dirty" real estate money will know it was you who brought me back to the straight and narrow. I'm sure they will greatly appreciate your efforts.

Oh, almost forgot...

For anyone who didn't know there was a show in Lubbock this weekend (Sept 15 & 16), it will be at the Civic Center.

Brad

 

[davinci]

this really took an ugly path real quick.
I'm insulting the irresponsibility of the profession, not you specifically. But, just so you know, it wasn't an open house... I know what those are all about, they're about a seller's agent using your home as an office to solicit new business from protential buyers. It was a preplanned visit by a realtor and their clients, who wanted me to vacate my home for about an hour in the evening so they could have free reign to pick through my medicine cabinet. If I had something other than hydrocodone in there, they probably would have taken it too... total disrespect for other people's property. In this case, that property caused me some serious pain. Have your appendix removed and tell me you wouldn't be angry if someone stole your pain meds. Aspirin just don't cut it when you just had an organ REMOVED from YOUR TORSO. Makes me angrier every time I think about it and that pain that THEY left me in. Did they just think "oh, he doesn't need these more than the $5 a pill that we can sell them for" there wasn't even that many of them.

Please don't stop being involved in firearms. This country needs more folks who believe in freedom, and I'm glad to see that you're using some of your money to support children in this sport... that's more than I do.

I'd like you to note, I never called you crooked or said you were off the 'straight and narrow'... I said that the profession influences folks to take less than they ask based on this consultant they hired knowing more than they do about the price of houses, but if you were selling this as your house would you 'seriously consider' this offer? If you were buying the house, would you like another middleman asking your middleman "how high will they go?" "remember, 10,000 more means an extra $300 each!"

 

[Justin]

Davinci, why don't you take your complaints about realtors elsewhere. It's completely superfluous to the topic at hand.

I see no problem whatsoever with what Brad has proposed.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Davinci, why don't you take your complaints about realtors elsewhere.

Nah, let him say his peace - he's entitled to have his opinion heard. It's not like I don't get it every day from somewhere.

If you were buying the house, would you like another middleman asking your middleman "how high will they go?" "remember, 10,000 more means an extra $300 each!"

That's a patently bad long-term business model. It's much better to look out for your client's interest in the short term and create a repeat client long-term. The "just a little more" attitude is great if you want one paycheck and a lifetime of negative word of mouth. It's also a federal crime (price fixing and racketeering are two charges that come immediately to mind.)

Unfortunately some members of the profession tend to be their own worst enemy in that respect. It's bad enough I have to do business with them. What's worse is doing business with them while trying to combat the public perception their behavior creates. It makes me crazy(er) sometimes.

Brad

 

[Justin]

Nah, let him say his peace. He's entitled to his opinion and it's not like I don't get it everyday from somewhere.

It's nice of you to offer. Regardless, the discussion about whether or not one needs a realtor is beside the general point of this thread.

 

[davinci]

sorry for letting my hate take me off topic. I'm sorry, all of you who read my rants.

"he's entitled to have his opinion heard. It's not like I don't get it every day from somewhere."
If this is the case, are you sure that putting up a booth at a gun show might invite negative opinion of the gun show or gun owners in general? I really don't see a gun show as an audience that will be terribly interested in what you have to offer, and if anyone's like me they're going to snub anything that isn't firearm related just because it's not as interested. I'm there for firearms and accessories, and maybe even some mingling with folks who are collectors or merchants. I'm not there to donate to the tibetian freedom movement, or even to visit the local CCW booth and talk to those folks about the law and take their pamphlets. I even saw a pro-life abortion booth at a gun show back in the mid-90's. I don't know if they realized it or not, but most of the folks there were men.

regarding your comments brad, you seem like a decent fella who's not out to gyp anyone he can for a few bucks. Sorry if anything I said may have been taken personally, it's my experience with all the realtors that gives me such contempt, not with you as a person. If you are the kind of realtor who engages in the practices that I mentioned, they don't have any business anywhere I'm going to be and I detest the notion that they may be interested in the same things as I am.

 

[Brad Johnson]

If this is the case, are you sure that putting up a booth at a gun show might invite negative opinion of the gun show or gun owners in general?

No more than it does when I wear my company tee shirt to the firing range. Someone's always going to have a problem with a non-gun table at a gun show. At least I'm bridging the gap with the donation aspect. And, hey, if the table was going to be vacant anyway, might as well put something there. It's much better to have something, anything, at the table than for it to be vacant. A vacant table creates a grossly negative psychological impact, much more so than a table populated with non-gun "stuff".

I really don't see a gun show as an audience that will be terribly interested in what you have to offer,

It's all in the numbers. In any given group of people there will always be around 6% that are ready to buy or sell, and roughly that many who know, or at least know of, someone ready to buy or sell. With approximately 3000 people hitting the show that's 360 potential clients. If I get only one percent of that potential client pool, that's three clients I didn't have today and all it cost me was 45 bucks and a few hours flathanding at a gun show where I'd probably be anyway.

I can tap a 3000-person market pool via postcard for 26 cent each, or 3000 people at the gun show for 1.5 cents each. The individuals in the target market group being like-minded to a cause is a bonus. I know a lot of them anyway, or at least am familiar with them by sight. It's a cheap way to keep my name out there if they are ready to make a move.

Brad

 

[davinci]

sounds like you've got your mind worked out pretty good then.
I've heard sometimes all you have to do is drop the reigns, and he may just go the direction you wanted him to in the first place.

 

[Tom Bri]

You know, I understand how Davinci can have a bad opinion of Realtors. I know some pretty hard hearted characters in this business. And with emotions running so high, with so much value at stake, one bad apple can leave a lifetime of bad taste.

I feel fortunate in working for a pretty good broker. Our training and the company strongly discourage any of the funny business that can be found.

I think that is why so much of this business works through referrals. You trust someone you know or who is recommended to you by someone you trust.

Brad, please post again after the show. Tell us what reception you got. I am guessing it will be pretty friendly.

 

[Brad Johnson]

I feel fortunate in working for a pretty good broker. Our training and the company strongly discourage any of the funny business that can be found.

I'm lucky that way, too. Fortunately, most of the folk here in Lubbock are pretty straightforward to deal with (though the boom in the last few years has seen an definite increase in agents we'd rather not have.)

Brad

 

[Brad Johnson]

Finished the show this afternoon.

As suspected there were lots of friendly nods and "Hello's". The interest wasn't as much as expected. I figured there would be a few folks who had a casual interest in something real-estate related. At the very least I figured they would pick up a property guide. In then end there were fewer than a dozen property guides taken and only two or three people who actually had some questions.

Attendance was way off. There are usually 2500-3000 attendees. From what I understand, attendance this weekend was 1500-ish. Mostly hard-core gunnies. The casual lookers, professional "toy buyers", and significant others that I was presuming would be the bulk of my interested parties were few and far between. I think this was a lot of the problem.

However...

I did get one solid lead which I'm pretty sure will end up in a listing. For that alone I have to chalk it up as a qualified success.

 

[eliphalet]

I'd say it was a win. Way to go IMO

 

[bogie]

Well, I remember hours at the local courthouse doing title searches... And unscrewing folks' paperwork. And dealing with the geniuses who think that just because they just got approved on their loan means that they can go out and buy a new truck...

Realtors earn their money. If you've got enough spare time, and are educated enough in the field to do it yourself, by all means, go for it.

Used to be my family's business. But guess what? When I bought my house, I used a buyer's agent.

 

[ScottsGT]

How about advertising "Free gunsafe with every home bought thru me" deals?
I know a lot of husbands would pick you over who the wife wants to use!

 

[230RN]

Correction

[ASIDE]

For what it's worth, the term "Realtor(TM)" is a copyrighted trade name to be used only by members of the National Association of Realtors(TM) (NAR), and who subscribe to a strict Code of Ethics promulgated by NAR.

Not all real estate agents are Realtors(TM).

Although its usage is sometimes corrupted and used as a generic term, like "Kleenex(TM)," the word "Realtor(TM)" should only be used in reference to members of NAR and their local State Associations of Realtors(TM).

Misuse of the term by some non-Realtor(TM) real estate agents has led to much of the sometimes poor image of Realtors(TM).

Sorry, but as a former Officer of a local Board of Realtors(TM) this has always been a minor bete noire of mine.

230RN (former) GRI.(Graduate Realtor's(TM) Institute.)

[/ASIDE]

 

[ScottsGT]

And as a former paint and body man, I hate it when people refer to plastic body filler as "Bondo"
I know what you mean though!

 

[230RN]

.... clips...bullets...magazines...cartridges.... Realtors(TM).... alot...

 

[Brad Johnson]

Not all real estate agents are Realtors(TM).

It's REALTOR(R) now. And yes, I am a member. I'm also a Certified Residential Specialist, a Graduate of the Realtor Instititue (Texas), a Certified New Home Specialist, and an Accredited Buyer's Representative.

(which is a fancy way of saying that I pay a lot of professional association dues every year.)

Brad

Brad