Don’t Be a Number: 31, 44, 73 (In Real Estate or Life)
I played and coached high school and small college basketball. I’ve liked competition and games since finishing second (drat) to Ronald Ricketts in a potato sack race, age 8.
There’s a difference between competition and games. Real estate has each. Make sure you aren’t being played by a game. Some background.
A recent survey by the National Association of Realtors found that 31% of first-time buyers regret buying their first home with 44% who purchased within the past two years expressing regret. Gen Z buyers experience the highest remorse at 73%.
 Why? My opinion is algorithms and games.
What damage can algorithms and games do? Last month a California jury awarded a woman six million dollars in damages holding Meta and Google liable for her addiction to Instagram and YouTube.
Paragraph 6: The jury held that tech companies had designed social-media apps to “maximize user engagement” with features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and tailor-made algorithms.
The award was a spur to understand a life shaped by social-media algorithms and games in ways that are perhaps near-impossible to resist in real estate and life. Resist.
If it can happen (addiction) with social media, why not real estate? I’d bet the 31, 44 and 73% buyers made decisions based on gamification not information. You can gamble, bet prediction markets and buy a home on your phone. Maybe gamification absent information leads to dissatisfaction.
Not to pick on any particular real estate platform, remember, their success may come at a cost to you.
1. Zillow is an agent sales platform masquerading as a home buying source. Agents pay Zillow to be listed on a random, rotating basis for specific zip codes.
If you click the agent link you don’t know if the agent is good, bad, experienced or inexperienced. If you use a Zillow agent who is the listing agent you are not represented, the agent is the listing agent and works for the seller. See paragraph 6.
2. Redfin recently rolled out an app in ChatGPT in a move they said, “Will allow consumers to have a more conversational experience as they search for homes. The app enables consumers to ask specific housing related questions and refine their home search to make the home search less about filters and more conversational.”
This “conversational experience” is most likely an information gathering tool with the goal to engage the buyer and begin a journey down the real estate rabbit hole. See paragraph 6.
Be wary of messages about markets that are really marketing messages.
 3. More numbers. $656,000 (January), $541,000 (February), $590,000 to $721,000 (March), $739,000 (April). These are numbers a local real estate franchise sent me with their opinion of the value of our condominium.
The pitch (remember, it’s a game) continued, “Let’s chat about your home’s value. For the most accurate price reach out and we will provide a professional valuation.”
Why would I talk to an agent quoting a value difference of $198,000 ($739,000 – $656,0000)? See paragraph 6.
Real estate isn’t just about a home, it’s emotion, ego, greed and fear. Remove fear with information and move from disorder to order. Order provides a sense of control.
 We recently spoke with 5 separate potential clients over a two-week period. I’m sure they wondered why discussions took so long. Our reason is simple. We want clients to be informed and organized because we don’t want them to be number 31, 44 or 73.
Don’t be just a number or transaction. And don’t be played.
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Selling? We don’t list homes for sale so contact us for an objective, independent opinion on price and the process of selling in today’s market. We’ve performed 4 objective analysis this past week.
We’ll give you the inside scoop on the good and bad practices in real estate.
Having helped over 1,800 homebuyers you learn a lot about the selling side. The goal: Make educated and informed decisions.
Thanks for reading,
Michael D. Holloway
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