This ad must be a joke

There was a radio advertisement that made me laugh. One of the Canberra real estate companies was advertising that its company more than any other could sell your property and get you more cash for the sale than any other.

In addition to the radio ad I noticed the following appears on the Blackshaw web site:

Proven sales record
At Peter Blackshaw Real Estate we continually achieve higher prices right across Canberra.
We have achieved more record-breaking sales in more suburbs than any other agent in the ACT. (check it out)

I don't know about you, but this seems dumb to me, and I think Blackshaw are assuming we are all idiots. Perhaps Blackshaw needs to be treated to the same lack of regard as they treat the punters.

The thing about real estate companies is that they are stuck between buyers and sellers. Property owners want to sell for as much as they can get. Potential buyers want to buy for as little as possible; everyone wants a bargain. In real estate you can’t keep both buyers and sellers happy. And there’s seldom a fair price in real estate. Generally, when someone talks about the great deal they got, rest assured, someone else missed out badly.

There doesn’t seem to have been a lot of thought gone into that ad. Sure, pushing the notion that selling your property for more than the opposition might offer may attract a few potential owners with a property for sale. But it doesn’t take too much imagination to consider that the punters are listening to that ad too. Why should they buy anything from a company that is essentially announcing that they are going to be ripped off.