I was so excited yesterday morning when CBS news called us to do an interview for the local nightly news. I asked the reporter how she found us and she said I did a Google search on the Internet. Of course our Active Rain blog came up with our articles about Foreclosures and Short Sales.
She said she wanted us to show her some bank owned properties that were ransacked and destroyed. She also wanted me to set up an interview with one of our buyers to talk about how hard it is to buy a nice house and that they are all destroyed because the banks are not taking care of them and that the interest rates are going up so they can't buy a home. She said that she was doing the story because Florida is in the top 4 of most foreclosed property states.
I seized this opportunity to spin the story.
First I told her about our seller who we were trying to save from Foreclosure and we would love a story about that in hopes that it would reach someone at Countrywide that would help us. She was NOT interested.
Next I told her about the short sale crisis and how the banks would do better financially if they would streamline their short sales process and how we would love to do an interview to let people who need help know that we and others can help them. She was NOT interested.
Then I told her about how we have buyers who are buying right now, the interest rates are still extremely low, that I worked in the business with interest rates at 18% and how FHA is giving our buyers some great options. We need more buyers to come into the market because here in our town, now is a good time to buy. She was NOT interested.
So then I told her I would look up some properties and see if we could meet her at one of the bank owned properties. I was still excited at this point to do an interview because I know and teach about how powerful media coverage is to our business. I am a PR queen just as Patricia Kennedy is a PR hound. We understand how to leverage a chance to be in the news in print, radio or on T.V. This is the best way to create a reputation and an image. People don't believe your ads but they do believe the news. When you buy and editorial style ad versus the obvious ad in a paper, you will get a larger response from the editorial ad even though you must disclose at the bottom of it that you paid for it. It is just the way it is and so in our business a press release or an interview is far more valuable than a print ad, which we don't even do anymore.
I called Nestor to tell him that he would be the one showing the houses because she wanted to meet in an hour and I was not ready and I would do the research. Nestor told me take a deep breathe, not get so excited and then asked me, " What is her objective? Honey, we don't want agents around here to hate us because we are spreading negative news. We also don't want to be the bearers of the bad news, if there is any." He had a very good point.
Then I researched the foreclosed on properties in Wellington and there were ONLY 39 Bank Owned properties on the MLS! In all of Wellington. Even I was surprised. I looked through each one and guess what! They all looked great and well taken care of. I called buyer agents from other companies who I know work with lots of buyers and show lots of houses. They all told me that ALL the houses they look at that are bank owned are in great condition. Next, I called the agent I know who has the most bank owned properties, in fact that is all she does and she has 274 Bank Owned Listing across 5 counties. She told me if I go down to Miami or Broward County I could find some homes like that but not around Wellington and West Palm Beach. Not these days she said.
It is great that I did this research because it really gave me the opportunity to discover that it is not bad in our area like the news says it is. We do have tons and tons of short sales and lots of lis pendens filings but not bank owned properties compared to other counties in Florida.
The reporter called me back at our appointed time and I told her my discovery. She was NOT sharing in my joy! I even looked in the blighted areas of our county and even there the banks were fixing up the properties to sell them. There was one very bad one that had been torn apart but it was already bought so her theory that if they are torn up they will not sell was not the case either. I tried to get her to see the truth and asked her to do a story on the many reasons buyers should buy now and how they could help us get the word out about short sales and foreclosure defense. I told her that here in our county, there are a lot of people with a lot of money and they care about their homes and take care of them no matter what. Sure, there are bad apples here and there. But is she wanted to really see this massive bank owned areas she would have to go and visit my friend Bryant Tutas in Poinciana Florida or other parts of Florida. Of course, this was for our local news so she was not going to do that.
Now my issue became weighing wanting to do the interview versus my integrity. Well, my integrity and values supersede fame any time. Do I want those 10 seconds up in lights to assist her in spreading her doom and gloom, the sky is falling reporting or do I want to maintain my positive outlook by staying firm and fast to my resolve to share the good news and the truth?
She asked me on more time, " So you can't help me?" My answer was, " No, I am sorry but what you are looking for is just not here and not the truth!"
Stay away from the negative reporting and stop reading the papers and watching the news. Do not support bad and untruthful behavior. I was telling Patricia Kennedy about this on the phone yesterday and she told me how the Nightly News called her broker and asked her to take them to Washington Row and show them a street with all the foreclosure signs up and down the street. Well, the problem there too was, there were no foreclosed property signs and the houses were not getting foreclosed on in the area they wanted to see. This is appalling behavior and irresponsible journalism. The sad thing is more than 80% of people watching believe the news.
Contact Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset, CIPS, Realtors®, International Properties and Investments, Inc. Licensed Realtors® in Florida at 561-753-0135 to list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee, Lake Worth, Hypoluxo Island, Lantana, West Palm Beach and the rest of Palm Beach County Florida. We are accepting referrals.
Copyright © 2008 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.*CBS Wanted Us To Do An Interview- But There Was A Problem...*
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Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset- Realtors®, CIPS, ABR, SFR, GRI, REOS
All the news that fits to print. Only now the mantra is "All the news that fits our point."
I am actually on public record as stating I personally distrust the media at a local Townhsip Committee meeting over 10 years ago. A reporter was in the audience. My statement went into the public record. Now for kicks I google my name and re-read my quote.
Up until this very moment, the moment I read your blog I always thought I sounded like a quack. Thank you for the vindication.
Katerina- Good for you!!!! I am so tired of the media spin. I am glad that you did not allow them to twist your market in the media. I have followed your advice and I no longer watch the news. If I could only get my wife to go along with me on that! =)
Best,
Scott
Katerina, good for you - and - I'm not surprised with CBS...they all want the bad stuff to share. It's more sensational! Not the truth - but it gets noticed!!
Seems to me she would have grabbed any shred she could to run with her story. Good for you for steering clear. Not everyone would have had the integrity to pass.
I'm so glad you stood your ground. It's so important to give the media the TRUTH despite the fact that it does not meet their story requirements.
Lisa
Katerina,
The sad part is that for many people they are given incorrect info as truth. Perception becomes reality. I remember when news was accurate and authentic. Can you say Walter Cronkite. Seems to me that several of the news programs are mostly fluff and entertainment, not news. It is no wonder that many of the young folks get their news from Stewart and Colbert. They give as much info and you know most of it is tongue in cheek.
List and Sell (and thanks for being honest) Gary @ RentonHomeFinder
Katerina: Sadly, an inexperienced agent vying for the fame WILL do the interview and will feed into the media madness! You should have said, YES and with each and EVERY question, answer in a positive but, truthful manner, giving them nothing that they could twist into a negative! (The problem with that is, it would simply be a waste of time--they wouldn't air it! I had that happen when I was interviewed for the school system here: I was very active in the schools and our school had developed a new communication system for families, staff and administration. They wanted a negative story and I smiled the entire time, giving them nothing that they would be able to twist into a negative and they did not even air the interview--OR the story!! They told the school system that they just didn't have the time to air it--so, they aired another story about how dangerous pit bulls are!)
And, you're SO right that the vast majority of the public believe their stories. When will America wake up?
Katerina. Good for you. I have refused 3 of these "opportunities" for exposure.
The media is seeking one thing and one thing only, to showcase a family in distress, even if the distress is of their own making, in order to make the bank look bad.
Every one of them that called me had
etc. etc.
I, like you and Nestor, don't want to associate myself and my company with the distress of a family on the nightly news.
Good for you.
KUDOS! You absolutely did us all a big time favor by not giving in to the MEDIA NEGATIVITY!
I was interviewed for a national story by USA WEEKEND last year. They called 3 times and we talked about the market for a total of about 1 1/2 hours. They 'said' they were doing a POSITIVE story on buyers and sellers who were having SUCCESS in spite of the downturn in the market. I connected them with 3 of our customers who graciously agreed to speak to them.
I was pretty darned excited about being in a national story and a positive one at that. WRONG!
When the story went to print they had NO QUOTES from any of our customers and attributed only ONE QUOTE to me... not only did they not get the quote right, it wasn't even a MIS-QUOTE. It was a total FABRICATION of something that I not only did NOT say but something that we NEVER even discussed - TOTAL FABRICATION! I don't want to repeat the "quote" because it didn't even make any sense... it made me appear downright ignorant and uninformed.
The entire story was actually just more of the same negative tripe the media loves to print all the time. It was absolutely disgusting! I learned my lesson about dealing with the media - been there, done that, never again without an iron-clad contract protecting me and my words!
Tim
I don't suppose any one who reads your posts would be surprised to hear that your integrity won out over the desire for the press!!
We all know the media distorts things for their own purposes, and bad news sells. THe economy and housing market are psychological- if people think things are bad, they will be.
Here in So Cal, unfortunately, many of the REO's have been trashed- I mean carpeting ripped out, baseboards ripped out, pool equipment cut out and sold, HVAC units sold, etc. Not all are that bad, but many are.
*||*||*||*||*applause*||*||*||*||*
This post should have been featured. I'm sorry I didn't see it yesterday to flag it.
YOUR INTEGRITY is one of the only things that you have 100% control over.
Katerina, I don't know. I just made it up and thought it looked kinda cool, and the double || could look like hands coming together to clap. LOL
I generally do not watch the news either, sometimes I watch the early morning weather (usually wrong) and my hubby watches some of those programs on Fox. I'd actually rather watch something like Forensic Files...the bad guys always go to jail ! :)
Katerina - Whatever happened to reporting the facts? Nowadays all news outlets want to do is to create the story. This is a perfect example. Congrats for standing up for the TRUTH!!!
Ken Tharp, Iowa Equity Exchange
Katerina, you know the old saying "good news is no news" that is the case with this report, and the funny thing is you'll probably get more publicity with this positive post than you ever would have with the news lady. Good choice in spreading the good news.
Margaret- She won't find a torn up house around here but maybe she will take a photo of one in another part of Florida and pretend it is here:(
Can't trust them! They have their own agenda, very sad they have so much power. And sadder still that people don't see it.
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