If it looks too good to be true… you know the rest
If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Every so often I get an inquiry from an online consumer trying to see a place that looks pretty good. Actually, it looks so good as to be too good to be true.
Unfortunately for the inquirer places that look too good to be true usually are just that – too good to be true.
There are a couple of reasons for this great goodness factor. With the magnificent manifestation of data online some unsavory sorts extrapolate from that which is not theirs. I’m not sure why these guys take property addresses and associated photographs and confabulate advertisements touting much cheaper prices but I suppose it is akin to the emails asking you to help the true prince of somewhere far away to get his tens of millions of dollars out of the country to your great enrichment.
In other instances old listings never leave their online roost and a current time consumer mistakes something that long ago sold for something he might buy today. Alas that place is no longer available.
Sometimes we see what are known as a “dummy” ads. The creator of such an ad, either the listing brokerage or an unaffiliated third party, uses such a listing to try to attract clientele. In the parlance of the old school this is known as the “bait and switch.”
And in rare instances there are those listings that are lightening in a bottle. Usually it’s a foreclosure such as a Bucktown listing that arose in mid December and three different clients asked about it as it generated more than 30 offers within several days and sold for far more than its asking price.
While this was a tangible and viable place even it was too good to be true to an extent as it soared far beyond where its list price.
Like all of my planetary brethren I am familiar with the “looks too good to be true” conundrum. I thought of this as I danced with the vacuum cleaner this morning and hearkened back a few years when my Nicole and I thought our floor dust needs of our Old Town condo would be taken care of by the Roomba.
If you are not familiar with the Roomba it is a circular device that with the press of a button takes off an a cross hatched pattern throughout a single level of your home, picking up dust and what have you for the better part of 90 minutes to make your life better and cleaner.
At least that’s the idea. Until the buzzing, circling, beeping device runs a few times and the mechanism gets gummed up and just doesn’t seem to work well or right anymore.
Which was our experience. Over and over and over and over.
One thing I learned in the course of this not entirely inexpensive experiment was just how great Costco is. Every time the Roomba went boomba Costco was good enough to replace it. And when finally I tired of the experiment on about the sixth replacement Costco made me whole, refunding the purchase amount, enabling me to snag a whisk broom and pan to roll old school on the dust bunnies.
I don’t know what’s at the heart of the “looks too good to be true” conundrum. But maybe there is no universal truth on this one. But at least for my quixotic tilting with and against the Roomba at the core was my desire to have a shortcut. I wanted my floors clean without effort on my part.
Like skinny minis who want to be buff without hitting the gym. Or overweight folks who want to shave LBs without giving up the eclair.
Face it, you can fill in the blanks a million different ways. What I see as true here is two-fold – shortcuts have unintended consequences. The other truth, if you haven’t already guessed, if it looks too good to be true it probably is.
By the way, don’t leave your real estate needs to somebody intent on taking short cuts. Turn to somebody with an intelligent and workable plan. My number is 773.848.9241.
One more thing… I will be at 3024 N Sheffield Sunday from 11.15 until 1p. I will be at 3315 N Lakewood from 1.30 til 3.30. And my listings at 1801 W Winnemac and 1224 N Dearborn will be open from noon until 2p.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment