A few
mornings ago, I was getting some cereal for my six-year old daughter, and she said something that stuck with me,
both because it seemed very observant and because it provides an interesting
lesson for all of us in real estate.

"Dada,
did you ever notice that every cereal box talks about
how its cereal tastes the best?"

"Yes, I
did.  What do you think about that?", I replied.

"I guess
they want everyone to buy their cereal." True enough.

I thought about this brief
conversation a little bit, and I realized that the approach that these
companies use to sell children's cereal is often the same one that we use as
agents to sell our services.  How many times have you seen these phrases
on real estate ads (perhaps even your own):

As one of the area's top-producing agents, I....

Best Realtor in Austin, Texas!

John Q. Agent - The top choice for sellers throughout the
Spring Valley area.

Please understand, there is nothing
inherently wrong with these selling points, but do they really do much to help
these particular agents to stand out in the marketplace?  Aren't they all
really just another cereal box proclaiming to be the best?  Isn't
"best" a pretty subjective word anyway?  I think that the
general public responds better to conversational ads rather than
corporate-sounding generalities.  It lends credence to any advertising in
my opinion.

To that end, I am giving
some thought to using more overtly honest themes throughout my website and my
advertising efforts.  Maybe something along the lines of,

"I
have been in Austin
real estate full-time for 11 years now.  There are certainly
others who have sold more homes than I have, but you would be hard-pressed to
find an agent with more integrity than me.  I would rather talk you out of
a home purchase or an offer on your home than to assist you in making a bad
decision."

If you would like to search Austin real estate, please visit my website at www.austintexashomes.com. Feel free to call me anytime on my cell phone at 512-796-7653 or email me at jason@austintexashomes.com.

Jason Crouch, Broker/Owner - Austin Texas Homes, LLC