Spokanebyowner.com Blog

At the bottom of EVERY real estate section each Sunday in The Spokesman Review it reads “Produced by the Advertising Department of The Spokesman Review in conjunction with the Spokane Association of Realtors.”

Do you think this “very fine” print makes it clear to the thousands of Spokane readers of the paper that this entire section of the paper is nothing but advertising?  I think the wording is deceptively small and find it interesting that while it reads “Advertising Supplement to The Spokesman Review” above the classified ads beginning on page 4, there is no such disclaimer above the article titled “It pays to have a REALTOR® handle your deal,” on page 2, in the December 3, 2006 issue.

Add to the deception, real articles on fruit jar collecting and how to pick a snow shovel among others and it would appear to the unsuspecting reader that you could take the words of wisdom written by Don Walker, “a columnist for The Spokane Association of REALTORS®” at face value.

With millions of commission dollars on the line each year, Mr. Walker, may be the most important weapon in the fight to keep Spokane home owners ignorantly following their commission sales people like lemmings to financial disaster.

Maybe the article should read “It pays the REALTOR® to handle your deal”.  Information that the article implies is only available from a REALTOR® such as “current cost of homes” is readily available free of charge from Title Companies and more accurately provided through an appraisal done by a state certified real estate appraiser.  Newspaper ads can be purchased for only $1.95 per line in the Sunday paper and get as much if not more exposure than the large display ads which do a better job of promoting the company that is listing the home rather than the individual property.

Articles touting the benefits of using an agent and scaring those who dare consider selling their own property have been appearing with greater frequency in The Spokesman Review, as Spokanebyowner.com has grown in popularity over the past 9 years. Unfortunately, using fear and misinformation to promote an agenda is not new in this industry or any other.  This article states “Wait too long and the sought-after home may be sold before you act.”

My theory is that a better priced home that is marketed extensively is going to sell faster than a home that is higher priced because the seller added 6% to cover the cost of an agents’ commission.  If you take the home at fair market value and then subtract even 3% (1/2 of the commission), that home is going to sell faster than it would for 3% more.

In my opinion “It pays to handle Your Own Deal with the assistance of Spokanebyowner.com and your Real Estate Attorney.”

Ron