Real estate Trumpists

At Monapart, every week, we experience disappointments similar to those that Democratic Party voters might suffer this November: we lose to real estate Trumps.

Today I was saying to my business partner, in light of the not very clear outlook for the US presidential election: “Every week, we experience disappointments similar to those that Democratic Party voters might suffer this November: we lost against Trump's real estate developers". Let me tell you a story:

THE CHARACTERS

The property voter

The homeowner is frequently someone who distrusts, underestimates and feels contempt for estate agents. Consider them a necessary (or unnecessary) evil and that their sole purpose is to make money at their expense while offering the bare minimum of service.

I need not dwell on describing the parallels that exist with a citizenry disaffected from the political class, whether in the United States or in our own country.

The Biden Administration

Yes, they are estate agents, and as such, they are not entirely blameless in having contributed to a tacky and demonised property sector, and it is even possible that they have some skeletons in the closet. But to continue with the political analogy, these are agencies made up of professionals with a clear idea of their profession, with a certain (little or great) willingness to serve and prepared to successfully take on the challenge of sell a dwelling at the best possible price in the appropriate time.

The Trump Agency

They are the agencies of demagoguery and false promises. Those of “I have lots of buyers for your flat” o “your flat is worth a lot more than you think” o “We have Russian collaborators (never Mexicans, for goodness sake!) who want to invest in your area” or whatever else you can think of just to win the vote. They can be agencies that have recently joined the sector (opportunists) or that have been operating in it irresponsibly for some time.

THE CAMPAIGN

During the campaign, the homeowner listens to the electoral-commercial proposals of various agencies.

Listen to the well-founded and structured arguments of those agencies that, acting responsibly, put forward data, examples and context that may not be as optimistic as the owner would like, but which stick to reality, even if it hurts: “Demand in this area is limited”, “your property has these drawbacks”, “there are properties like yours advertised at these prices that have been on the market for months”, “we will do this or that, but it will be a struggle”. They are the agencies that consider property owners to be intelligent and discerning people capable of making a decision based on reason.

Far too often the good guys lose and the bad guys win. Far too often the owner is a disgruntled and rabid Trump supporter, often regarding another agency that failed them in the past.

Listen also to agencies that tell them everything any landlord — the most vulnerable even more so — wants to hear. Twisted arguments and promises that fuel the highest expectations without offering any guarantee in return. They are the agencies that appeal to emotion because they know it is much easier to seduce through unbridled optimism and by playing on the landlord's pain points (their soft spots, sensitive side, and manifest fears).

THE OUTCOME

You already know what happens, what's the point in me telling you. All too often the good guys lose and the bad guys win. All too often the owner is a disgruntled and rabid Trumpist, often with regard to another agency that failed them in the past — that sole-agency agreement that tied them in for months receiving nothing in return after unfulfilled promises.

The Biden administration will be tempted to say that these are ignorant and resentful landlords, real estate hicks... It will be an unfair judgement and a frustrated one, no matter how true it may sometimes be. 

You also imagine what happens to the Trumpist owner once the decision is made and the vote cast; the signed sheet: the worst version of more-of-the-same.

But at the end of the final act, when it seems there is no hope left, a new character enters the stage… Wait… Bloody hell!, it's the Bernie Sanders campaign, with its real estate version of the best pre-Thatcherite European social democracy, the Scandinavia of real estate!

He stands in the centre of the stage and, looking at the audience—all of them flat owners—says to them: “Post-democracy requires a postinmobiliaria".

He turns into a hummingbird and flies towards the sunset.

The end