The Broke Agent is a media brand that creates entertainment for real estate professionals. But the beauty of it is that you don't have to be in the industry to enjoy its content. Sure, that would unlock a deeper level of understanding and appreciation but it's not necessary.
Just look at its project Real Estate Fails, for example. Full of ridiculous architectural and interior design hiccups, it shares pictures from the ridiculous side of the housing market, proving that some agents don't have everything under control. Whether it's due to their own fault, the owners, or unfortunate circumstances, there are plenty of things that might deter potential buyers.
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Notice
We managed to get in touch with Eric Simon, founder of The Broke Agent, and he was kind enough to have a little chat with us.
"Just over six years ago, I started posting as The Broke Agent on Instagram, producing content that focused on the 'inner monologue' of a struggling realtor in Los Angeles. As a licensed realtor, I basically started making fun of everything that was happening to me and put it online in blog form, YouTube Videos, and short-form content like memes, tweets, and Facebook posts. It blew up really quickly and now has well over half a million followers across all platforms."
Even if we were to talk solely about its target audience, there's still room for The Broke Agent to grow as there are over 2 million active real estate agents in the U.S.
Who Needs Inspections?
We had a good example here at work. Dude owned a camping site with houses. The firefighters did a surprise inspection. Dude got fined for not having any fire alarms or smoke detectors. He then proceeds to glue smoke detectors to ceilings without connecting them to anything. The firefighters came back, opened the detectors and found his little scam. Dude got fined AGAIN and then called us to install things properly. 😂
Apparently The Description Read “Stainless Steel Appliances”
Simon started Real Estate Fails to grow The Broke Agent brand and to reach people who aren't necessarily just real estate agents but he quickly realized that it's just a really fun account to manage.
"Everyone likes looking at housing pics, especially luxury or real estate 'fails,' so it resonated with an audience outside of the real estate industry as well as real estate agents."
"Real estate agents love the account because it exposes marketing blunders, property description errors, and other mistakes agents make when uploading their marketing online. It also gives them a platform to submit all the crazy stuff they see in the field and out on showings. The account also casts a wider net on the industry, attracting contractors, appraisers, inspectors, handymen, etc."
This Might Be The Worst One Yet
Sick Flat Screen
Seen In Nebraska
According to Simon, curating the account is pretty straightforward because by now the community around it has gotten big enough for him to receive a steady stream of content.
"Most of my posts come from other realtors in my DMs, but I also get submissions in my Discord, through The Broke Agent and in our real estate Facebook pages and groups," he explained. "Like I said above, most of the photos come from agents actually spotting these crazy fails in the field on showings, inspections, or open houses. We also have a series called #ThingsWeSeeAtShowings on The Broke Agent stories."
Nah Nobody Will Notice
My Worst Nightmare
Get a doormat. If that is an important vent, get one with holes.
When Your Stager Goes A Little Nuts With House Plants
You couldn't find another person more suited to run the project. "Because I am a licensed realtor, I have developed a good eye for what is 'out of the ordinary' and what will perform well as a post," Simon said. "Also, I've been looking at and posting real estate content every day for 6 plus years so that helps with my judgment for what to post."
"The best performing content on Real Estate Fails is toilet content and anything that's sexual. If it looks like a penis or is provocative in any way, the audience goes crazy for it."
Another successful ongoing theme is staging fails where people try to cover up eye sores or contracting issues. The keyword here is 'try'.
No
The F**k Is This?
The Most Insane Apartment Complex Of All Time?
Simon constantly searches for ways to engage his followers. "The best way to [do it] on these posts is to say something in the caption like 'describe this like it's in a property description.' That way, agents can put their humorous twist on a housing feature and highlight it in a positive light like a realtor would do in their marketing."
The man behind the show also highlighted that The Broke Agent has much more to offer; it's a full-on real estate media company with Podcasts (The Over Ask Podcast), blogs, YouTube videos, contributors, and more. "Our goal is to make real estate professionals laugh through the daily stress of the industry and also help improve their business with our marketing, consulting, and content platform."
Light Mold
congratulations! you just got yourself a free houseplant! or dinner, if you’re feeling lucky
The Things We See At Showings…
bad idea, good execution. at least whoever thought of this was pretty good at drawing
You Keeping This Or Updating?
Thoughts On Photoshopping A Ferrari Into Your Listing Pics?
Wtf Is This
What The Hell Is This A Pyramid?
"Beautiful Balcony Looking Over The Palatial Entertaining Area"
Look Away
Genius Listing Photo Marketing
Innovative
Y
Is It?
Whoops
Maybe this is the bathroom from the story a few days ago about the anti-masturbation family.
What In The Fresh Hell Is This?
Ah yes, the sideways toilet. Sometimes you make it in the bowl, sometimes you hit the TP.
“4th Bedroom”
It's a room. There's a bed in it. The car's been repossessed anyway, so what the heck
It hasn't been repossessed...it's the Ferrari sitting outside, floating above the toxic gas lawn.
Load More Replies...If we give them the benefit of the doubt, this could be a way of accommodating someone with mobility issues.
Still, I get the creeps- looks like a garage to me- TRANSFORMED for other purposes!
Load More Replies...Just hope no-one presses the remote control in the middle of the night!
problem easily solved by unplugging the door opener up top
Load More Replies...I don't see why not, it's a really nice room. It would be a shame to park a car on that floor.
I was thinking the same. I's in a better state than most bedrooms in garages that I've seen
Load More Replies...In Ohio, it can't be listed as a bedroom if it doesn't have a closet.
Same in Mass. If you have an adult child moving back home, elderly parent[s] etc... this might be the best option.
Load More Replies...At first sight I thought that was a cam on a rail for, you know, speial events
That's exactly what it looked like to me, too! That's why I felt very uncomfortable with that picture;-)
Load More Replies...They could have at least taken the garage door opener motor down. The anxiety of that door coming up while in the middle of… well, anything is real.
I know a lot of homeless folx and cash-strapped young adults who would gratefully call this home.
Imagine rolling in your sleep hitting the open button and boom the whole neighborhood knows you sleep naked
💀until I saw someone's comment about it being a lift master I thought it was a camera and I was starting to wonder what happens in this garage 😅
Nope. It can't be a bedroom (at least in the US) unless it has a closet.
"This fully modernised property has an additional drive-in guest bedroom."
Me and my parents lived in a garage. My mom loved opening the garage door during breezy California days.
I've heard of straight to bed when you get home but this is over doing it a bit.
Its new concept combination of love hotel + fast food drive in Park your car inside Do whatever your need to do on the bed Then left
Is better than sleeping on the pool table in the garage.. with the gap under the door that rattlesnakes came through. ... Yeah, i got stories
for the grown men who still live in there mother's basement-- an UpGrAdE
They might not have a permit for turning a garage into a bedroom (e.g., not up to code) so they’ve kept the garage doors to hide from inspection.
I absolutely despise people who convert garages into living space. They've clearly never done automotive maintenance in 120F or 0F.
It’s got a window. And a door. Actually, a window IN a door. So, that’s legal, lol.
I can just imagine someone sleeping there, when all of a sudden the garage door opens and flips the bed. :)
Ok Vancouver Island we have a 1% vacancy rate. This would rent for at least $900 a month.
Nice flooring for a garage room! I don't think I've ever lived in a house where someone didn't wind up living in my garage, at some point. Only serial killers park their car in the garage!
I had a friend who's childhood bedroom was in a converted garage. They had even replaced the garage door with a real wall & routed the HVAC into the room. Unfortunately, the insulation was basically non-existent so it was still pretty uncomfortable most of the time.
Hot in the summer. cold in the winter and water comes in under the door.
In California, we call that a granny flat. Someone will rent it for $3 grand a month.
I once had an AirBnB host explained a ridiculous room to me as being better than a sofa bed…. This fits.
Why put a bed in a legitimate garage where dad's power tools and oil and car and engines are always being used? Ya no thanks, I'll go with the basement please
They just sold my neighbors house and are renovating it. They enclosed the carprt and made it into 2 new bedrooms .Each about 8x4. Only a twin bed could fit and ther's a SMALLcloset in each. I don't remember. but they MAY have the dividing wall in the middle of ONE (and only front window.
So against all the laws of building and would totally get you in alot of trouble.
This house is on the market because they are getting a divorce. That's where the Husband is sleeping. Just my guess 🤷♀️
It's not a technically a "Living Space" unless you add AC too it. But for a big family, rock with it
they obviously did not expect to use this as a garage (layout, flooring, carpet, painted walls, vaulted ceilings) so i'm worried about the garage door and opener as they may be used for something else. :-(
Where I live there has to be an egress to the outside to be considered a bedroom. Our home was listed as having two more bedrooms than it actually has because they listed two small storage rooms in the basement as bedrooms.
The floor is really nice though. Not the expected concrete. Baseboard moulding, nice lighting.
I'm sure it's advertised as "plenty of natural light and great ventilation"
The perfect place to put your 18 year old and older adult child who doesn't make any effort to moving out or getting a job.
Perfect for sharing your fun time with the entire neighborhood when you "accidentally" roll over on that garage door opener.
When my husband and I were house hunting we went to see a "3" bedroom house that looked great in the pictures. Turns out it was a 2 bedroom house with a dining nook which they were trying to pass off as a 3 bedroom.
I don't think it can be a bedroom without a window for escape purposes
An HOA in California demanded its members keep their garage doors open in the daytime to prevent this.
Sounds like burglar heaven- and a simply crushing lawsuit to me; how many of Hitler's illegitimate offspring run HOAs in the States, anyway?
Load More Replies...Most houses on my road ditched the garage too, got rid of the door and turned it into an extension.
Where I live, that would immediately lower the value of the house. Most people want the garage here.
Load More Replies...Staging In Tampa...
I faked a bed in an empty bedroom with cardboard boxes and a couple of blankets. It's pretty common when occupants have already moved.
More Of This
at least they’re being honest…? unless it does suck of course
Nothing To See Here
This is a stupid inclusion. It wasn't a real estate listing; it was the Texas freeze in February 2021, which caused catastrophic damage due to two main reasons: 1. TX houses are not built for such weather (including water pipe insulation) and 2. MOST OF THE STATE WAS DUMPED OFF THE POWER GRID SO THAT IT WOULDN'T FAIL WHICH WAS COMPLETELY AVOIDABLE IF THE TX LEADERSHIP HAD WINTERIZED THE GRID AS THEY WERE TOLD TO DO A FULL TEN YEARS BEFORE BECAUSE EXPERTS KNEW SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD HAPPEN EVENTUALLY.
Note: this post originally had 110 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
"Most Hectic Homes"? ..." I do not think that word means what you think it means." — Inigo Montoya
Well, the Bored Panda staff is Lithuanian, so...
Load More Replies...I want to briefly visit the minds who made some of these disasters, just to have some chance of understand what they were thinking, if anything.
Jo, can I listen in, on your conversation, it's bound to be interesting !!!
Load More Replies...I've seen every single one of these photos in multiple BP lists before. BP editors, get a grip. I certainly hope no one gets paid for this sh!t.
We just sold it so I can't take pics of it...wish I had...but our last house had some...interesting design choices. They left all of the paintings in the house when we moved in, and said paintings covered up some things like a misplaced vent, a corkboard, etc. There was a fully finished basement but the previous owners obviously failed at something because the shower was in the laundry room while the toilet and sink were in the other end of the basement. Oops. To make room in one of the basement rooms to call it a bedroom they put an indent into the furnace room to create the closet. We never used the room for anything but storage but I couldn't imagine being stuck between the furnace room and the stairs. Other than that it was a gorgeous house and we seriously sold it for twice what we paid for it because of location and the design of the house. But yes, we removed the paintings, we didn't want them to have the surprises we had.
I have not laughed so much in a long time! I feel sorry for the poor agents who had to try and sell those places!
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This post, was one of the strangest, without a doubt, somewhat interesting, there must be a great number, of weird carpenters, or should I say, wanna be carpenters !!!
If I could pick some bits at the cost of a random bit being included, I would love to buy a house made of these.
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"Most Hectic Homes"? ..." I do not think that word means what you think it means." — Inigo Montoya
Well, the Bored Panda staff is Lithuanian, so...
Load More Replies...I want to briefly visit the minds who made some of these disasters, just to have some chance of understand what they were thinking, if anything.
Jo, can I listen in, on your conversation, it's bound to be interesting !!!
Load More Replies...I've seen every single one of these photos in multiple BP lists before. BP editors, get a grip. I certainly hope no one gets paid for this sh!t.
We just sold it so I can't take pics of it...wish I had...but our last house had some...interesting design choices. They left all of the paintings in the house when we moved in, and said paintings covered up some things like a misplaced vent, a corkboard, etc. There was a fully finished basement but the previous owners obviously failed at something because the shower was in the laundry room while the toilet and sink were in the other end of the basement. Oops. To make room in one of the basement rooms to call it a bedroom they put an indent into the furnace room to create the closet. We never used the room for anything but storage but I couldn't imagine being stuck between the furnace room and the stairs. Other than that it was a gorgeous house and we seriously sold it for twice what we paid for it because of location and the design of the house. But yes, we removed the paintings, we didn't want them to have the surprises we had.
I have not laughed so much in a long time! I feel sorry for the poor agents who had to try and sell those places!
How i become a lottery winner with the help of a spell caster calld Dr Ayoola, i meet this great man online when someone was talking about how this man help him to win lottery and immediately i contacted him and ask for help as well. and this great man promise to help me and assure me that i will win once he give me the lottery number, today i am here saying a big thank you to Dr yoola for helping me to win the sum of 50,000,000 dollars all thanks to you Dr Ayoola you can as well contact him today for help via drayoolasolutionhome@gmail.com or https://www.facebook.com/Dr-Ayoola-105640401516053/ text or call +14809032128
This post, was one of the strangest, without a doubt, somewhat interesting, there must be a great number, of weird carpenters, or should I say, wanna be carpenters !!!
If I could pick some bits at the cost of a random bit being included, I would love to buy a house made of these.
You can hire Henryclarkethicalhacker for all your hacking needs which include clearing of criminal and driving records, credit hack fix, college grade changes, cloning phones, spying on anyone, hacking all social media accounts, etc,. Reach him via Henryclarkethicalhacker @ gmail. com Text him,, Whatsapp,,+18134211326.