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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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. 😂
Shake head at some people's ignorance and determination to take short cuts despite being exposed. Idiot.
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I wouldn't even think to look closely at a vent. Which is what they are relying on. How is this legal?
Don't just get any inspection. Get an authorized, competent inspection from a reputable company. It'll cost more up front, but way less down the road.
What gets me the most are people who do correct work and/or go above and beyond code, but refuse to get a permit and then gripe when they get in trouble. I'm 3+ years into a total reno on a 1920 bungalow and the building inspector has been terrific. He comes out anytime we need him to look at something before we cover it up, answers questions, recommends different ways to accomplish what we want to do etc. Why try to do it illegally?
I had this issue with my dryer exhaust. They sided the building without cutting a hole for the vent, just drilled the vent into the side of the house to make it look good. It even passed a building inspection. It was discovered after we told the landlord the clothes would not dry. She was the new owner and hired a duct guy. They way they had the ducting was screwy as hell too, but good thing they figured it out before it caused a fire.
Unfortunately, there are too many scamers, in these times, so caution folks !!!
Knew someone who bought a roof pipe vent thing because it was the cheapest way to cover the leak. Home inspector when they went to sell: "and what's that vent for?" Oh, nothing; I just liked it.
House flippers literally did this at the first home I owned. Except they went as far as cutting a hole in the wall and attaching ducting. The ducting just wasnt attached to anything at the other end. They also installed a kitchen exhaust that just vented into the attic crawl space among other shenanigans
So who is the builder taking shorter cuts to no safety measures or filtered air!!
It's a simple air return. Some tool, probably a newbie, did not know he was supposed to cut the hole in the drywall. Pressure from the heater will force the warm air through the walls and backbto the heater to heat alreadyvwarmed air.
Vents need to be connected to the HVAC. You don't just cut a hole I the wallboard.
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This happens a lot with new construction. I saw it with electrical outlets but an air return would be even more essential. I would claim fraud & demand the real deal.
...If he'd been raised by my dad, doing this kind of a thing to others wouldn't cross his mind as a possibility. Not remotely. The guilt would prevent the shenanigans and the very real possibility that the 75-year-old can still kick my tuckus.
Yes, they are definitely needed, but what happens when the home inspectors fail? They should have to pay for their inexperience or lack of knowledge of what to look for what tricks home owners will go to, to hide problems, then the new buyer ends up screwed. I hid something accidentally, but to my defense, it was a fix. My son’s first house had a cheap laminated countertop, and under the counter above the dishwasher where the steam comes out, the chopped up particle board that they used was starting to come apart but had not damaged the countertop in any way, so I used a clear calk, and covered the entire area under the rim, to seal and protect the particle board, and that did the trick. A year later they decided to move closer to home before starting a family, and the inspector found that, even though no damage, so they gave them a little price break for new countertops, and the new owners ended up happy, and my son still did ok.
Mom bought a house when I was a kid. We had outlet plates with no outlet, light switches that weren't connected to anything, & a bunch of other "minor" issues that wound up costing her some $. ALWAYS get the inspection!
We had a professional inspector check out our home before we bought it. He missed a couple of little things like wires joined without a junction box, wire nuts, or electrical tape. (we are so lucky we found it before we burned the house down). He also missed that the irrigation system was not connected to water. I have no idea how he got certified!
What? My house is almost as bad...we have a vent, the only vent on the 2nd floor, and it wasn't connected to anything down in the basement. So no heat, no air, nothing. You know who owned my house prior to us? An HVAC guy!
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. Scents n Stories
My seller had a home inspection her realtor didn't share, (not required here). My home inspector said not more than $250, $300. 9 months and 55k later....
Find and work with a trustworthy builder. I had my modest home built with a reputable builder and it’s amazing to hear what I have compared to others who used cookie-cutter builders. They didn’t have rods in their closets, or blinds on the windows. My house was completely and totally 100% move-in ready.
I loath and detest smoke alarms. Our goes off every time when open the over door. I can smell smoke easily. Which is just as well, because our smoke alarm does NOT detect smoke! Bloke with no sense of smell, can't heat the alarm anyway
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
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...
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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 !!!
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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.
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.
"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.
