Dallas real-estate agent Richard Soto released a video on YouTube last year touting his state’s many benefits, including a growing economy, low cost of living and friendly neighbors. He also included warnings for why people might not want to move to Texas.
“The landscape is kind of boring; there’s not much to look at,” he says, whisking viewers through a virtual tour, with a stop in a subdivision of big new homes.
His unvarnished observations in the video range from the sweltering August heat to the waistlines of the population. “Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes its people,” he states.
“Thank you!!” commented a recent viewer on YouTube. “Houston was an option for me and my husband as retirees, not anymore!”
The Covid-19 pandemic sparked a surge of Americans moving to new regions, sometimes sight unseen, lured by lower costs or the ability to work remotely. But house hunters or those who uproot can be surprised by what they find, from pea-soup fog on coasts to relentless snowstorms in the mountains.
In response, a new genre of videos is populating YouTube, in which real-estate agents get brutally upfront about the potential downsides of moving to their area. They say the blunt talk helps them stand out, sets realistic expectations and reduces buyer’s remorse. The agents say it also prevents them from having to assist needy homeowners who may be out of their depth when they move to a new locale.
Real-estate agents “get a bad rap, usually well deserved, for sugarcoating everything,” said Realtor Jamie Eklund, who sells properties in Northern Colorado. “If a house is old and rundown and small, we say, ‘It’s cozy and has lots of character.’ But everything has its bad side, and I want to be as honest with people as I can.”
His online pitch for relocation opportunities to Greeley, Colo., is heavy on B-roll of cloudless skies meeting the jagged horizon of snow-capped Rocky Mountains. Clad in a homey checked shirt, Mr. Eklund also launches into “reasons why you might regret moving to Greeley.”
“It smells like a farmtown,” Mr. Eklund says into the camera as the video pans to cattle ranches. “If this is something that might bother you, you might want to reconsider.”
MJ Isaksen said she and her husband, Gary, both retirees, decided to move to Greeley from Florida last year and are happy with their decision overall. They appreciated Mr. Eklund’s forthrightness.
“We have not had days where we said it was terrible,” she said of the smell. “But we have had days where we’ll go outside and say, ‘Oh my.’ ”
In Maine, out-of-state buyers accounted for 34% of home purchases in 2021, versus 24% in 2019, according to the Maine Association of Realtors.
Maine real-estate broker Billy Milliken said some of them have a romantic vision of country life but find they aren’t as outdoorsy as they had imagined. “A lot of times they think they’re Davy Crockett, but when they get here they’re really Betty Crocker,” he said.
Last summer, he said he sold a rustic home to a couple, and tension broke out between them when they moved in. The wife’s car got stuck on the rugged road leading to the house, and “she was ready to pull the plug and rip his head off,” Mr. Milliken said.
They ultimately stayed, but she got a new car.
Mr. Milliken said incidents like these, as well as longtime local residents getting mad at him for bringing in newcomers who complain about the lifestyle, have led him to tweak his approach.
He warns prospective buyers of waterfront homes in fishing villages: “See that lobster boat out there that you’re looking at that’s beautiful with the sun setting behind it? That’s gonna make a lot of noise at 4 o’clock in the morning, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
He also has an unusual condition for anyone interested in an off-grid one-bedroom cottage and small island that he has listed for $339,000: Potential buyers must first spend a night there to experience the remoteness firsthand.
In New Jersey, Realtor Jenna Cavadas lists the pros and cons of the Jersey Shore, with a “Home Sweet Home” plaque behind her in a December video.
Expect lovely beaches and good schools, she says, but also congestion “that can get quite annoying.”
She touches on “pretty high” property taxes—“Let me tell you…you’re going to be surprised”—and signs off, saying: “I hope that you choose to live in Monmouth County.”
One of the nation’s hottest housing markets is in Idaho, where Conor Hammons, the owner of a real-estate team there, said newcomers call him for help with issues including finding a snowblower midwinter when none are in stock.
“You’re the real-estate agent, but then you become almost a personal concierge for the first year or two that they’re living in the area,” he said. “It’s like, OK, where does the job end?”
So in 2020, the Idaho native started posting a series of cinematic yet frank videos.
“We’re getting dumped on,” he says in one video, standing outside in a storm. “People getting to work late today.”
And all those scenic pine trees? They pump out allergy-inducing pine pollen. “It’s gorgeous,” Mr. Hammons tells viewers. “But man it’s gonna mess with the sinuses.”
In southwest Florida, real-estate specialist Craig Cunha peppers his videos with feedback from clients who moved to Florida in the pandemic.
They include Zach Curtis, a remote tech worker who came from Colorado seven months ago. He and his wife, Joey, both 39, and their two young sons settled in Punta Gorda on the Gulf Coast. Mr. Curtis has some quibbles with the drivers in the community, which is heavy on retirees.
“Zach had shared with me that turn signals aren’t used up there,” Mr. Cunha says in one video.
In another, Mr. Cunha, wearing a polo shirt with palm trees and water views behind him, tells viewers, “I actually love living in Florida.”
“What I’m trying to tell you,” he adds cheerfully, “is you may not.”
Via: The Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Levitz
