How long before the “Real Estate Coaches” are advising their clients to walk into listing appointments with a pocketful of snausages?
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The widow of producer Aaron Spelling is placing “The Manor” in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood on the market for a jaw-dropping $150 million, making it by far the most expensive home for sale in the U.S…
…Candy Spelling’s late husband produced hit shows such as “Charlie’s Angels,””Dynasty” and “Beverly Hills 90210.” He died in 2006…
…Candy Spelling told The Associated Press that she let her dog Madison, a soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, help pick out the best real estate agent for the task. She had her security bring the dog into the room every time she met one of the candidate agents and watched how the dog reacted. If Madison didn’t like them, Spelling crossed them off the list.
Prospective buyers won’t have to worry about passing such scrutiny, Spelling jokes.
“Not at all,” she says.
Too bad her late husband didn’t have the dog sniff the shows he produced.
What a laugh Candy is having at our expense. She thinks all agents are the same. One of them is going to get let’s say a cool 1% of $150m ($1.5m). That’s probably Madison’s yearly grooming budget, so let’s let the dog decide. What a lark.
I’m not sure what the take-away is, here.
Part of me realizes the problem isn’t that Candy let her dog pick her Real Estate agent. The problem is that Candy, widow of Aaron, mother of Tori, knew it would play.
If she thought for a second that the general public or prospective buyers would think she was an idiot for letting the dog pick a Realtor, she wouldn’t be laughing about it with the AP. It’s not that she made the joke, its that she knew the audience would get it.
On the other hand, it’s Friday. If you have spent the week trying to be the best agent or broker you can be, trying to build your business in this market, and then you find out that a dog decided who got the most expensive listing in the US, it does put things into perspective.
Have a great weekend. And buy some snausages.
Eileen Pettengill says:
Some days I would have better luck with the dog!
March 27, 2009 — 7:32 am
John Rowles says:
@ Eilieen: LOL. As the owner of 2 dogs who are, in fact, excellent judges of character, I can see why someone would run a prospective agent past the mutts.
I just wouldn’t let the agent, let alone the AP, know about it.
March 27, 2009 — 7:42 am
Mark Brian says:
I hope the final decision was not left up to the dog. But animals are great judges of character. If one of my animals does not like you, I would be leary of you.
March 27, 2009 — 9:14 am
Greg Swann says:
Not to be contentious, but dogs don’t judge human character, they judge whether people are good with dogs. You could be a serial child murderer, but, if you’re good with dogs, you could woo an Akita away from its master. It’s plausible that being good with animals of all types is a co-factor with a general decency, but that’s not a necessary relationship.
March 27, 2009 — 9:37 am
John Rowles says:
@ Greg: But would you let Odysseus pick a Realtor?
March 27, 2009 — 10:05 am
Scott Cowan says:
That does it! I am going to bring a dog with me to all of my listing appointments. If my dog does not like the sellers I’m out of there. I won’t take any listings that my dog does not approve of!
March 27, 2009 — 10:49 am
Scott G says:
Paris Hilton would probably do the same thing with her little dog. It seems like these animals are running the world. We go to work all day and they stay home and sleep and eat. We clean up after them. If you were an alien looking down on the earth who would you think is the superior species? Personally, I would try to make contact with the house pets. Obviousally they are smarter then us!
March 27, 2009 — 10:57 am
Tom hall says:
John – let’s face it – this market went to the dogs a long, long time ago 😉
March 27, 2009 — 11:26 am
Deborah Madey says:
Dogs love me. Too bad I wasn’t in CA.
March 27, 2009 — 5:10 pm
Wine Dog says:
You’d think someone writing on a blog named after a breed would get it. She’s not having a joke at our expense. She’s judging character. We may be very good at sales and morally bankrupt. A dog can pick that stuff up. Dog’s know the difference between good people and bad.
I’m sure in her stratosphere there are plenty of agents pounding down the door for that listing. At that level they should all be pretty good agents, but some are going to not be great human beings. The dog did the work for her. I get that.
Dogs like me.
March 28, 2009 — 7:44 am
Elaine Reese says:
I’m a “dog person”. As such, if I know the sellers have a dog, I take a treat or two with me to win the dog over. However, a word of caution. I went to a listing appt where I knew there were multiple dogs. Grabbed a handful of The Murph’s liver treats. Didn’t give them all out to the dogs … some were still in my coat pocket. When I was ready to leave, I had a big hole chewed in my coat pocket as the dogs chewed their way to get the rest of the treats.
Note to Self: dogs have powerful noses!
March 29, 2009 — 7:41 am
Karen Highland says:
I thought terriers generally don’t like people other than their families? Maybe she’s on to something…
Kind of off-subject…I met the friendliest, dog-like cat I’ve ever seen. She followed us around, jumped up on the table, gazed eye-to-eye with each of us. I wanted to take her home. I’m a dog-lover, and this was the coolest kittie ever.
Anyway, Realtors would be wise to cozy up to animals. Even if they don’t really judge “character”, the perception is that they do, so we might as well work on getting their ‘vote’ by learning ways to win them over.
March 30, 2009 — 10:32 am
Karen Highland says:
I thought terriers generally don’t like people other than their families? Maybe she’s on to something…
Kind of off-subject…I met the friendliest, dog-like cat I’ve ever seen. She followed us around, jumped up on the table, gazed eye-to-eye with each of us. I wanted to take her home. I’m a dog-lover, and this was the coolest kitty ever.
Anyway, Realtors would be wise to cozy up to animals. Even if they don’t really judge “character”, the perception is that they do, so we might as well work on getting their ‘vote’ by learning ways to win them over.
March 30, 2009 — 10:33 am
Daphne Lacey says:
Geeez…why was I in Texas instead of California?! Dogs really like me.
March 30, 2009 — 7:33 pm
Leanne Finlay says:
Ummmm … wasn’t the point that Candy Spelling did this to generate hype and therefore free publicity for her property?
Not so dumb. And it played just fine. All the people who think dogs are great judges of character think she’s just like them; everyone else either thinks she’s off her nut just a tad, or that they’re smarter than she is.
But she still gets all the publicity.
Who knows? Maybe someone with 432 cats will buy the place.
April 1, 2009 — 5:47 pm
Judy Orr says:
Since I am an animal lover, I always greet the resident animals when on a listing presentation by talking to them (I always ask their name) and petting them, if possible. I never thought that my actions could possibly get me the listing.
But when I do think about it, the way a service provider treated my pets would make me like or dislike that person. Something to think about.
April 4, 2009 — 11:26 am