Here’s my honest conundrum.

Most Realtors are intelligent, good humans.

Most Realtor marketing is neither.*

(*Studies show that most real estate marketing is 89% MEH. Do not ask me for the source of these studies.)

Why is that?

Why are so many good Realtors putting out so much crappy stuff?

Because of huge, confident, empty claims.

It’s called Real Estate Kool-Aid.

Which is bad enough when one person drinks it. But when a whole team, a whole brokerage, a whole goddang INDUSTRY laps it up?

There’s something rotten in the marketing water, and it’s utterly murdering your ability to speak clearly, be a real human, and activate the people who matter most to your business.

Kool-Aid shows up wherever Realtors are marketing about.

In their IG captions. Service guides. Blogs. Agent websites. Everywhere.

Thing is, non-Realtors — your buyers and sellers — can sniff the sugary stuff a mile away. After they’re force-fed all the empty content, guess what?

They spit it out. (Along with everything else you said that WAS true and relevant and good.)

How do you spot Real Estate Kool-Aid?

Stop yourself and get real.

Read your content like a close competitor.

Read it like a bored, frazzled, sour cynic who needs to sell his house but has been burned by agent marketing one too many times before.

Read it and ask — do I struggle to understand it? Do I not believe it? Kool-Aid.

Does it include phrases like “The best…” and “The one and only…”? Kool-Aid.

Does it posit that NO other Realtor comes close to your results, and all your prospects will CRASH AND BURN if they don’t work with you?

Kool-Aid.

If you want to stop the Kool-Aid and start to sound different — more relatable, more trustworthy, less surface, less bullshitty — you need to learn to spot it first.

Here are four popular flavors of Real Estate Kool-Aid and their alternatives.

01 – OVERPROMISE KOOL-AID

Before: “No other real estate team matches ours for reliability, friendliness, communication skills and ability to help you reach your goals.”

What’s wrong here?

You’re trumpeting yourself as superior to every other agent on the map + dismissing all competitors with a wave of your hand. Come on, now. We aren’t living on Mars. Let’s get realistic and human.

After: “There are plenty of quality options out there for your real estate needs. We’re big believers in our unique approach and how we could be just right for your upcoming buying journey — we should talk.”

02 – EVANGELIST KOOL-AID

Before: “Our team’s superior approach makes real estate a better place, one transaction at a time.”

What’s wrong here?

Very few brands are capable of, or truly built for, doing the mission thing well. Don’t claim to be saving the planet unless your company stats, you know, actually back that up.

After: “We can’t help ourselves — we hate ‘transactions’ without that warm human touch. So we’ve crafted a real estate business that operates like a real family.”

03 – FLAWLESS KOOL-AID

Before: “Best team. Best closed stats. Best systems. Best digital marketing. Best results.”

After: “Honestly, we’re still learning how to stay up to speed with all these new social media algorithm changes, but knowing how to market your property at full strength in the digital age is our priority. We just hired a specialist to teach us even more tips and tricks.”

I’ve written about being an “uncommon truth teller” in real estate before, particularly in a risky market. There’s nothing more powerful (or rare?) than been uncommonly truthful to an audience expecting yet another Realtor Platitude of Infallibility.

04- BUYER/SELLER IDOLIZATION KOOL-AID

Before: “From new lead to closing table, from the foundation of our company’s value system to very top, the client is at the heart of what we do. Every breath we take in real estate is for the good of our [blah blah blah].”

What’s wrong here?

Puffed-up customer-centric claims are really loud out there and everyone — except every bank, airline, and car rental — knows it. And no one believes ’em.

After: No example needed. If you’re walking the walk, you won’t need to talk the talk.

Read through this entire post? Congrats. You are now enlisted in the anti-Kool-Aid-Realtor army. Welcome to the resistance. Buckle in for a great, challenging, and thoroughly worthwhile ride —

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P.S – What’s BLUEPRINT, again? 

We’re a gaggle of designers, writers, and creatives on a mission to change the branding narrative in real estate.

We offer a signature branding service and the industry’s most elegant and high-converting digital products to help modern, stylish Realtors do three things:

➝ Communicate their worth;

➝ Become the obvious choice;

➝ Tell the right stories to stand out + SELL more.

We love new friends, so hop on our email list for more value content, take our wildly popular real estate personality quiz, or follow us on The ‘Gram to join the family.