oh goody! yet another sell your house, get rich quick postcard solicitation!

These postcards. Straight from the edge of hell and sleazy real estate. Kissing cousins to the “we buy houses” signs you find nailed to telephone poles.

In the COVID-19 world in which we live several things have been on the uptick like these postcards, solicitation calls, and online gambling commercials on television. Sociologically, it’s fascinating. From a personal preference I would prefer seeing less of both.

It kind of makes me sad because there are a lot of desperate people out there who have been completely knocked down by a global pandemic and the shaky economy which has followed. There are so many people who are barely hanging on due to reduction in salary/reduction in force (layoffs) that there’s definitely a market for these predators. And I find these people to be predatory.

It doesn’t matter how many times your request to not be solicited in anyway by these people they don’t pay attention. So I just started having fun. I block my number and I call the number on the postcard. Today I had some guy outraged named “Alex“.

“I can’t talk to you.” He says.

The number on this postcard I got today leads to some VoIP line somewhere. The company is “Problem Property Pals” and what an ACME Scam Company Looney Toon worthy company name, right? It doesn’t even sound respectable does it?

“Why not?” I replied

“You have a blocked line. Why do you have a blocked line?” He says (sounding slightly outraged.)

“I block my line because I can.” I replied.

I then proceeded to tell my new friend that I found them to be the slezoid pimps of real estate. I told them it doesn’t matter how often you ask to be on a do not solicit and do not call lists, they ignore those requests so essentially, they deserve obnoxious phone calls as penance.

Then like magic, I ended the call. Petty yes, but I enjoyed it. They prey on the vulnerable and desperate to make money. In my opinion that’s horrible.

I have taken to looking up these companies to find out who they are and where they are from. I traced the address on the postcard back to a ReMax in either Northern Liberties or Fishtown. Newsflash to them: some people will fall for their sleazy crap, but most people want a realtor close to home they actually trust to sell their home. And I don’t quite believe no fees and no commissions, do you?

Now it’s time for the circular file for this latest postcard.