Elizabeth Weintraub Named to 100 Most Influential Agents

Elizabeth Weintraub named to 100 Most Influential Agents in Northern California but she doesn’t know why.

Before I talk about being named to the 100 Most Influential Agents in Northern California by Real Estate Executive Magazine, let me say there are days I wish I had a public relations person who could handle my promotions for me, because I really don’t like to do it. I’d prefer to spend my time marketing my listings and not writing about awards. I’m honored that I’m nominated for most stuff, as long as it doesn’t involve a back-door sales job like so many of these so-called nominations and awards do.

In fact, I’ve yipped about the con jobs some of these companies pull to the point where they have stopped informing me that I made their list of the top-whatevers. They would probably like to pull me off the list but they can’t because my numbers are solid and I’m there whether they like it or not. But they don’t email me anymore to notify me that I’m on their list, and oh, by the way, wouldn’t I like to pay them an enormous sum of money to receive my very own plaque or perhaps a life-size statue carved in my likeness? I leave that to the other suckers, er, erst well deserving agents.

These companies comb private sales records to determine which agents have sold a dozen or more homes a year, and then they “honor” these agents with awards. All media and their uncles do it.

I’m not even sure that being named to the 100 Most Influential Agents in Northern California carries any weight, but at least they didn’t try to sell me anything. Real Estate Executive Magazine held a conference last week in Sacramento, and my team member, Amy McMullan, received the award on my behalf. She enjoyed the conference at the Sacramento Convention Center and got to meet other top producing agents from Northern California, and many heavy hitters. However, I should point out the award is not engraved the recipient’s name, so it’s not really all that cool.

There are so many scams going on involving awards to Sacramento Realtors. Like all of the publications that have jumped on Master’s Club. To make Master’s Club, an agent has to sell at least 8 transactions and close $4.5 million in sales. That’s not a very high bar. Once an agent is accepted into Master’s Club, every year all of the major newspapers and magazines in Sacramento solicit agents to pay to have their photo and advertisement published in their publications. If an agent doesn’t pay to be published, a client might wonder why, so agents pay the extortion. The public thinks the media publishes this stuff as news instead of what it really is, a paid advertisement.

I don’t like it. What a racket. But I’m probably in the minority. No wonder the public is skeptical about real estate agents with this sort of stuff going on.

Note to Real Esate Executive Magazine: The next time you hand out 100 Most Influential Real Estate Agents awards, perhaps one could include qualifying criteria with that award and engrave the recipient’s name on the plaque. Just a suggestion.