got an email from a local realtor

[magical thyme]

I had contacted his firm last summer when I was planning to list my house again. He wants to add me to his "linked in" professionals group. Oh, and he's with a different agency now.

Last year he ran comps which priced my house at half -- YES, HALF -- the comp value .

He explained after (totally freaking me out) that this was how the software worked. It took an average of the price the houses sold for, regardless of the comps. So the 2 houses that had sold were bankruptcies, whereas the one that was sale pending was not counted.

Not to mention that the comps that showed my house as worth double the sold houses didn't include the fact that they are on Depot St., and have working trains running through their back yard!

Then he came out to see my house. The first words when he got out of his car were, shaking his head, "I don't know. A really, really beautiful brand new, albeit incomplete, house just sold for XYZ." Where XYZ is the same as the comps; eg, half my house's comp value.

The first words out of my mouth were, "This is not a bankruptcy."

He then suddenly "remembered" that he forgot to include my barn in his comps (my guess being that he assumed the garage was a barn, and that it probably was 150+ years old and falling down, maybe with asbestos siding to boot. versus the very nice, 9-year old, well built structure that it is).

And I suddenly decided not to list after all.

Anyway, now I'm debating ignoring his email versus writing back that my house is not a bankruptcy and that I'll burn it to the ground before I give it to his vulture capitalist investor pals.

I'm sure it's best to just ignore his email. What say you, Lounge?

[Paulie]

1. Never accept a linked in invite from anyone you don't know

Sales people, recruiters, they just want to spam your contacts.

I cease any contact with those kinds of instant linked in people. Forever.

Find a real agent who knows the area and has been moving houses these past couple years.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. I'd say ignoring him and leaving him wondering is the better option...

If he's what I think he is, emailing him back is wasted venom and might even haunt you in the future.

Nope, let him email you to his heart's content and you just filter him into your trash bin. Let him waste his time until he goes away.

[Major Nikon]

3. You could send him an increasingly bizarre series of non sequitur emails

[Locut0s]

8. This I like. :D

[elleng]

4. Hell, I'LL write back that your house

is not a bankruptcy and that I'LL burn it to the ground before I give it to his vulture capitalist investor pals!

[we can do it]

5. Ignore him. Have his address sent to spam. He's not worth your energy.

[harmonicon]

6. Ignore it and send his email to spam from now on.

I had a former landlord who stiffed me for a security deposit send me links advertising new properties. I wrote back and swore at him, and I don't think I ever got email from him again, but I don't know if that increase in my blood pressure was worth not just clicking the "spam" button on it.

[magical thyme]

7. hmmm...I like the spam idea

I can take positive action *and* not accidentally incite a reply or be pestered by him again. Thanks!

[Locut0s]

9. I've gotten some strange LinkedIn requests too. It's all the rage now...

It's the "new" facebook, actually not all that new. What's the use of a business network when it literally contains everyone you have ever met?