Social media is effective for real estate agents to market properties and their personal brand. But in San Antonio some agents have found another purpose for one of the most prolific platforms.
Agents and content creators in the Alamo City are posting YouTube videos highlighting — or low-lighting — the negative aspects of the city to offer a realistic view or what it’s like to live there, the San Antonio Express-News reports.
It turns out that the seventh-most populous city in the country known for its diversity, Tex-Mex cuisine, the Alamo and pro basketball team, isn’t Shangrila and some agents are willing to talk about its shortcomings.
“Everybody talks about how great San Antonio is, even I talk about it,” Tre Serrano, who leads the Cavalry Real Estate Group, told the outlet after he uploaded a video showing police tape stretched in front of a city home. “But you need to know the worst.”
Videos such as “10 Reasons Why Not to Move to San Antonio, Texas,” “Top 10 reasons NOT to Move to San Antonio, Texas,” and “15 Reasons NOT to Move to San Antonio, Texas!!! The TRUTH About Living in San Antonio, Texas!” have racked up tens of thousands of views on YouTube.
Among the negative traits agents note about the city, which is one of the fastest-growing metros in the country, are the crime rate, hot summers, prevalence of snakes, scorpions and other wild animals; air quality, traffic and tobacco laws.
Still, the agents who have posted videos of some of the rougher aspects of the city say they are doing so in the interest of full disclosure, not to entirely deter people from moving there.
“San Antonio is outstanding,” real estate agent Michael McCall notes on his YouTube post “15 Reasons NOT to Move to San Antonio.” “I wouldn’t live here personally if it wasn’t. But these are some of the cold hard truths you need to know before moving to this great city!”
“I definitely want people to move to San Antonio,” Jason Hernandez, owner of Raine Realty Group, told the Express-News. “I just want to be real and I don’t want them to be misguided. I want my advice to be true and authentic. …
“I don’t want to sugar coat it and trick people into all the great things in San Antonio. But I want to tell you the truth of what San Antonio is. The summers are freaking hot. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows.”
— Ted Glanzer