Local Real Estate Broker Feels the Bern

Information may not be reliable

By: Stacy Wescoe

January 28, 2021

Bernie Sanders’ image in front of a property for sale in downtown Easton. Photo taken by www.360mediapro.com

Bernie Sanders has had a busy week, at least virtually.

If you’ve been on any form of social media this past week it’s been hard to miss the meme of a mitten-wearing Bernie Sanders sitting cross-armed at last week’s presidential inauguration ceremony.

People have used Photoshop to place Sanders everywhere from Sheldon’s “spot” on the couch in a still from the TV show “Big Bang Theory” to sitting in front of their own home. Now, it looks the Bernie meme has even gotten into commercial real estate sales.

Tejas Gosai, broker at EXP Realty in Easton, said he got caught up in the craze and placed the image of the mittened Bernie on two of his listings.

“Typically with commercial real estate it’s very bland and numbers oriented,” Gosai said.

He said when you’re dealing with properties that are over a million dollars, joking around is usually out of the question. But, he had two rather high profile properties, a $1.6 million Nazareth apartment property and a Centre Square Easton property for $2.6 million, which he thought could use a little Bernie.

“I called my clients and I asked if it was alright and they both said yes. They thought it was hysterical,” Gosai said. He put up the listings with Bernie Sanders’ image up on his company’s website, on the national real estate website crexi.com and reposted them up on social media, hoping to give his clients and fellow real estate agents a bit of a giggle. He didn’t realize Bernie would be such a good salesman.

The listings went viral, being reposted across social media around the country. Crexi.com even reposted it on its Facebook page and another real estate agent made a parody video out of the Bernie listings.

Within a few days they had received thousands of views and even some offers.

“We already got some cash offers on both properties because so many people saw it,” Gosai said.

He said that while they were both good listings that he expected to sell quickly, having offers in within 36 hours of posting was a surprise.

“Even with a good listing it still takes time,” he said.

The success of the stunt also has Gosai breathing a sigh of relief. He knew it was risky to insert humor into a real estate ad and he wasn’t sure how it would be received. He’s glad others in the industry shared his sense of humor.

He did note that while offers have been received, his clients have not accepted any of the offers yet and showings are still planned for this weekend.

But the big question remains. If Bernie Sanders was such a big help in getting the properties sold, does he get a cut of the commission? Laughing, Gosai said he hasn’t forgotten that it was Sanders that helped get him all the attention, and yes, he has already made a small contribution to the mitten-themed fundraiser Sanders set up to raise money from the popular meme.

When the photo went viral Sanders created and sold sweatshirts with his mitten meme photo on them with proceeds going to Vermont-based charities. Those sold out quickly. So, if the whole Senator thing doesn’t work out for Sanders, perhaps a gig in sales might be in his future.

Media Contact:

Joshua Schoenberger

https://360mediapro.com/

484-767-4213

360mediapros@gmail.com

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