Words Matter
While discussing neighborhoods with a buyer last month, I mentioned Fireside at Norterra and she frowned and said, “No thanks…I heard it’s really bad there.” As an original Fireside owner and 13-year resident, I wondered how anyone could form this opinion about our little slice of heaven. Then she hit me with the reason: social media. Ugh.
At its best, social media provides opportunities for referrals, recommendations, and stayinginformed. But at its worst, it’s a very public complaint department operating with little regard for the permanence of Internet content. People believe that typing online comments is like whispering into the ear of a friend. In reality it’s more like shouting from the rooftops while everyone takes notes. Recently, a number of neighborhood social media sub-groups and chatpages have popped up, oftentimes with no moderator or content guidelines. What starts as a hub for communicating and sharing ideas often devolves into a place to trade insults and airgrievances, real or otherwise. Potential home buyers devour this content for the same reason consumers are drawn to 1-star reviews on Yelp!: Everyone wants to see the dirt. But withoutcontext or balance, a person’s sole impression of a community might be built around a handful or residents piling-on because of a felled tree, an HOA violation notice, or a canceled fitness class.
Fireside residents do an excellent job online of helping return lost dogs, warning each other about danger in the neighborhood, and organizing against the dreaded self-storage facility. But it’s easy to drift into the territory of simply “venting” whenever things are less-than-perfect. And this type of information is eventually read by potential home buyers. I’m not advocating for internet silence or disingenuous commentary. Life in Fireside isn’t always sunshine andunicorns. But I might suggest avoiding the complaint spiral. Writing a scathing online post aboutthe neighborhood might feel good for a few minutes. And it might also chase away home buyers, which impacts your home value. This is what’s known as a “self-own.” Is that a business decision you’re OK with?