Instagram sells dreams, real estate market – consequences
A good real estate investment today is not a matter of luck but the ability to separate marketing from facts. In times when Instagram sells the vision of quick profit, and algorithms promote confidence instead of experience, more and more investors realize that the price for hasty decisions can be very high because the real estate market does not forgive.
What will you find in the article?
Real estate market versus social media
The real estate market, unlike social media, does not forgive mental shortcuts, omissions, and empty promises. The consequences come later but are very real: legal, financial, and often emotional.
A few days ago, a short, rather reflective reel appeared on my Instagram profile. It was not sales-oriented. It did not promise high ROI or “certain opportunities.” It was an impulse, an attempt to name a phenomenon that I have been observing for some time on the other side of the market, much less Instagram-friendly, in direct conversations with clients.
At the same time, I am fully aware of this platform’s limitations. Instagram shows content only to a specific portion of the audience, often trapping it within algorithmic bubbles of simplifications and emotions. Topics requiring context, experience, and responsibility are very easily trivialized or completely lost there.
Where did the idea for this article come from?
That is why I decided to transfer these reflections here. To the blog we have been working on for years on our website, with the intention of creating educational content based on many years of market experience, not solely on sales narratives. Hoping that for people seriously considering purchasing property, such a format will be valuable.
The impulse to write the article was a phone conversation with a gentleman interested in buying property on the Costa del Sol. I heard from him the following statement:
“You know what… I’m afraid of all those Instagram brokers. Everyone promises who knows what.”
This was not the first such comment. It was another one. Different clients, different stories, but the same denominator: fatigue with narratives without basis.
This particular client was still at the stage of market research. Fortunately. He had not yet been affected by the consequences of decisions made too quickly, under the influence of promises found online. Because unfortunately, there are also those who call after the fact, during the transaction, in which they feel trapped.
The real estate market and its dramas
From the stories of our and others’ clients and their acquaintances, much more serious scenarios emerge. The purchase of several, and sometimes even a dozen or so apartments in newly developed projects at a very early stage, when there is not even the proverbial “hole in the ground” yet. Accompanied by promises of quick resale, high returns, and flexibility, which in practice turns out to be an illusion.
Key information often appears only after signing an agreement obligating purchase, and thus after making significant payments. And that’s when the trouble begins. It turns out that resale before the notarial deed is not possible, assignment of rights is often clearly excluded, and the buyer is obliged to continue the transaction until the finalization at the notary, often not for another two years.
These are serious obligations, serious money, and very real consequences, completely absent from the Instagram narrative focused on vision rather than conditions.
When marketing outruns competence
It is worth taking a broader look here at the phenomenon of Instagram storytelling in the real estate industry. And no, this article is not an anti-advertisement for industry colleagues. The decision to change country, city, or market in response to a sudden influx of clients interested in buying property due to the current geopolitical situation undoubtedly requires courage and deserves recognition, as long as it goes hand in hand with real preparation for work in a new market.
The problem begins when marketing starts to outrun competence, and quick profit becomes more important than reliability, professionalism, empathy, and responsibility towards the client.
Important summary
Instagram will accept anything. Experts on everything. The best agents simultaneously in several countries. That gets clicks. That gets views. But the effects of this narrative very often appear later and can be costly.
Perhaps this is a good moment to ask oneself: is a good investment a quick, remote decision based on an attractive advertisement presented by a self-proclaimed “expert,” or rather a strategic step based on real foundations built over years?
Instagram sells a vision. The real estate market sells reality.
And may this difference be clear before, not only after, the fact.
