If you enjoy a high profile it’s inevitable that, at some point, someone’s going to want to take you down. Do a Google search on the name of any celebrity or public figure along with the word “sucks” or “stupid” and you’ll find some pretty disturbing stuff.
In real estate circles Enzo Raimondo has a high profile. As the boss of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria he represents the interests of nearly 1900 real estate businesses. No doubt it’s a tough job.
As with many public identities Raimondo has his fans. He also has detractors. Notable among the latter are Neil Jenman and Peter Mericka. They appear to be obsessed with Raimondo posting regular invective on their websites aimed squarely at Raimondo.
Jenman and Mericka attack the person. They hurt feelings to create a reaction. They’re internet trolls.
The word troll conjures up images of a colourful lure being dragged slowly behind a boat to catch an unsuspecting fish. It also brings to mind a malevolent mythical Nordic monster. But whatever the imagery the association is one of cunning and mischievous deception aimed at provoking an instinctive or emotional response.
In typical troll fashion their attacks on Raimondo are usually personal and devoid of substance. For example, Mericka states : “Enzo Raimondo, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) is a master of the partial-truth”. The statement is directed squarely at Raimondo describing him in a way that obliquely questions his integrity without taking a stand.
In a similar vein Mericka claims that “… real estate agents don’t want consumers to be independently informed about property valuations”. Just how he is able to know for certainty what is in the mind of all agents is unclear. He presents no corroborating evidence to substantiate his claim, instead demonising all agents by making a sweeping, unprovable assertion. It’s typical troll behaviour.
Many trolls hide their real life identities behind fictional characters and pseudonyms. Take the recently suspended fake Enzo Raimondo Twitter account as an example (a cached version is currently here). The unidentified troll took on Raimondo’s name as a pseudonym posting a number of tweets that linked to a WordPress blog entitled Enzo Raimondo. In turn each of these posts linked to either Jenman’s Real Estate News or Twitter account or to Mericka’s The Australian Real Estate Blog. In both instances the troll made use of free services – WordPress and Twitter – to attack Raimondo personally whilst avoiding any likelihood of being held accountable for their actions.
So just why do trolls work the way they do? The answer to that question would take up the contents of an entire PhD thesis. What really counts though is the end result, not their motivations.
If we take Mericka’s Twitter bio on face value he’s a “consumer advocate”. Jenman similarly claims “consumer advocacy” as something he does for love. Outside of these self-disclosures I can only speculate about their motivations. But what can be stated with certainty is that four of the top ten results on a Google search (as of December 23, 2009) using the term “Enzo Raimondo” are from either Jenman or Mericka. Two men with a passionate belief – trolls if you will – are winning this battle hands down. Their personal crusades are damaging the reputation of Raimondo and the Institute he represents.
It appears that Raimondo has made a few positive, and at least one defensive, move to advance his position. In the first instance he has a static web site that employs a number of SEO measures to help it rank number one and two in a search. He’s also joined LinkedIn, which gives him position four. A 2003 press release found on Real Estate View gives him position eight. Position three, a profile on wotnews.com.au is a lost battle as both Mericka and Jenman have almost the same number of mentions as does Raimondo.
What I find staggering is the complete absence of any mention of Raimondo on reiv.com.au in the above search. I went looking and could find no Raimondo profile page on REIV (perhaps I overlooked it) and the only textual mention of his name was a few pages buried deep within the site. It is as if the team at REIV have chosen to give Mericka and Jenman a free kick at Raimondo’s head!
Defensively Raimondo, or one of his team, may have taken steps to put a stop to the fake Twitter account as it appears that the account has been reported for misuse. This would help explain the account’s suspension.
So to the point of the article, what would you do if you were Enzo Raimondo?
There is much that could be done. I don’t intend to catalogue every move available to Raimondo. That’s a question for you to help answer within the comments. Rather I will leave the final word to Seth Godin.
Lots of things about work are hard. Dealing with trolls is one of them. Trolls are critics who gain perverse pleasure in relentlessly tearing you and your ideas down. Here’s the thing(s):
1. trolls will always be trolling
2. critics rarely create
3. they live in a tiny echo chamber, ignored by everyone except the trolled and the other trolls
4. professionals (that’s you) get paid to ignore them. It’s part of your job.“Can’t please everyone,” isn’t just an aphorism, it’s the secret of being remarkable.
Godin here points to the stark contrast between creators and trolls. Trolls tear down while professionals create. And creating means producing content. Lots of it. It also means building a community of similarly creative people, to lift, to extend and to carry a message.
Is Raimondo doing enough? I doubt it but I’ll leave it to you.
If you were Enzo Raimondo what would you do?
34 Comments
australian real estate
If I was Enzo I would quickly phone or email me to have me get all 10 ppositions on Google front page for the phrase….piece of cake
Happy xmas Peter
Andrew Blachut
PropertyNow
Coffs Harbour
real estate in Australia
The action is the piece of cake – the phrase of course is – Enzo Raimondo.
Guys can I suggest you add an editor to posts. I couldn’t explain this without reposting nor could I fix my typo
Andrew
Bill Burdin
Enzo should implement a strategy to take control of his personal brand online.
Creating a personal profile on social networking sites is a great start but the big one is to register the domain Enzo-Raimondo.com and create a blog which would eventually become the online hub of his brand.
Owning the domain and regularly adding content to the website will ensure top spot in the serp’s.
Some good examples of personal branding are:
Gary Vaynerchuck: http://garyvaynerchuk.com/
Owner of Wine Library TV
and
Mark Cuban: http://MarkCuban.com aka http://blogmaverick.com/
Owner of Dallas Mavericks
Both are absolute guru’s of personal branding. Googling their names will produce their own websites and social network sites, all the trolls have been shoved down the rankings and there are plenty of them.
Peter Mericka
Hi Peter,
I enjoyed reading your posting – it’s not often that I am the subject of a posting on a real estate blog.
I think the problem for Enzo Raimondo is that he heads an organisation that condones and perpetuates improper behaviour in the real estate industry. The examples are many, and there is no need for me to raise them here. What I would like to comment on is the issue of attacking the person.
The REIV, with Raimondo at its head, wields enormous political power, and I have experienced its ability to wage personal war through its use of this power.
A few years ago Mr. Bruce Atkinson, the Deputy President of the Legislative Assembly of this State, was procured by the REIV as a political stooge for the purpose of making a personal attack on me. Note, that the REIV did not get its own hands dirty, but used Atkinson to do its dirty work in attacking the person.
If you search
Captain America
It is easy to see Peter Mericka’s corrupt ways. All you have to do is look at what business he is in. What could it be, short-man syndrome, lack of super powers or just a simple suburban lawyer with a chip on his shoulder. His blog is merely a SEO marketing scam, aiming at personal attacks to achieve higher google rankings. He should be blacklisted.
Your article touches on the very heart on how Peter Mericka operates. No substance to his attacks insofar as the use of his words such as
Brett Clements
I’ll bugger this post up by saying, at Christmas, I think we should all take a step back and say a bloody big thank you to Peter. Now. I’m, no suck. And Glenn will be the first to complain about me bashing him for his iphone assault (well deserved I might add) But I just want to weigh in and say Peter has done a bloody amazing job building a site everybody respects. For no financial gain. I was honoured to be invited by Peter to be a contributor. And I love being smacked by Glenn (who does regurgitate PC releases but we needs something to write). But seriously guys. Peter, and all your contributors, have built an awesome community that I am honored to be a part of. Happy New Year guys. And buy an iphone. :-)….I do love you GB.
PaulD
Captain America, you sound like an uneducated slob. That is the kind of response you could expect from a person who has an IQ about as big as his shoe size. In my experience ( and I have been fairly close to the coal face as far as real estate goes) where there is smoke, there is normally a fire. You make all these allegations against Peter Mericka ( whom I have never met and don’t know) regarding .. “Peter Mericka
Peter Mericka
Hi Captain America,
You know who I am, and you know how to contact me. I have very strong ethical principles, and these require me to speak out when I see wrongdoing in my industry. These same ethical principles guide me in terms of what I say about people whose involvement in my industry raises questions. Added to my ethical principles is the law of defamation. I know that if I say something that is false or unsubstantiated I can be sued for defamatation.
I do my best to ensure that everything I say about the real estate industry and those I criticise is supported by facts and evidence, and I always contact individuals I name, tell them in adavance what I am about to disclose about them, and ask them if they have any comment to make so that they have the opportunity to correct any allegations or imputations that are not correct.
The luxury that Enzo Raimondo and other players in the real estate industry have is that they know that I play by rules of ethics and law in my critiques, and they know where to find me if they want to take me to task.
Captain America, what you have said about me is incorrect and unfair. This posting is supposed to be an attack on those who make personal attacks. As an example of an unsubstantiated and cowardly personal attack you could not have done better.
I cannot respond to any of the things you have said about me because I do not know who you are or how you came to the conclusions you have presented.
I am quite prepared to engage with you, or anyone else for that matter, but it must be on a fair and ethical basis.
Please don’t shoot me in the back from the shadows.
Peter Mericka
Hi Peter Fletcher, I have just had a look at your LinkedIn profile and I note that you too are into philosphy and ethics, and presumably real estate ethics.
You may be aware that I have started the Real Estate Ethics Group on LinkedIn, and I have invited you to join it. The purpose of the Real Estate Ethics Group is to provide the opportunity for real estate stakeholders like yourself to make meaningful contributions to the more difficult questions confronting those involved in the industry.
I have invited Enzo Raimondo to join, but he didn’t respond to the invitation. (I don’t think he is really into real estate ethics in the pure sense.) I hope that you will take the opportunity to make some contributions in the form of commencing discussions or contributing to them.
And please, feel free to take me to take me to task on any real estate issue at all. I am sure that through frank and open discussion we can advance the interests of the industry. For example, you may wish to commence a discussion titled, “Is it ethical for a real estate lawyer to launch a personal attack on the head of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria”. Give it a go, and we’ll see where it leads.
Peter Mericka
Oh dear! Peter Fletcher, it’s just been drawn to my attention that you have an interest in a conveyancing business that has close contacts with real estate agents. Unfortunately you have compromised your credibility through your failure to declare your conflict of interests.
But that’s OK, conflicts of interest are common in the real estate industry. Do take note of it for the future though, or you’ll end up like Enzo Raimondo.
Nick
“The examples are many, and there is no need for me to raise them here.”
No please do for us who dont know. It seems you dont need to raise them on your blog either.
Usually people try to rationalise or explain what they are doing when a article like this comes up.
Its not often I see a article saying that someone is trolling, and then they start trolling in the comments as well.
Possibly not a bright thing to do because people read the article and then the comments and then start agreeing with the article because a good example is just a little bit down the page.
James
I would say if the shoe fits wear it. Enzo’s reputation is a product of his actions, attitude and arrogance.
Does he work in the best interests of the industry? One would have to say to some extent in many cases the answer is No.
Peter Mericka
Hi Nick,
You have quoted my statement “The examples are many, and there is no need for me to raise them here”, regarding improper conduct condoned and perpetuated by the REIV, and requested that I provide an example.
Here are two examples, but let me know if you require more:
1. Dummy bidding. This has always been an indictable offence under Section 82 of the Crimes Act, but the REIV encouraged its members to use this form of criminal deception right up to the point at which the Victorian government decided to water the offence down to a mere “slap on the wrist” offence under the Sale of Land Act. I understand that Enzo Raimondo even feigned ignorance of its use.
2. Distribution of unfair contract conditions. The REIV prints “Special Conditions” which it encourages its member to insert into purchasers’ offers by stealth. The grubbiest of these is the REIV’s building inspection condition which limits the purchaser’s right to end the contract to circumstances where a “major structural defect” is disclosed. The real estate agent knows that asbestos contamination, faulty wiring, rising damp and a host of defects that would warrant the ending of a contract do not fall within the narrow term “major structural defect”, but the consumer only finds out when he or she attempts to end the contract (which has been withheld from the purchaser’s lawyer by the REIV member until the 3 day cooling offer periond has expired).
Let me know if you find anything on my blog that has no been substantiated, and I will address it. (I note that Peter Fletcher deliberately left out the material that substantiated the comments he quoted in his article, so I can understand your confusion – it would be best if you read the postings for yourself instead of taking Mr. Fletcher’s word on the matter.)
Sal Espro
Could anyone else care less about the blue between thee blokes?
Peter Mericka (whom I’ve never heard of until now) seems to have a barrow to push (now I know who’s behind that silly Lawyers Real Estate thing) – but doesn’t seem to have ‘played the man’ ‘in here’ so far,
Enzo Raimondo is hampered by huge conflicts of interest and a huge ego – I’ve ‘followed’ him since pre-REIV days. (He irritates me the way he talks so authoritatively for agents when he is just another over-paid administrator with his nose firmly in the trough),
Captain America Talk about irrelevant ‘trolling’!
Peter Fletcher (who wrote this article), seems to have been promoting his SEO ‘talents’ and fallen for the trap of thinking he can bag someone to get some business from supporters.However, I reckon he’s on a bandwagon that doesn’t exist ie.. thinking all non-Jenman type agents see the bloke as a problem and want him hanged. He might be a pain-in-the-arse but like ‘For sale by owner’, it ain’t gonna affect the market share of most agents much – there are bigger problems within the market (and dare I say it, the REIV, to address).
PsI get sick of hearing from the Brett Clements, Peter Fletchers and Bill Burdens of the World in these blogs. Check-out their bio’s and see if you can guess why. Transcendental, philosophical, real estate integrity from a bunch of experienced try-hard salesmen. Puhlease!
Ho Ho Ho …. Happy New Year!
Sal 🙂
Nick
Peter Mericka – I meant explicit examples. Preferably backed up by multiple sources.
Sal I’m with you. 🙂
The Chriso
Does anyone want to buy a used car?
Peter Mericka
Hi Nick,
You may not have been in the real estate industry long enough to have become familiar with the old Contract Note (it was done away with a year ago). Anyway, it was a fill-in-the-blanks document provided to real estate agents by the REIV.
Because the Contract Note contained provision for Special Conditions, and real estate agents don’t know how to draft special conditions (remember it’s illegal for real estate agents to perform legal work anyway) the REIV provided a set a precedent special conditions, of which the infamous Building Inspection conditions with its “major structural defects” limitation, is the most often used.
Talk to any of the more senior real estate agents at your office and they’ll be able to pull a copy from their forms cabinet for you. Alternatively, contact the REIV. I understand that the REIV is currently providing something similar for use by dishonest real estate agents.
As for the dummy bidding, if you ask Enzo himself I am sure that he will confirm what I have told you.
Peter Mericka
Advice to Peter Fletcher:
1. When you start throwing mud be prepared to duck, because it will come back in spades!
2. Trolls are harmless. The ones to watch out for are those who know their industry well, who are passionate about ethics, and who have the drive to make a difference – they’ll trounce you every time.
3. Stick to what you do best – industry commentary is not your thing.
Greg Vincent
Peter, to answer your original question. Enzo is currently doing a monthly Property Update but he’s not getting anywhere near the views that he should be on these videos.
I must admit I’ve never come across a link to any of them on a blog or Twitter/Facebook at all.
The content provided in the videos is pretty handy information for agents & consumers & could be something that agents may want to post in their own blogs or share out to their own database/Social Networks too.
With so many Victorian Agents as members of the REIV, you’d think that an email marketing campaign featuring a Property Update video from Enzo would get more than a couple of hundred views.
Secondly, the video hasn’t been optimised to rank on a search for Enzo Raimondo. I’m not sure why not? Because Google likes videos, if it was better optimised on YouTube his Property Update videos should stand a very good chance of outranking a lot of the trolling articles around his name.
Whilst this won’t remove these articles from a search on his name, his videos may help his profile.
BTW to check out his Property Update videos, here’s his YouTube Channel ~ http://www.youtube.com/user/REIVenzo
Craig
Mac, I think some more openness on the figures would be welcomed by the public. One thing Peter Mericka harps on about on his blog is how the published auction results are fudged by the REIV and Enzo to suit the agenda. The average man on the street takes what he is told at face value and doesn’t check where the figures come from and why various organisations may have conflicting figures.
Mac
Can someone provide the basis of the REIV’s CEO’s market predictions, please? He gets a lot of media attention for his predictions about prices and demand. It would seem to be safe for him to summarise activity in a statistical sense, e.g. there were 10 auctions, 5 sold, 4 passed-in, there was a median number of 23 attendees at auctions … etc However, statements outside this area would seem to require professional analysis with which the RBA even seems to struggle.
Perhaps he should state who We and his sources are on the front of his ‘Update’ video as a basis for statements like, “We anticipate 2010 to have moderate price increases”, etc
PaulD
I would suggest that the figures are a best guess based on past trends and with a bit of spin added. I try to get accurate figures for my area, and you can’t get an exact idea till at least 3 months after. There are all sorts of things that delay the reporting of sales figures. I have done the exercise and checked the figures monthly for a couple of months, and 3 months seems to be at least within a couple of percent of the eventual final figures. And so what anyway, you can’t predict trends on one month’s figures.
Mac
Michael B, I’m less interested in individual agents, unless they have some value I can use, and more interested here in why REIV agents haven’t pulled Enzo Raimondo’s head in for continually implicating them in his poorly (non) researched, generalisations that are transparently fitting his dangerously biased agenda. (ASIC could probably get involved too for the way in which he has presided over the misspending of member funds on a poorly ranking real estate portal that was never going to be a major player! It was common knowledge that it was sold-in on prospects of a future big $ ‘exit’ to Domain or PBL – What a laugh! Agents should stick to selling real estate and Enzo should stick to agent training and maintenance of the Codes of ethics begtween agents!)
Ps I think your choice of Telstra is pretty poor. They just finished a many years of bagging anything that looked like competition, including the Govt – It didn’t get them anywhere but backwards, but they did it!
Michael B
This thread has gotten off track. More discussion is needed to flesh out the reasons why Peter Mericka behaviour on the web attracts being an internet troll.
His marketing approach is quite poor and somewhat diminishes his efforts as a business owner to effectively communicate his offering to the market. The attacks made on his blog to discredit his competitors for his business called Lawyers Real Estate is certainly a strange strategy. Do you ever see the likes of Telstra bashing Optus, Harvey Norman attack JB-HI or let alone your local fish and chip shop attack the milk bar. The simple answer is; no. They compete on price, value and other attributes.
I can’t see who his target market is with his communications. Either Peter Mericka has way too much time on his hands (not getting enough work?) and resorts to venting his frustrations against his competition or he finds this an apt marketing strategy. What is your view?
Medyumlar
Ps I think your choice of Telstra is pretty poor. They just finished a many years of bagging anything that looked like competition, including the Govt
Consumer
Dear Readers , lets understand the basic principle of many Business’s Marketing !, Neil Jenman and Peter Mericka would not have a business without deriding the Estate Agents and The Reiv.
1 It helps push up there Search ranking by constantly posting
2 Neil Jenman has made a career out of people joining his group and paying him fees, he survives as does Peter Mericka on fear !
Fear to the consumer telling all and sundry how dastardly Agents will rip them off and cant negotiate .
The day we go to Suburban Lawyers lacking any form of personality to get them to sell anything the world may as well cave in .But to Neil and peter well done on the self promotion and chasing comments for you boys it works
Oh Neil how many have left the jenman flock in the last ten years ?
And Pete how many houses do you sell every year mmm as most consumers know but cheap buy twice
The old bank valuation trick well i think we all know that banks and valuers under price by 20 % on average so they dont get sued get a grip pete and get back to conveyancing
Consumer 2
I think Mr Mericka, may have done himself no favours in his remarks made on TV the other night, that he would welcome Consumer Affairs Victoria prosecute him for unlicensed trading. I couldn’t believe he had the ordacity to say on national television, that he is happy to pay for his own legal costs, simply because he believes they will lose and he will win -What arrogance !! How could any lawyer make such a statement and have an egotistical disregard for the law, when there are people being convicted all around Australia for unlicensed trading.
Ummm, I would of thought, if the authorities were to prosecute Mr Mericka for unlicensed trading, that he to, could be ordered to pay back certain fees or charges plus court costs and not to mention, the penalties aswell.
If Mr Mericka thinks consumers will not mind the fact, he isn’t licensed to sell real estate, because his services are much cheaper than everybody else’s, well I believe he should rethink his business model and his approach to client relationship management.
Michael
I can not believe that Peter Fletcher has published this article, and expects anyonewho knows anything about this industry to take what he has to say seriously. He is so obviously in the pocket of the Real Estate Industry. Peter Merika and Neil Jenman perform a public service, the sad fact is that their voices can not be heard above the roar of the corrupt and crooked agents that make up at least 90% of the real etstate agents. Peter Merikas post about standard real estate contracts, delays getting contracts to conveyancers and the major structural defects clause is the standard trick of every real estate agent I have ever come across in every negotiation I have been involved with. The fact is the industry is crooked to the core and needs reform. Nowhere is it more bent than in Melbourne, the Auction capital of the world. What a silly way to sell a house for both buyer and seller.
PaulD
So Michael, which team are you batting for. Consumers, Agents, REIV, Peter Merika, or the Paranoia Team ?? And exactly how many transactions are “every real estate agent I have ever come across in every negotiation I have been involved with” – would that be one, or both of them??. Big statements, with very little substance.
Therese
Peter Mericka is a hypocrite, he’s selling real estate without a real estate agents license, who does he think he is? Above the law? He has to abide with CAV’S Real Estate Agents regulations regulations and the REIV. I hope they get him for every $ he has made over the years, flaunting himself as a real estate agentI Hope you get the right penalties and are jailed for selling real estate without a real estate agents license!
Glenn Batten
Therese… Peter Mericka is indeed a licensed agent. Maybe he failed to mention it
Glenn Batten
Speaking of licenses… I did not know that Simon Baker was a licensed real estate agent.
Concerned
Peter mericka … You poor, poor, poor man. Every single one of your posts are simply dripping with the smell of jealousy. Perhaps the position enzo raimondo is holding is one you missed out on?
I do however find it amusing you have spent, what appears to be, most of your time wasted on here defending your comments.
It is also apparent you hold no really position of power… You know the saying those who can’t do, teach – thus your constant complaining and so-called reforms.
A simple thought, if you are so unhappy with the way things are being run, and just bare with me this is a crazy idea, but why not work with enzo to reform, instead on sitting in the corner complaining. Be proactive and work together.. If this had been done your thoughts may have been actioned by now instead of sitting on an internet story’s commentary.
I also notice you ceased to post any other of your “thoughts” after Greg vincent’s post, it seems that you failed to turn anyone against enzo to say the least. What was it you said…”if you are going to through mud, be prepared to duck” seems as though you forgot your own advice, after being hit in the face with mud you have slinked off to clean yourself off.
Further to your jealousy .. No real estate license .. Shame on you.
My last thought for you, it is better to say nothing and have people think you are an idiot than to speak and have them know you are an idiot.. Next time Peter- don’t speak, do yourself that favour.
MAC
I groan in pity at the ignorance attempting to be covered of any speaker uttering, “…those that can’t do, teach”. Formal education is the basis of World progress.(This is independent of any P Mericka thought).