Wicked Tuna-Don't be Tail Roped and Taken to Market Like a Tuna.

There is a Reality TV show I watch and it led me to write. The show is Wicked Tuna. Why do I like this? It is about Fishing! I love fishing always have.

I have caught 1000 or more tuna. I have fished for Yellowfin, Albacore, Bluefin, Big Eye tunas. Thus, this show is almost a natural for me to watch. There are times I yell at the fishermen because I know they will lose the fish. My wife laughs at me tells me to be quiet its only TV. I’m sorry Fishing is never, only TV.  Why am I talking about tuna fishing? Not to encourage you to watch it, to help protect you.

The show is a reality show, just for the record no reality show is really reality, a lot of it is scripted.  This show comes pretty close, there are variables the producer cannot control, weather and fish.

These are tough as nails fishermen. Going up against the strongest fish in the ocean. Their flesh is the densest muscle of all the fish I have caught. Bluefins have the most hemoglobin which allows them to swim fast, swim deep and fight harder than any other fish. The battle will last from 30 min. to 6 or more hours. This is man against fish and the fish has the advantage. These tough fishermen go out in all kinds of weather to catch fish between 200-800 pounds. Hook and line fishermen are a dying breed. This is because of all of the overfishing by net fishermen.

Net fishermen are subject to weather not to the same extent as hook and line fishermen. When the weather changes, barometer falls  this triggers the fish to bite, at the bottom of the barometric pressure the fish stop feeding for 2-3 days until after the front moves through. Net fisherman can actually net more after the front moves through because the fish move closer together and become easier to net. Net fishermen do not face the issue of having to make fish eat.

Now making fish eat is another issue unto its own self.  Sidebar, when my kids  were little they would say “I can do it my own self”. I thought if I heard that one more time I would hurt somebody. So now it has worked its way into my speech even if it is not correct, I like the term.  

Back to making fish eat or bite. On the east coast, the fishermen use frozen bait that they cut up and chum the waters. They pull up to a spot that looks right. Baitfish in the water, the water is the right temperature, and the color of the water is right. The chum in the water gets the bait fish active and feeding. The fishermen catch a few fish for live bait, mackerel, bluefish or cod fish. They keep the bait alive in a well that keeps them alive, called alive well.

All fish have a lateral line that runs down the body of the fish. This lateral line lets the fish know the proximity of other fish in the school. It tells them if a fish is injured, what type of activity it is doing. Thus, bait fish feeding can trigger game fish to feed. This is the purpose of the chum line.  

Once the fishermen get the chum going and they see tuna on the graph or sonar they put out a nice lively bait. This bait fish has a big hook. On the west coast, we do this totally different. We troll until we find a school of tuna. When we find the school we use live bait as chum. We use live bait to fish for the tuna.  East coast fishermen fish in shallower water 150-300ft on the west coast we fish in 1500-7000 feet of water thus we cannot land the big fish the east coast guys do. There is nothing to stop the big fish. In deep water, the big tuna would spool you or take all your line.

 Now they have the big tuna under the boat and they throw the bait out there. If the tuna eats the bait, this bait has a big hook and is on heavy 200-350lb test. The rods and reels are heavy duty so are the fishermen. They release the anchor line and chase the fish. The boat chases the fish and wears the fish out. 

If the battle goes the way the fishermen want they end up with the Big Tuna Tail Roped and on its way to market. The fishermen take the fish to  market and gets a paycheck of $4,000-$15,000. A paycheck is their goal. For me when I go fishing, good eats is the goal.

So now back to why this is relevant. Well, the same type of thing can happen to you as a homeowner that wants to buy or sell a house. You can be chummed into biting something you would not normally accept because of Bait that is presented as an offer. That offer you bite on will look like a good easy deal or a deal without risk. Yet at a closer look that Offer is really a baited hook. The offer or bait is anything but a good deal nor is it without risk. Remember you do not want to end up tail roped and on your way to market like a tuna.  

BAIT

What are the offers? “If you buy my house I will buy yours”, “If you buy our house and you are not happy, we will buy it back in 18 months”, “If your house does not sell In 60 days I will sell it for Free”. Why are these not good? Well, let’s look at the Hooks buried in the offers.

“If you buy mine I will buy yours”. What are the restrictions, because they are there. 1) It has to be in what the broker determines as main market area. This is not published anywhere so it is subject to change without notice. 2) The buyer has to agree to let the broker/agent list the property for sale. This has predetermined price drops that the seller agrees to. If the house does not sell the seller agrees to sell to the agent for 95% of list after price drops and the agent gets full commission 6-7%. How does that help the seller? This is just a bait to get the seller hooked and then allow the agent or broker can gut the home of profit. Don’t allow yourself to be fooled into taking the bait. Or what will happen? You end up tail roped and on your way to market for a $6000-$20000 paycheck for the real estate agent.  Is this a real offer? You tell me. I say no.

Now the rules are very similar to the buyer if you buy a house, you are not happy after 18 months they will buy it back. This is the same bait to hook you into doing business with an unethical agent. Is this the type of agent or broker which you want to work with? Is this the type of broker or agent you are willing to trust your biggest investment to? If a stock broker tried this they would run afoul of the SEC and lose their license. Why are Real Estate Brokers/Agent allowed to get away with these baits or offers?

Now I love the hard work of the fishermen in Wicked Tuna and scores of other fishermen like them. I should probably apologize to them for comparing what they do, to what unethical real estate agents do. The real estate agents are worried about a paycheck and not so much about the customer. These type of agents want to tail rope you and take you to market.  Don’t allow yourself to be hooked like those bluefins do by eating Hook Line and Sinker these fake offers or bait.

 I have worked hard to get the message across that I am not like These Low-information agents or brokers. I was at an office with all the fake offers, I moved. I looked around found a broker that would support my beliefs and landed at Z Realty. No fishing pun intended.  I made a good living at the other office it just was not who I am.  This is also the main reason I took part is helping to write the book  THE VALUE-DRIVEN APPROACH TO SELL REAL ESTATE; A Practical Guide To Protect Yourself From Real Estate Greed & Bank an Extra $30,000 Profit by Thinking Like the Great Warren Buffet. Go to Freebook4mankind.com and get your free copy.