My Dad always used to tell me, “You have to be able to make fun of yourself.  It keeps you balanced, and humble.”

I’m certainly not in an industry filled with humble people.

But after my last post – basically making fun of the way other Realtors take photos, somebody challenged me to put my cards on the table.

Fine.  No problem.

Let’s take a look at the worst real estate photos I’ve ever taken…

My friends always ask me, “Why do Realtors put their photos everywhere?  Not just names and contact info, but photos?”

I told them I don’t know; it’s just the way it’s always been, and the way it was when I came into the business.

I would assume it’s about face recognition, since this is a person-to-person business.

And as a result, Realtors often obsess about their image.

We’ve all seen “terrible real estate agent photos” scattered across the Internet, but what you don’t know is that to get one good real estate photo, you have to do an entire photo session.

I’ve done these sessions before.  I did my first session in 2004, then two in 2006, one in 2009, then in 2012.  Is that vain, or efficient?

You be the judge.

But here are some of the more……..interesting photos I’ve ever taken.

Let’s keep in mind:
a) what I currently look like
b) what photo I use:

Okay, fine, that’s from January of 2014, but it’s the most recent photo I have!  I wish I could bring back that brush cut, but my wife won’t let me…

Anyways, here’s some brutal pics dating back through the years…

From 2004 – this one makes me look like I’m in an advertisement in the back pages of the Toronto Sun, if you know what I mean.

Ladies – I charge by the hour, or by the night, and I’ll do anything, because I really, really need the money…

From 2004 – This one makes me completely aware of why my therapy bills are so high.

Yes, I went through that phase.  Porcupine hair, and for some reason I thought a black shirt with a black blazer, and bright red tie, was a great look.

From 2004 – What’s worse here: the massive “head-tilt” to the left, or that brutal shirt and tie combo?

From 2006 – I got this brutal haircut before I went to the shoot, which left these “buns” on the sides of my head.  I felt like Princess Leia!  Was that ever in style?  Like a balloon-head?

From 2006 – I’m going to kill you, and your whole family:

From 2006 – No matter, I’ll just change into a yellow shirt, taupe pants, and stand in front of a green background.  That’ll make it aaaaaaaallll better…

From 2006 – Do I look like I own a nightclub and do a lot of drugs at it, or simply frequent a nightclub, and do a lot of drugs at it?

From 2006 – I look gigantic!  Like a football player, who also works at a funeral home, who is messed up on painkillers…

From 2009 – I have no clue what we were thinking with this pose.  I look WAY too relaxed to be taken seriously…

From 2009 – Then again, I could look even more relaxed…

Okay, fine, that one was a joke.  I was channeling my inner George Costanza.  But who knew this one would come in handy years later?

From 2012 – No, that’s not snow.  It’s an insane amount of dandruff…

And that’s about it, folks.

A silly blog post, perhaps.

But I made a LOT of people at my office howl when I went through the photo archives, believe you me!

And I’ll be away on vacation in Idaho next week, so what the heck – why not leave on a fun note.

Anybody in favour of me doing a tour of Idaho real estate next week on the blog?  It’s either that, or Youtube clips from the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens.  The camera quality was really poor back then…

Have a great weekend, everybody!