The mastermind behind ‘The Broke Agent’ and the ‘Real Estate Fails’ Instagram pages is Eric Simon, a former licensed realtor. Since Bored Panda's last article last year, he no longer sells real estate and has been focusing on 'Broke Agent Media' and the 'Broke Agent' brands as his full-time job.

According to Simon, he and his team's goal is for them to become the biggest media company in real estate. "We now have a podcast network, daily blogs, and live shows on our YouTube channel with daily contributors."

"The secret behind The Broke Agent's success is always posting timely, relevant content and constantly evolving with social trends and posting styles," the brand founder told Bored Panda.

"We decide what's good enough for our audience by going through a testing procedure on other apps like Facebook and Twitter, seeing how they perform, and then posting to Instagram. We also have been creating funny real estate content for 7+ years and have developed a great sense for what will hit with our audience."

According to Simon, the perfect time to buy a home is "when it's right for that buyer." In short, everyone's situation is specific and individual. There are a lot of factors to consider.

"Everyone has a different reason to move and economic conditions are not always a contributing factor," he noted.

The founder of 'Broke Agent Media' quipped that the biggest pro of being a realtor is that you "have a built-in excuse to get out of any social plans because real estate is 24/7, 365."

"I get invited to a Sunday brunch I don't want to go to? Open house. I get invited on a hike for Saturday morning? Inspection. I get invited to dinner? Sorry, I have a call with my clients. Realtors can get out of anything." It's so true that Simon even made an Instagram video about this phenomenon.

However, no job is perfect. And being a realtor isn't all sunshine and roses either. "The cons about being a realtor is that it is 24/7 and you have to be available to take a call, respond to an offer, or follow up with a client wherever you are. Your success is solely determined by you," he told Bored Panda.

"There's constant anxiety and everyone is mad at you until the deal is CLOSED. To have a good career in real estate you must go all-in. No part-time bs."

During an earlier interview with my colleague last December, he spoke about the social media project. He started posting as ‘The Broke Agent’ over seven years ago. His goal? Focusing on showing the ‘inner monologue’ of a “struggling realtor in Los Angeles.”

“As a licensed realtor, I basically started making fun of everything that was happening to me and put it online in blog form, YouTube Videos, and short-form content like memes, tweets, and Facebook posts. It blew up really quickly and now has well over half a million followers across all platforms,” he told Bored Panda previously.

Part of Simon’s plan to grow ‘The Broke Agent’ network and platform meant creating ‘Real Estate Fails.’ So far, it’s been a roaring success and has helped strengthen the foundation of the entire brand. But it’s not all about business, views, and likes: the founder enjoys managing the account as well.

"Everyone likes looking at housing pics, especially luxury or real estate 'fails,' so it resonated with an audience outside of the real estate industry as well as real estate agents,” he told Bored Panda last year during an interview.

"Real estate agents love the account because it exposes marketing blunders, property description errors, and other mistakes agents make when uploading their marketing online. It also gives them a platform to submit all the crazy stuff they see in the field and out on showings. The account also casts a wider net on the industry, attracting contractors, appraisers, inspectors, handymen, etc.,” he said.

"Most of my posts come from other realtors in my DMs, but I also get submissions in my Discord, through The Broke Agent, and in our real estate Facebook pages and groups," he said that managing the community is pretty much straightforward.

“Most of the photos come from agents actually spotting these crazy fails in the field on showings, inspections, or open houses. We also have a series called #ThingsWeSeeAtShowings on The Broke Agent stories."

Since Simon is a licensed realtor, he’s got a great eye for what might be considered to be ‘out of the ordinary’ posts that will do well online. It’s a skill that he’s sharpened over all these years of posting on social media.

He noted that the content that performs best on ‘Real Estate Fails’ includes anything related to toilets and stuff that’s provocative and/or erotic. “The audience goes crazy for it," he said. Something else that’s popular is staging fails where sellers try to cover up various issues with the house.

The brand founder told Bored Panda that the best way to engage followers is to urge the audience to share their opinions. "The best way to [do it] on these posts is to say something in the caption like 'describe this like it's in a property description.' That way, agents can put their humorous twist on a housing feature and highlight it in a positive light like a realtor would do in their marketing,” he said.