It’s an incredibly satisfying roast of a hyper-specific thing that you may have never noticed, but once you do, you’ll see everywhere (that kitchen IS ubiquitous) that pits us (people who believe we have good taste) against them (bad, greedy flippers). This is what TikTok is perfect for, and of course, the video went viral.
Stanley does not do viral dances or comedy or any of the things TikTok stars are known for. He’s a 35-year-old home inspector in Kansas City, Missouri, who typically wears khakis and a collared work shirt with his company logo on it. He started posting videos of his home inspections last year. He’s been shocked by not only how many people want to watch his videos, but also seen how they have drummed up his business. He’s gotten several clients who reached out over TikTok, something that has never happened on Facebook or Instagram. “On Instagram, people don’t want your stock photos, or your vague ‘let me help you if you’re in the market’ messaging,” he told BuzzFeed News. “TikTok shows a person and a personality more than Instagram would for this kind of content.”
Across TikTok, content about real estate — tours of beautiful homes, roasting of McMansions, home inspectors, real estate agents, mortgage advice, DIY how-tos — is flourishing.
One reason for the explosion of this content is a pandemic-related surge even among people who aren’t anywhere close to buying a house. As people are trapped inside their homes, they’re compelled to both the escapism of browsing Zillow and the desire to fix up their current surroundings.
Another is that millennials are now on TikTok, and they’re buying homes. One of those slightly older people who fell into Real Estate TikTok is Cynthia Guerrero. “My husband and I became obsessed during the pandemic,” she told BuzzFeed News. “We had nothing to do so we downloaded TikTok. We watch TikToks together before going to bed.” While she loved watching HGTV and had had Zillow on her phone to browse for a long time, she wasn’t actively looking to buy a house. Then she saw a house tour of a newly constructed home in Forney, Texas, posted by a local real estate agent, and she fell in love. Her family will be moving in in April.
This isn’t even the only house that the agent, Joseph Felling, has sold over TikTok. Nicholas Pierce and his wife closed this month on a house outside of Dallas they bought with Felling after seeing a similar model home on his account.
In addition to those two homes he’s closed on, he has about 20 to 25 new clients that came over the app. “How did I get into TikTok? COVID times,” Felling told BuzzFeed News. “You’re sitting on the couch, listening to this whole thing about Trump is going to take it down, and I wanted to check it out. I started scrolling and said, Wow, there’s something there.”
Felling’s videos are typically tours of moderately priced but attractive homes in the Dallas–Fort Worth suburbs with a caption like “This is what $350,990 will get you in Allen, TX” (residents of large expensive cities should be advised to view these with a trigger warning).