The Chris List™

Quick question before we get into it.

How many of the last 10 posts in your IG feed looked like the same AI robot made them?

Same perfect skin. Same polished headshot. (Sometimes a sixth finger, free of charge.)

That's exactly what we're digging into a week from tomorrow.

Eric Simon (@thebrokeagent), Andrew Bayon, and I are going live to show you how to stand out and grow on Instagram in a sea of AI slop.

​Save your seat here

Now, here's what is in this week's Chris List:

📝 [C]ontent: Amazon knows way too much about you
​ 🛠 [H]ow-To: Increase your odds of getting the iPhone Duo
🔬 [R]esearch: Why renters aren't buying...yet
🎨 [I]nspiration: Steal Zillow + Reece's smart Halloween contest
💡 [S]wipes: Shaq got scammed; don't let your seller be next

📝 [C]ONTENT

Amazon has a secret file on you. It might say you "have no friends" 📦

When's the last time you checked what Amazon thinks it knows about you?

One customer just did, and posted the results on Threads.

Amazon had built a "page of assumptions" about her based on her purchases.

Her favorite line: Amazon decided she "has flat buttocks." (Her reaction: "I mean it ain't wrong but damn did you have to call me out like that?")

The post blew past a million views, and then everyone started checking theirs. A few of the findings:

• One woman was labeled a "fifty-year-old man" who "has no friends"
• Another "uses phone in the shower to read Kindle books" (she confirmed it was true)
• Someone allegedly keeps a "seasonal rotation of decorative goose outfits"
• Another "cannot keep real plants alive"

Pretty wild, right? And Amazon isn't alone. Wired recently found McDonald's had built a 515-page dossier on one customer, including predictions about how often he'd come back.

Here's how to check your creepily accurate Amazon dossier:

On desktop:

1. Hover over Account & Lists (top right) and click Account​
2. Find the Ordering and shopping preferences tile and click Your Shopping preferences​
3. Scroll all the way to the bottom and click Manage your information

On the Amazon mobile app:

1. Tap the menu icon in the bottom bar
2. Go to Account > Shopping preferences > About you

Go look. Screenshot the best one and send it to me.

Why this matters for agents:

Let's be honest, your CRM and website are doing the same thing. Every click, open, and search your clients make is a data point about them.

The lesson: using what you know is smart. Making people feel watched is not.

"Happy 3-year home anniversary, want to see what your place is worth?" feels helpful. "I saw you've been browsing kitchen remodels at 2am" feels like a stalker.

Use the data to be relevant. Never use it to be creepy.

🛠 [H]OW-TO

I'm getting the iPhone Duo on Friday. Here's how 📱📱

Apple's first foldable is going to sell out in seconds. I'm not the only one excited about their biggest innovation in a decade.

Pre-orders open Friday, October 16 at 5:00 a.m. PT (that's 8:00 a.m. ET), and the people who will win are the ones who do the work before then.

Per Tom's Guide, here's the playbook I'm following:

1. Lock in "Get Ready" (it's already open). Apple opened it Monday, October 12. Pick your color, storage, carrier status, and payment method in the Apple Store app now so Friday is one tap.
2. Audit your Apple Account today. An expired card or a mismatched billing address will knock you out of the queue. Check your shipping address too.
3. Get your trade-in quote early. Trade-in questions add extra screens at checkout. Skip them on drop morning.
4. Confirm your financing. Apple retired its Upgrade Program in mid-2026. Check whether you qualify for Apple Card Installments, carrier options, or a direct purchase.
5. Load the app AND a desktop browser. The app usually goes live faster than the website. Keep the site open as your backup.
6. Don't touch your saved setup. Changing your color or storage at the last second re-queries Apple's live inventory and can push back your ship date.
7. Pivot to in-store pickup. If shipping slides into November, switch to local pickup. Stores get their own inventory allocation, separate from warehouse stock.

One more thing: Tom's Guide is also warning that scammers are using iPhone Duo pre-orders to steal passwords. Only order through the Apple Store app or Apple's own site.

Why this matters:

This is going to be the talking point. Whoever has the first iPhone Duo is the person everyone wants to see, touch, and ask about.

It will sell out, and backorders are going to run for a while.

Get yours on day one and you've got a built-in conversation starter at every open house, listing appointment, and client coffee.

🔬 [R]ESEARCH

Renters want to own. Only 23% are sure they ever will. 🏠

CNBC and SurveyMonkey just dropped their quarterly money survey, and the housing numbers should change how you talk to every renter in your database.

Start with the headline: 73% of Americans say buying a home is harder than it was five years ago. Only 9% say it's easier.

The reasons:

• Higher home prices: 72%
• Living costs limiting savings: 70%
• Higher mortgage rates: 66%
• Fewer homes for sale: 19%

Notice that last one. Inventory is the thing agents blame most, and almost nobody else does. Money is the problem, not listings.

Now the renter numbers, which are the real story:

• 87% of renters want to own a home.
• But only 23% are certain they'll get there, 29% say maybe one day, and 34% want to own but believe they'll never afford it.
• 22% of renters never plan to buy.
• Only 16% are looking right now. 62% plan to buy someday.

So what's stopping them?

• 52% can't afford a down payment
• 47% say their income or credit is too low to qualify
• 42% say rates are too high
• 32% say homes in their budget don't meet their needs
• 15% cite lack of inventory

The pressure is real. 25% of renters spend half or more of their pre-tax income on housing, versus 14% of mortgage holders.

For renters, rent is the single biggest stressor (64%), ahead of groceries and gas.

A few more numbers worth knowing:

• 72% of buyers want a single-family home (only 6% want a condo, 6% a townhome)
• Expected down payments are all over the map: 13% plan to put nothing down and 17% plan on less than 5%

The Realtor takeaway: your next wave of buyers isn't a lead problem. It's a belief problem.

Most renters still want in. They just think the door is locked. And the top barrier, the down payment, is the one you can actually help with.

Three ways to use this:

1. Stop waiting for "ready" buyers. 62% of renters plan to buy someday and aren't looking yet. That's your nurture list, and nobody else is talking to them.
2. Lead with the down payment. Half of renters think they can't afford one. Post about low-down-payment and assistance programs, and partner with a lender who can run the real numbers.
3. Make "never" a conversation. That 34% who believe they'll never afford it? A 15-minute call that shows them an actual path converts a "never" into a "someday."

The renters who think the door is locked are one honest conversation from finding out it isn't.

🎨 [I]NSPIRATION

Reese's "Trick-or-Treatiest Street in America." (you should do this) 🎃

Reese's is running a nationwide search for the best Halloween street in the country, and it's a masterclass in making a community the star.

Here's how it works

Reese's surveyed 15,000 Americans and crunched data on candy and costume purchases, décor, Census numbers, and walkability. That narrowed the field to the Top 150 streets, which live on a microsite.

Then they assembled a first-ever Halloween Council: Christina Ricci (Wednesday Addams), Kathy Najimy (Hocus Pocus), and three creators.

Their job is to debate the contenders on camera in a two-part social series. The winner gets announced October 21st and receives a Reese's-funded block party in partnership with Zillow.

Read that last part again. Zillow is the real estate partner on a candy brand's neighborhood contest. Your industry is already in this story.

Per Marketing Dive, the whole thing is built to get people talking beyond the snack aisle.

Why it works: nobody is being sold anything. Neighbors nominate, argue, and brag. The brand just hosts the party.

The Realtor takeaway: you can play this two ways.

Option A: Share their contest

Check whether your area, street or neighborhood made the Top 150 list​

If it did, post it. "Our street made the Top 150 in America" is local pride, and local pride gets shares

If it didn't, rally your farm area anyway. Ask followers to vote for the closest contender

Either way, tag the winner on October 21st and congratulate them. You're the agent who's paying attention to the neighborhood

Option B: Run your own version (way better)

Pick a name for your market: "[Your City]'s Trick-or-Treatiest Street"

Let people nominate their street in the comments or through a simple form

Pick a few finalists and let your followers vote with a poll or Story sticker

Crown the winner and show up with a prize: full-size candy bars for the whole block, a pizza party, or a yard sign

Film all of it. Every step is a post: nominations, finalists, the vote, the reveal

Bonus: partner with a local candy shop or ice cream place so the prize isn't coming out of your pocket.

Why Option B wins: every nominator is a neighbor you've now interacted with.

Every finalist street has people tagging friends.

And you just built a list of the most socially active homeowners in your farm area, without sending a single "Just Listed" postcard.

You've got until October 31st, so launch it this week.

Reese's already did the hard part for you by proving people will fight over a street.

📝 [S]WIPES

Shaq got hacked by a fake house deal. Steal this wire fraud script 🏀

Shaquille O'Neal told reporters at a NordVPN event that he'd been hacked.

Scammers claimed he was buying a house and that they were working on the transaction.

His review of the hack: "not a bad hack." He also admitted he didn't know what to do.

Quick caveat before anyone sells you a VPN off this story: the reporting doesn't say how the intrusion happened or what got exposed.

The key detail is that scammers posed as people on a house deal. That's a verification problem, not a network problem. A VPN doesn't stop someone from sending your buyer fake wiring instructions.

If it can happen to a 7'1" NBA legend, it can happen to your first-time buyer or seller at closing. And if it happens on your deal, it's your name on it.

So don't wait for the scam. Set expectations before it shows up.

The Swipe
​
Subject line: Wire Fraud Warning (text or email, send at contract)

How to use it:

1. Send it the day you go under contract. Not the day before closing, when everyone's stressed and distracted.
2. Send it again 48 hours before closing. Repeat it. Scammers count on the one email your client forgot.
3. Tell your title company you're doing this. Ask them to use the same language so your client hears it twice, from two sources.
4. Give them a callback number now. Hand it over in person or on your card, not in an email that could be spoofed.

The takeaway

A warning script costs you nothing and builds trust at the exact moment clients are most nervous.

The agent who says "here's how scammers will come after you" sounds like a pro.

The agent who says nothing sounds like the one who didn't see it coming.