I'm buying a $700K Austin house for ten bucks


Chris List™

If you missed Harrison Ford's recent lifetime achievement acceptance speech, you should really watch it.

This part made me think about how fortunate and blessed I am to be a part of the real estate industry...

"While we’re all at different stages of our lives and careers, we all share something fundamental. We share the privilege of working in the world of ideas, of empathy, of imagination.

And if we’re really fortunate, we also get to make a living doing it.

Success in this business brings a certain freedom that comes with the responsibility to support each other, to lift others up when we can, to keep the door open for the next kid, the next lost boy who’s looking for a place to belong.”

Thank you all for helping me feel like I belong.

Here's The Chris List...

📝 [C]ontent: $10 tickets → $700K house

🛠 [H]ow-To: Speed up your content creation process by 4x

🔬 [R]esearch: The American Dream vibe check

🎨 [I]nspiration: Zillow x World of Warcraft collab inspo

💡 [S]wipes: Send a text that mails a card

📝 [C]ONTENT

Win a $700K Austin house for the price of two breakfast tacos 🌮🏠

I entered a raffle to win a brand-new home in East Austin’s Holly District… and I’m convinced this “raffle real estate” thing is about to explode.

Here’s the play:

Texas Builders is running a sweepstakes on Raffall where a new 2 bed / 2.5 bath home is the grand prize, and tickets are $10.

The drawing is set for May 15th, 2026 (or earlier if all tickets sell).

What makes this different (and why people are paying attention) is the built-in “Plan B”.

A minimum of 135,000 entries must be received for the main prize to be awarded

If they don’t hit the minimum ticket target, the winner doesn’t get stuck with a sad trombone. Instead, the prize can convert to a cash payout based on ticket revenue.

And it’s not just the house, there’s a cause baked in.

This specific Austin raffle routes 10% of ticket sales to the Central Texas Food Bank, plus platform/hosting fees, with the rest covering the home + expenses.

The bigger story: in a market where “affordable housing” is basically a meme, this format turns homeownership into internet-native entertainment, part charity fundraiser, part Shopify checkout, part “what if my life changed on a Tuesday.”

And yes, I know: it sounds insane.

That’s why it’ll work.

Bonus: The press alone is worth giving this idea a spin. Every major news outlet in Texas and beyond has covered the raffle and

🛠 [H]OW-TO

Crank out content at lightning speed (4x faster than typing) ⚡️

If you’re a busy Realtor, the bottleneck isn’t always “ideas.”

It’s typing.

Wispr Flow (you can use that link to get a free month of pro with no cc required) is basically voice-typing that works everywhere (Docs, Gmail, ChatGPT, socials), so you can brain-dump out loud and get usable text fast.

It is literally 4x faster than typing, and increasingly, I can't live without it.

Here is how to use it to 10x your content creation efforts:

1) Set your “capture moments” (aka: steal time back)

Pick 2–3 dead zones where you normally can’t type:

  • walking a showing
  • driving between appointments (parked, obviously)
  • pacing the office before calls

This is where Wispr shines: you can talk naturally while moving and capture ideas before they evaporate.

2) Do the 60-second brain dump (don’t self-edit)

Open wherever you already write (Gmail, Notes, Google Doc, Notion, Instagram caption field) and talk:

  • “Here’s what just happened at this showing…”
  • “Three things buyers keep asking this week…”
  • “Quick myth-bust about rates / inspections / appraisals…”

Wispr is designed to work across apps, so you’re not stuck in some walled garden tool you’ll forget exists.

3) Let it auto-clean the “raw thoughts” into sendable words

A big unlock from reviews: it’s not just raw transcription.

Wispr can make the text feel appropriate to the context (casual for quick text messages, more polished for emails).

So your brain dump becomes something you can actually publish without 20 minutes of cleanup.

4) Turn one dump into a full content stack (in 10 minutes)

Use one voice session to generate:

  • 1 short video script (30–60 sec)
  • 1 carousel outline (5 slides: hook → 3 points → CTA)
  • 1 email to your list (“What we’re seeing in Austin this week…”)
  • 3 captions (same idea, different angles)

5) The Realtor-specific move: “talk it like a client asked you”

Instead of “writing content,” pretend a client just texted:

  • “Is now a bad time to buy?”
  • “Why did that house go $80k over?”
  • “What should I do before listing?”

Answer out loud for 45 seconds. That’s your post. (And it will sound like you, not generic ChatGPT sludge.)

That’s it. Dictate → proofread → post.

Repeat daily.

Bonus: Wispr Flow offers a free month of Pro with no credit card required.

🔬 [R]ESEARCH

The American Dream Is Now a 50/50 Question 🇺🇸

Pew asked Americans a pretty blunt question: Is the American Dream still possible?

The country basically shrugged down the middle.

  • 53% say it’s still possible.
  • 41% say it used to be possible, but isn’t anymore.
  • 6% say it was never possible.

Where it gets useful for Realtors: the split isn’t partisan or racial, it’s age + income.

  • 65+: 68% say the dream is still possible; 50–64: 61%.
  • Under 50: only 42% say it’s still possible.
  • Upper-income: 64% say it’s achievable vs 39% of lower-income adults.

And personally? Americans are also split on whether they can get there:

  • 31% say they’ve achieved it
  • 36% say they’re on their way
  • 30% say it’s out of reach

What this should change in your messaging

1) Stop leading with “Dream home” as your default.
For a big chunk of younger/lower-income people, “American Dream” language reads like a billboard from 1997. Lead with clarity + control: options, tradeoffs, timelines, and what’s actually possible.

2) Segment your tone by audience.

  • Older / higher-income: aspiration still lands. You can talk legacy, “next chapter,” lifestyle.
  • Younger / budget-conscious: lead with practical progress: “first step,” “starter plan,” “pathway,” “buying without perfect conditions.”

3) Replace vibes with receipts.
If belief is shaky, your job is to lower uncertainty:

  • simple “what $X/month buys today” posts
  • down payment pathways (without overpromising)
  • “3 ways we’ve helped first-time buyers win without comprimising”

4) Make your content feel like a guide, not a hype person.
The winners in this market sound like: “I’ll tell you the truth, then I’ll help you navigate it.” That’s the trust gap this data is screaming about.

Bottom line: half your audience still believes, and half feels shut out...

So your marketing can’t be one-note.

The Realtors who win in 2026 and beyond will sound less like hype and more like a calm, credible translator:

Here’s what’s real, here’s what’s possible, and here’s your next step.”

🎨 [I]NSPIRATION

Zillow just turned a video game into a “listing portal”

Zillow teamed up with World of Warcraft to launch "Zillow for Warcraft,” a microsite where fans can browse in-game homes like real listings, complete with familiar Zillow-style exploration.

It’s basically: “What if fantasy housing had an MLS?”

Why this matters (for real estate people, not just gamers):

  • They didn’t just “sponsor” something. They built a native experience that makes sense for the moment: WoW rolling out player housing is a community milestone, so Zillow showed up as “the place you browse homes,” even if those homes are in Azeroth.
  • It’s a reminder that a “listing” is a format, not a property type. Photos, tours, neighborhood vibes, “features,” saved favorites, that’s a content engine you can wrap around anything.

The Realtor takeaway: open your mind you can do this for any listing + any collab

All you need is simple “browseable experience” you can spin up with AI tools like Lovable (microsite + collection + filters + lead capture + CTA)

Here is a single property website I made for a Chicago Cubs fan.

And another one based on the Scream movie franchise that even includes a horror movie quiz.

If Zillow can build “Zillow for Warcraft,” you can build “Zillow for anything.”

Pick a listing, pick a fandom, spin up a tiny interactive experience, and let the internet do the rest.

💡 [S]WIPES

Mailing a card can be as easy as sending a text 📬

This week’s Swipe is for the people who mean to stay in touch… and then life bulldozes them.

Here’s the easiest “thoughtful” move you can make in under 60 seconds.

Step 1. Swipe this iPhone app: Escargot (for Android users, try Felt)

It’s basically “send a real card” with the speed of a text.

You pick a design, type your note, and they print + stamp + mail it for you.

The killer feature: you can send it even if you don’t have the person’s address, the recipient can securely add it on their end, so you’re not doing the awkward “what’s your address?” dance.

The designs are modern (more indie artist, less pharmacy rack), and it can even nudge you with reminders so you stop remembering birthdays at 11:47 PM.

Plus, you can even add a gift card or your own pictures to the cards, which pairs perfectly with home anniversaries.

Step 2. Then do the move: send one card today.

A thank-you to a referral partner. Congrats to a client. A “thinking of you” to someone who needs it.

Realtors: this is an easy way to feel wildly more personal than another check-in text or email.

You just became the most memorable person in someone’s mailbox (which is basically empty now, so the bar is low).

You can use
this link to get your first card for free.

Every week it feels like the job changes a little...

New tools, new expectations, new attention spans.

So The Chris List is built for one thing: helping you stay sharp without spending your whole life “keeping up.”

See you next Tuesday,

Chris Smith

p.s. If you enjoy my writing and ideas, you can also subscribe to B.I.T.S., my email newsletter for listing agents and ellavate which is all about creating hyperlocal content.

The Chris List™

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The Chris List

Chris Smith is the bestselling author of The Conversion Code. He co-founded the SaaS marketing platform Curaytor, an Inc. 500 fastest-growing business. As a C-level executive at dotloop, Chris helped lead them to their acquisition by Zillow for $108 million. The Conversion Code has become required reading for marketing courses at colleges like Johns Hopkins University, and Chris Smith is a sought-after lecturer and speaker whose credits include NYU, as well as sold out events with Gary Vaynerchuck and Hubspot, among others. His work has been featured in Adweek, Forbes, Fortune, and many other publications.

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