List a property today with any kind of celebrity connection and chances are I will get spectacular, often global, media attention. I see this all the time:  speak to the media about a unique or important real estate component and they are barely interested, if at all. Mention a big and not so big name and they are on it! Enthralled!

Are we all suckers for celebrity, even the most stretched variation of celebrity? It simply amazes me how much we focus on, forgive, pretend not to notice, justify, etc the behaviors of those we are so familiar with, even though that familiarity is born out of an often highly sanitized and structured image. So many celebrities, of all stripes, seem to get a pass for some really, really rotten behavior. We see this in real estate too where some have been elevated to celebrity status of sorts, even though on world standards it's questionable. Some of our real estate celebrities have demonstrated truly awful behaviors (being photographed in front of piles of cash akin to a drug dealer?), and yet they are the ones most featured, rewarded, quoted and sought out for their vast intelligence by almost everyone.

These days almost anyone can become celebrated merely by being outrageous, insulting, scandalous, criminal, pornographic, repetitive, etc. Mike Tyson attracted over 60 million viewers recently.... after being jailed for rape a few years ago. Those who managed to see it witnessed eight rounds of Jake Paul appearing to take it easy to avoid embarrassing the 58-year old former heavyweight champion. Fake Boxing too? Martha Stewart is much more famous now than before she went to jail for insider trading. Her celebrated Sports Illustrated cover never mentioned that the company that owns Martha Stewart also owns the magazine. Theresa Giudice too. After her jail stint for fraud and deportation of her husband, an entire show was dedicated to her next marriage.  Anna Sorokin - the 'fake heiress' and other individuals land on 'Dancing with the Stars'. I don't blame them, they need to make a buck and some more desperately than others. I guess we all believe in second chances? So who is more to blame for this:  the perpetrators, or us, the enablers?

Blind loyalty to celebrity, or worse, servitude, decays a society, not to mention the soul. It can also decay a profession. Yes, that 'name' does attract thousands or millions of clicks, likes, views but be careful as even long term trends can shift.