Local real estate company apologizes after its ad infuriates women



SNOQUALMIE RIDGE, Wash. -- A local real estate ad infuriated moms, who blasted the company on Facebook. Now, the company is apologizing.

Rachel Money opened her mailbox and saw an ad depicting the chaotic life of a mom of three next to two well-dressed men in sharp suits. And the ad asks a simple question: Part-time agent vs. full-time professionals -- who would you want to represent you?

"It's 2015 and no one would ever print anything like that," Money said. "Then I turned it over and realized it had been sent out. It was in the mail in our mailbox!"

The ad is the latest marketing tactic from Issaquah real estate duo, brothers Chase and Jeff Costello.

"I sell real estate and I'm a mom and I do both of them full-time and really well," said Katlin Lee. "And I know so many women who do the same. It felt so personal.

"It's hurtful. It feels like you work so hard and not have that respect from your peers -- these are my peers. We should be supporting each other and working together and instead it's like bashing each other."

After some serious backlash on Facebook, the Costello team issued an apology.

We "apologize for our last marketing piece and we take full responsibility for it," they said, adding, "We have the utmost respect for working mothers."

"It was so lame," Lee said.  "It was a terrible apology to say sorry we offended some people, it's like that's not accepting responsibility for the content of this hurtful mailer. that went out."

Money takes pride in being a successful single mom and says their ad was archaic.

"I do homework. I have school pictures this week and I still have a 5 a.m. board meeting and I have a 9 p.m. conference call with Taiwan tonight," Money said.

"They said that you can't manage a family and manage a career. And I think in this day and age that's just idiotic."

Meanwhile, the Costello brother are trying to put this behind them.

"I hope they learn the hard lesson, unfortunately ... I hope people don't do business with them," Money said.