The house behind this fall’s whimsigoth revival was a set. Crews built the Owens family Victorian as a shell on San Juan Island in Washington for the 1998 film Practical Magic, and it existed only for the shoot. Fans have spent the 28 years since searching listings for a real one.
Whimsigoth is the aesthetic that treats that house as its reference point and has spread from fashion to Halloween decor and home staging. Few viral trends start with a house, and this one hands agents a subject they work with every day.
Whimsigoth hits a search peak ahead of Halloween
Searches for “whimsigoth” have reached an all-time high on Google, weeks after Practical Magic 2 opened at No. 1 at the box office. Architectural designer Evan Collins coined the term in 2020 to describe the moody and playful look of late ’80s and early ’90s interiors, built on velvet, jewel tones, celestial motifs, antique furniture and candlelight.
TikTok turned it into a fashion trend, and retailers including At Home and Michaels have brought it back into the home this fall with Halloween decor designed for year-round use.
The aesthetic’s main reference point is a house, the Owens family’s Victorian from the 1998 original. Inman’s Marian McPherson reported last month that stagers are borrowing the trend’s apothecary elements for listings, including jarred botanicals and olive branches, and limiting them to a few pieces per home.
Pro tip: Treat the trend as an October content theme. Shoot listing photos before any seasonal styling goes in so the images hold up if the home remains on the market in January.
For open houses and social video, add a few elements such as a velvet throw, taper candles, and herbs or branches in glass jars.
Build each video around one element, like a color palette walk-through or a single styled vignette. Buyers who follow the look will respond to bay windows, high ceilings and original woodwork, so name those features in captions for older homes.
The Owens house came down when filming ended, and seasonal styling should follow the same schedule. Whimsigoth fits agents whose markets have older homes and buyers who follow the look. For everyone else, the useful step is to understand where a trend comes from and whether it matches the brand before posting. Arriving first has little value if the trend is a poor fit.
Google’s fourth spam update of 2026 is rolling out
Google released its September 2026 spam update on Sept. 24 and said the rollout may take up to two weeks, which puts completion around Oct. 8. The update applies globally and to all languages. It is the fourth spam update Google has announced this year and follows one in August.
Spam updates are improvements to the automated systems Google uses to detect spam, including its AI-based system SpamBrain. Google did not say which tactics this update targets.
Its spam policies cover several tactics that apply to agent and brokerage websites, including pages built for individual cities that funnel visitors to one destination and blocks of text listing every city a site wants to rank for. They also cover using generative AI to produce many pages that add no value for users. Sites that violate the policies can rank lower or drop out of results, and Google says recovery can take months.
Pro tip: Check Google Search Console for traffic or ranking changes dated Sept. 24 or after, and wait until the rollout ends before drawing conclusions.
Instagram’s Reels guide puts a number on the sweet spot
Instagram published a step-by-step guide to Reels on Sept. 28. Reels can run from 3 seconds to 3 minutes, and the company calls 15-60 seconds the sweet spot for tutorials and most creative formats. Walk-throughs and detailed how-tos fit the 60-second to 3-minute range.
The guide compares on-screen text in the first frame to a headline and recommends the captions sticker for viewers who watch without sound. Instagram says location tags help a reel appear in location-based searches.
Pro tip: Keep market updates and single-feature clips under a minute, and save the longer range for listing walk-throughs. Put the neighborhood and price in the first frame, turn on captions, and tag the location.
Facebook groups get their own app
Meta said Sept. 29 that Forum, a stand-alone app for Facebook groups, is available to download in the U.S. on iOS and Android. The app syncs with a user’s existing groups and has been in testing since May.
Its Ask feature uses AI to surface posts and comments from a user’s groups and from public groups the user has not joined, including recommendations when someone is comparing options. Meta is also testing a “top voices” role that replaces contributor badges and the group expert role. Members earn it by answering questions and sharing firsthand experience, and admins grant it.
What this means for real estate professionals: Answers in public local groups can reach people who have not joined the group, because Ask pulls from public groups. The top voices role rewards answering questions and sharing firsthand experience, so agents active in local groups have a path to the badge. Agents who run groups should watch for the admin tools Meta plans to detail in the coming weeks.
Each week on Trending, Inman’s Jessi Healey dives into what’s buzzing in social media and why it matters for real estate professionals. From viral trends to platform changes, she’ll break it all down so you know what’s worth your time — and what’s not.
