I grew up with those warnings ringing in my ears, the more so as I approached an age to leave home and make my own life. It's been my experience that seven or eight times out of ten, they're right. I'm sure my readers can tell us whether it's been true for them, too.
The "estate agents" part has been borne out in England yet again by some very shady business practices. I know we're in America, but I'm sure the same issues crop up here from time to time: so, in the interests of helping people who may not be aware of them, here's the skinny.
One of the biggest estate agencies in the UK, Connells runs 80 chains with more than 1,200 branches. Our undercover reporter, Lucy Vallance, got a job in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in an own-brand office.
During her six weeks there in February, she found evidence that the senior branch manager favoured prospective buyers, if they were planning to take out Connells in-house services, like conveyancing or mortgages, because it made more money for the company.
. . .
Panorama also investigated the online estate agency Purplebricks, after we heard concerns it had been trying to attract sellers by overvaluing properties.
Once a customer was signed up, staff then tried to convince them to cut the asking price, earning commission if successful - a former sales negotiator told us. The whistleblower, who worked for the company between June and October 2024, also filmed online meetings for Panorama.
There's more at the link, including details of how the companies manipulated both sellers and buyers.
I recommend reading the whole article, because it exposes much of what goes on behind the scenes at large estate agent businesses. I'm certain much the same things happen in this country, even though the legal system might call them by different names. With so much money to be made out of even a single transaction, it's not surprising that agents with . . . er . . . more relaxed moral and ethical standards (to coin a phrase) might reach for every advantage they can, even if that's at their clients' expense.
You won't be surprised to find out that the agencies under investigation "signed up to the Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents which says: 'You should provide a service to both buyers and sellers consistent with fairness, integrity and best practice'." Funny how those "Codes of Practice" tend to be honored more in the breach than in the observance, isn't it?
Let me hasten to add that I'm sure there are, indeed, honest and ethical estate agents out there. I number a couple of them among my friends. It's just hard to find them without looking very carefully.
Peter
4 comments:
Having spent most of my 37 year career as a computer programmer working for consultimg companies, I can assure you that such companies recruit their sales and management staff from those who lack the basic morality to be pimps. I've been tossed from interviews with prospective clients because the marketing rep lied.
The best one however was when I worked on a project that was under staffed, so we routinely worked 60 hour weeks. Our consulting company manager and client project leader were the same person. We got paid overtime (straight time), but I later found our the company billed the client time-and-a-half for overtime, and the manager got a bonus based on our overtime which is why he didn't bring in more staff which he could have as project leader.
Mark D
I have a brother and 2 brothers-in-law involved in real estate (one a former used car salesman, go figure) and I wouldn't trust any of them with a shiny copper penny.
I was in the vehicle repair industry in one form or another for my entire adult life. I knew an honest used car salesman once.
Once.
I've spent most of my life working on commission, many years selling cars/trucks,utility trailers, and made a living while not lying to customers. Lying by omission? Quilty; do your own damn homework! The most difficult car sale is to people who, themselves, aren't lying. So rare, it is hard to recognize. Did the others in the business lie. Certainly, though not as much as the public believes.
To all the doubters out there, your opinion may matter; just not to me.
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