21 February, 2013

By VIVA Team

Estate agents are now more trusted than journalists

There are some professions that are just inherently heroic. Firefighters, for example, rarely get a bad rap. Nurses are a notch below doctors in the next-to-godliness stakes, and even dinner ladies receive generous portions of public adoration for the simple act of serving our children food.

Politicians, on the other hand, are more likely to be caught taking candy from said children – or at least that’s what our collective psyche tells us. The UK’s latest Ipsos MORI poll shows that politicians come bottom of the table of trust, with just one in five Brits (18 per cent) believing in them to tell the truth.

They’re joined by the usual suspects – bankers, journalists and estate agents. But this year, there is a chink of good news for that last profession. Ordinarily, the hierarchy of mistrust goes thus: politician, banker, estate agent, then journalist. This year, though, estate agents have risen above journalists, with a, ahem, massive 24 per cent of the general public able to trust what they say (bankers and journalists were tied on a lowly 21 per cent).

Now, I don’t for one second believe that the estate agents’ rise is down to any kind of improvement in their public perception. Rather, journalists have been so badly behaved in the past 12 months that their stock has fallen from its usually, well, less than lofty standards.

But this is where I plead my case, both as a journalist and somebody who works very closely with the real estate industry…

Firstly, people only know about the recent scandals in phone hacking and various other nefarious activities because other, more trustworthy journalists, reported on it.

Such transparency and self regulation is the cornerstone of the media. Without it, the industry would die. The same can be said for estate agents. If every agent acted in an underhand, dishonest manner, then we wouldn’t have estate agents. Parasites – as agents are often labelled – by their very nature consume every resource available before moving on and, more often than not, dying off.

Now, the Costa del Sol could well be said to have been host to a particularly virulent strain of parasitical agents a few years back. Times were good, credit was plentiful and industry practice was often lackadaisical. In cahoots were the journalists, happy to turn a blind eye to certain scams in return for a glitzy press junket and regular, well-paid employ.

It’s human nature to make hay while the sun shines. Politicians do it all the time, while bankers, as we know, don’t just gambol in the sun – they decide when, and for how long, the golden orb shines. Think about your own profession. There must be times when it’s tempting to cut corners, ease off in the afternoon or pull a duvet day. Everybody does it.

But lax practice in journalism and the real estate business doesn’t just mean sloppy output. It can lead to misery for consumers and clients, and can seriously derail people’s long-term plans. Which is why the general public tend to view such professions with suspicion. They are, in effect, necessary evils. But done well, and done right, they are also invaluable public services.

As are bankers and politicians, of course. But while doctors are saving lives and soothing illnesses (and topping the Ipsos MORI poll with a whopping 89 per cent of pollsters trusting in them), we get the impression that politicians are lying to protect their own interests rather than setting progressive policies, and bankers are lining their own pockets instead of protecting our assets and making us money.

But what is it about estate agents that so riles people? I would like to think, in fact I know, that the good, honest and hardworking agents are widely and rightly revered by their clients. They help make dreams come true. They help change lives. They help turn profits, transform careers, and strengthen personal relationships.

But the bad apples can infect an entire crop. Poor agents are seen to be guardians of their own interests, and nobody else’s. They will bend the truth to suit their narrative, proffer inaccurate information and generally play the ‘yes man’ to both parties, even if each party’s individual needs are poles apart.

And most people, at some point, have to deal with them. Some professions can be admired from afar. If you’re incredibly lucky, for example, you will never (or very rarely) have to deal with the police, doctors or firefighters. You can make an educated guess that they are all – to a man and a woman – trustworthy.

But sooner or later you are probably going to have to deal with an estate agent, whether sales or letting. The chances are that they will be trustworthy, conscientious and reliable. Some won’t be, of course. But in the dog-eat-dog world of real estate, most of the cowboys have slunk into the darkness. Only the good guys, by and large, remain.

Public perception, however, doesn’t work like that. The seed has been planted and opinions take a long time to change for the better. But as we have seen with journalists, bad behaviour will be picked up on. So if estate agents can continue ploughing an honest, transparent furrow for the next few years, then who knows? They might well start gaining popularity in the public affections.

It’s likely to be a long journey, though… and take that from me – a journalist.