Date Published 23 August 2022
The word 'honesty' encompasses a range of qualities that companies look for in a business.
To be honest means you take pride in the work you do, you believe in the service you provide and you don't try to be something you're not.
This also means not telling people only what they want to hear - especially when it comes to valuing your home.
Overvaluing properties to get them on the market is a low-skill, unethical and yet highly-effective method. It preys on people's understandable desire to get the very best price for their home: it makes them question – and even be annoyed by – lower and more accurate valuations.
An overvaluation can make a seller put aside every concern they have about an agent's professionalism, marketing, personality and service. If the figure they are quoted is sufficiently high, it can leave them feeling that any downsides will be worth the eventual financial reward.
Unfortunately, that's not usually how things turn out. More often than not, the sellers who were misled go from being relaxed and having plenty of time to move, to being desperate to sell and racing against the clock.
Once you've listed your property with the nice valuer, that will be the last you see or hear of them. Now you'll be handed over to the sales team in the branch who will be skilled in slowly managing you down on your price, but in a way that leaves you feeling as though they've been on your side all along and trying their best for you...cunning isn't it?
The idea is simple: to keep you long enough for your move to become more urgent. By tying you to a long-term contract of at least 3 months, the agent enshrines their chance to market your property at its reduced and realistic price, leaving you blissfully unaware that there was never a plan to achieve the figure you were originally quoted.
No wonder people despise estate agents.
We firmly believe it's better to lose an instruction for being honest than gain one just to meet a sales target.
For a blisteringly honest conversation about your home, talk to our qualified and regulated team.
You'll be glad you did.
