Inspiration

The Foxtons Opportunity

The appalling TV revelations about some estate agents can only help our cause.

No estate agent in the country could have failed to have been affected by the BBC’s “Whistleblower” programme screened last month, where undercover reporters with hidden recording equipment exposed the unscrupulous antics of a handful of London estate agents.

The activities of some of these agents included blatant over-valuing (surprise, surprise), with the added spice of falsely inflating the price of “comparables” to support their valuation. What a wonderful way to demonstrate your professionalism, and the great thing is that you not only get an unsaleable property – you get disgruntled clients into the bargain! Great for the reputation!

Hasn’t the penny dropped yet that there are methods that agents can use to persuade the vendor to give you the instruction at the right price, without compromising your professionalism? Then you get faster sales, fewer fall throughs, leaner staffing, greater turnover and higher profits. Amazing what a little ignorance can do. Sure, Foxtons has made a lot of money, but then so has the Mafia! You can choose to play by the rules and still make a shed-load of money in this business (despite pathetically low commission rates) or you can sink to the depths of the lowest common denominator.

Of course, the Whistleblower programme didn’t end with over-valuing. There was evidence of fictitious low offers being submitted in order to get price reductions (Time2Move). More seriously, the programme highlighted regular forgery, from landlords’ signatures (Foxtons again) to, amazingly, the creation of a fake British passport and tax documents in return for cash in order to “help” an unemployed buyer get a mortgage (Prime Time Mortgages and Property).

And, of course, there was a classic example of the good old-fashioned bent estate agent (a manager at Chard in Fulham) who suggested to a developer that he could beat his elderly client down by around £60,000 below market value in return for a cash bung of £10,000.

The examples of criminal malpractice featured in the programme are highly illegal under all sorts of existing legislation, although formal licensing of agents would be even better as it would not only raise standards and project a more professional image for the industry, but it would also be great sport watching your competitors getting closed down!

However, my main point is this. Whilst some agents may be concerned that the antics of the agents featured tarnish the industry and will not help our cause, (and believe me, this will not be the last programme featuring bad agents – the public loves this stuff) I believe the opposite could well be the case.

We know that, generally speaking, the public is pretty indifferent towards their local estate agencies, and there are only a few instances where one outstanding agency is clearly the first choice to the extent that no other agents are invited to quote. This is why I spend most of my time helping agencies create distinction – so that people actually have a reason to do business with that agent as opposed to any other in a sea of homogeny!

The TV programme provided me with a great opportunity to help my clients take a stand on the issues raised, whilst promoting their own high standards. Within 24 hours of the programme being aired, I emailed the following press release to all our estate agency clients, which I am reproducing it here so that when (not if) a similar programme is aired you can use it as a basis for your own press release.

“I was appalled to see some of the practices being used by some estate agents in London as featured on the recent Whistleblower programme (BBC1, 21st March). These included forgery, the submission of fictitious offers, underselling to favoured buyers, staff taking backhanders, and generally conning people.

In my experience, most estate agents try extremely hard to combat the image that a few rogue agents have created for the industry, and much headway has in fact been made in this regard, including the Ombudsman for Estate Agents which is now endorsed by the OFT. We are proud that we have achieved continued success in the xxx area, whilst maintaining the highest standards of courtesy, consideration and professionalism, and we receive many enquires from people who have been referred to us from delighted buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants.

Many are calling for tighter regulation, and whilst some sort of qualification system for estate agents would clearly be a good thing, the current laws, and the code of practice for NAEA members, are pretty comprehensive. All the examples illustrated in the BBC documentary blatantly breached existing laws, but you cannot legislate for personal integrity. It is my hope that agency principals seek out and employ only the most decent individuals of the highest calibre, so that our industry continues to make headway in being regarded as a real asset to those moving house.”

The Whistleblower programme has started to reveal that all estate agents are indeed NOT the same. It has raised awareness of some of the practices that could take place if the public chooses the wrong agent, thereby making it more important to choose the right agent, based not only (if at all) on valuation and fee level, but on the level of personal and professional integrity the client can expect to receive.

To put it in a nutshell, if you were to ask the public “Do you want the highest valuation, or would you prefer to be ripped off?” or “Do you want the lowest commission rate, or prefer to be lied to?” you know what they would say. This once again proves that there is a real opportunity for agents to be selected not on the cheap throw-away lines of high vals and low fees, but on communicating and demonstrating the qualities that people really seek. But they had to become aware of the dangers first. So thank you BBC, thank you Foxtons – you’ve just scared our prospects, and made it easier for the good agents to shine! Ace!

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© Richard Rawlings 2010
Richard Rawlings is the founding director of Estate Agency Insight, which specialises in helping estate agencies harness opportunity through innovative method, marketing, publicity, and training. He can be contacted at or on 0845 838 1354.

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