What Does An Estate Agent Mean By `Honesty`?

Date Published 08 July 2024

It seems strange that any kind of business would feel the need to tell you that they are 'honest'. Likewise, making a selling point of being 'transparent' might appear to be unnecessary because both are attributes we would simply expect from a company offering a professional service.

Estate agents often use both these words in their own marketing. In part, it stems from a past where our profession had some bad apples that gave it a bad reputation. Thankfully today things are very different.

However, we believe it is important to stress that we act in an honest way, because it goes far further than simply meaning we are above board in our business dealings.

Friendly honesty

There's an old adage about a friend being the only person who can tell you something.

There are always going to be subjects that you might not want to hear about but are really in your own interests to know. When it comes to selling and buying property this can definitely be the case and that's where an honest estate agent comes in.

Even though the industry has cleaned up its act, there are still agents who need your business and might tell you want you want to hear in order to get it.

For instance, if you have your home valued by three different agents you may well get three prices that vary significantly.

One reason might be the agent really doesn't know the area well, another might be they tell you an unreasonably high value to get your business.

An honest agent will give you an accurate valuation based on local market conditions at that time.

Best offer

You might wonder why any this really matters. Why not go on the market high and see what happens?

The fact is that if a property is priced too high it won't get any offers and then need to be re-marketed at a reduced value. Potential buyers then see this as a 'stale' property and it takes significantly longer to attract acceptable offers at a rate much lower than initially promised.

So it stands to reason that a good estate agent knows it's in everyone's best interests to give an honest valuation right at the start.

Likewise, there may be some problems that need to be brought to the seller's attention that can easily be addressed. Let's face it, no one likes to be told their home is a bit dated, or untidy, or in need of a little redecoration.

We know that if you take an honest approach and speak about these things it can help the seller achieve a better price, often with very little outlay. It's just another example of honesty really being the best policy.

Trust

You need to trust someone who is selling your home for you. Trust is built on honesty. That's why we're happy to tell you that we have an honest approach, because it doesn't reflect badly on other agents, it simply means we really do things our own way.

It's an approach that seems to work - we've been helping people sell and buy homes in and around Worthing for more than a quarter of a century.

If you'd like to know more get in touch today - call 01903 501105, email us or pop in to visit us - our office is at 325 Goring Road, Goring by Sea BN12 4NX.