An overwhelming 91 per cent of the public have given their backing to the service of estate agents in a poll conducted by Agents Giving.
The vast majority, 91 per cent, of home owners describe their experience with estate agents as excellent', good' or average' in the poll of 822 people conducted in November and December.
Only nine per cent had a poor' or very poor' experience. Some 23 per cent of respondents said they believed agents acted in their own best interest - although this did not preclude giving good service.
The survey revealed that the prickly subject of commission charged by agents is also misconceived. Some 21 per cent of respondents believed agent commission to be 5.0 per cent when in fact it is on average 1.8 per cent, says Agents Giving.
When it comes to charitable giving, 92 per cent of people surveyed believed that agents donated less than £10m in 2013, where in reality the amount donated was over £13m. On average, people believed agents donated only £3.7m to charity in that year.
Estate agents are pivotal figures in one of the most emotional and stressful times in a person's life, moving house, so they are bound to come in for some stick. But it's really encouraging to see that the public's personal experience seems to be more positive than we are led to believe says Peter Knight, chairman of Agents Giving.
It's not an easy job requiring a broad range of skills and as with all industries the bad' agents are the minority. In 2013 agents also gave over £13mto charity which is an amazing feat and a reflection of their close work with local communities he says.
Every Friday Estate Agent Today has a page dedicated to the latest charitable efforts of those in our industry. To publicise your own good deeds, get in touch on press@estateagenttoday.co.uk.
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Comments
"Amazing" it certainly is! It's the current buzzword; young people use it all the time, as do sports persons and media people. The survey unfortunately is rather meaningless and will be forgotten about by....................................zzzzzzzzzzzzz
What tosh!. - 'excellent, good or average in the poll of 822
This so called 'survey' tells us absolutely nothing - as do most
Unfortunately, a lot of agents could do a lot more to differentiate themselves from the many new emerging budget models.
Tech is changing and many small agents could help themselves by embracing change in still a traditional way that budgets can't.
Good points. We're on roughly the same page for once, what's going on :)
I feel maybe negative stereotypes have hatched from the antics of aggressive city agents and agents from the big chains like Connells, Martin & Co and Andrews (will I get in trouble for naming names).
The smaller independents are always less likely to offer poor service as they depend solely on their reputation. Large chains can rely on there familiarity and numbers of boards spread throughout the towns and cities of our country to keep people coming back.
I think people often see the big chains as a 'safe option', after all if so many people still use them and they have the most boards/offices, they must be good right
Well I was pleased to see some positive PR about estate agents, perhaps I'm too naive
Great news! We're not all as bad as the media would have you believe. Also, on a local level, the public perception of agents is often much better than most people realise. This whole greedy, lazy, in it for themselves stereotype has been whipped up in the last ten or so years, but more often than not it's not the case.
No, 91% of the public do not back agents. 91% from this survey by Agents Giving back estate agents. Even then, as AlgarveInvestor points out below, some of those 91% said their experience had been average - I wouldn't say that was backing, would you
That's the issues with surveys like this, they never really tell you much because the samples are too small. If the samples are too small, it can't be representative. If you asked another 822 people, they might have a different view.
The title is also a bit misleading - of that 91% some said their experience had been average, which isn't exactly a glowing recommendation.
I always take these surveys, good or bad, with a pinch of salt. Like any profession, there are some very good estate agents, some very bad ones, most are somewhere in-between. I've dealt with all kinds of agents at some point.
Hang on, what happened to 70% of buyers and sellers having a bad experience with agents Give me a few minutes and i'll find that article that was posted on THIS SITE just a few weeks back!