Is An Honest Estate Agent Such Big News?

February 15, 2016 by Rob Kahl

Is an honest estate agent such big news?

I wrote a blog last week about a property in Westcliff that I had taken on to the market. The property was in terrible condition and was full of rubbish but the vendors were keen to sell so I had an idea for a different angle to marketing.

I was brutally honest with my description. Starting with ‘wipe your feet on the way out’ and being honest and up front about mould on the walls, piles of rubbish and even the possibility of fleas in the flat.

I had just thought to myself there isn’t any point making this property sound better than it really was and getting hundreds of people viewing it wasting their time and mine. I had to appeal directly to people that were prepared to take on the level of work required and it worked perfectly.

We had 25 viewings over 2 days, 9 offers and eventually sold it for £22,500 more than the asking price. The buyer was happy, the vendor was happy and I was happy to move on to the next one and didn’t think much more of it.

The next day I got a call from The Echo asking for an interview and some photos. There is no such thing as bad advertising apparently so I thought why not. They featured the story online and gave me a front page headline and huge article on page 3 (of all places!) highlighting the fact that I was so honest and ultimately successful in selling what was obviously a pretty grotty flat.

I thought to myself that was nice and again didn’t think much of it. The next day was completely bonkers!

The national media seemed to like the story and I spent the whole day on the phone speaking to media luvvies asking for interviews. The story was featured everywhere and it obviously hit a note with people that had had their own experiences of estate agents or buying their first properties.

So far I have been featured in The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Express, The Evening Standard and The Metro. I have done live radio interviews on BBC Radio Essex, BBC Scotland and even spoken to Adrian Chiles on BBC Radio 5 Live.

I have even had a call from Channel 4 who may be interested in a documentary about us all here at Scott & Stapleton and another national property programme!

I am sure that this will all blow over and nothing will happen with the Telly. It will be tomorrow’s fish & chip paper and I have had my 15 minutes of fame but while it lasted I must admit that I quite liked it.

The property that I was dealing with was pretty unique, I don’t often see them as bad as that and I was lucky that the vendor was in agreement of my marketing ideas and happy for me to use the grotty angle but the honest approach is going to be something that I adopt again as the feedback I have had has all been positive and people seem to really like being pre-warned about a properties condition before they visit.

That is of course if I am still here I could be hosting a prime time property programme on Channel 4 or in Hollywood interviewing George Clooney about how he is going play me in the film about my life!

This article is by Rob Kahl at Scott & Stapleton
https://www.leigh-on-sea.com/scott-stapleton.html

To read Rob's previous property articles please click https://www.leigh-on-sea.com/tag/listing/blog/property