Does honesty benefit estate agents?

[aadenny]

I seem to remember a London estate agent called Roy Brooks was famous in the 50s and 60s for being completely honest about properties he was advertising. For example, one house was described as being 'within sight and smell of the Thames', at a time when London was just emerging from the dirty smog period). Is there any hard evidence that his honesty benefited the sellers, with better prices obtained than for other estate agents?

[kiwigavin]

I don't know about the honesty but I think a book came out last year featuring his adverts. The review of it in the Time loved it.

[Harley]

I think that if you work on the principle that estate agents are looking after their own interests then honesty can be applied to sellers or buyers and you can draw your own conclusion.

[FredPuli]

Roy Brooks was extremely successful. Whatever his sellers thought of his descriptions of them, which were usually as frank and sharp as the words on the property, his buyers loved it. Without travelling you could visualise the style of the decor and the annoying defects of the place; and easily the most annoying thing in hunting was the frequent journeys wasted because agents kept quiet or misled. Now The Estate Agents Act 1979 tries to stop abuses . The Office of Fair Trading guide is at www.oft.gov.uk/Business/Legal+Powers/Estate+Agents+Act.htm My own favourite was a house advertised (pre-Act) as " convenient for the railway", which was at least a mile and a half from the station but next door but one to the railway line, where freight trains ran all night ! I still bought it though.

[steveyk]

Estate agents and honesty??????

The one I'm dealing with at the moment is the biggest,laziest, liar in the world