Hot Summer Reads

The summer holiday is a time for catching up with family. It’s also a time for mountain biking, trail running, kayaking and hiking in the bush.
But relaxing and reading is also an important part of the summer.

As well as the usual quota of junk novels and inspiring autobiographies, this summer we thought we would read the real estate agent’s authority code of conduct.
 
And what a rip-roaring yarn it turned out to be. A kind of “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Jane Austen” remix. It was probably the combination of hot sun and a beer too many. It didn’t take very long to discover that this read certainly fell under the heading of fiction. But what type of fiction? Historical? Romantic? or even Comedic?
Is there such a genre as tragi-comedic?
 
As any good work of fiction does, this document mixes a blend of reality and fantasy. In parts it is just barely believable that it could reflect reality. Then it brings it back to earth by emphasising that it really is a work of fiction.
 
As we reflected on 2015, and the number of times we had seen the “Professional Conduct and Client Care Rules” flouted over the last 12 months, we pondered some of the actions that could potentially be taken by the industry to raise the standard of conduct, and ultimately the way the industry is viewed.
 
As a buyer and seller of industrial real estate, and a landlord of industrial real estate, every year we pay substantial commissions to real estate agencies. We are happy to, as a customer, pay for services we receive. But very often we see conflict and anomalies in the way the industry is structured.
 
When listing a property for sale or lease, we are asked to sign a form which outlines in great detail what we must do, how we must and must not do it, and what we must pay and how. The agent (or agency) is entrusted with marketing and selling and leasing our property, yet nowhere does the agreement outline what the agent will do as part of that bundle of tasks. And nowhere does the agreement detail how the commission we will potentially pay be split between listing agent, selling agent, and agency. Yet we are constantly drawn into the mire of this web.
 
Perhaps it is time for the industry, and particularly real estate companies, to take a hard look at the way agent’s rewards are structured?