As I write this piece, my first bit of ‘blogging’, I sit and fear the reprisals I may attract. After all I am “one of those” an Estate Agent. One of the most despised professions, sitting snugly (or smugly depending on your view) between bankers and traffic wardens, vying for No.1 spot in some straw poll of the countries ‘most hated’. No doubt, as the housing market returns to health, we too will rise back to our rightful No.1 position!
Now I get it, after all I have been to many a conference or awards day and the thought of spending a whole day in a room full of ‘agents fills me with complete dread. The stuffy, arrogant, shiny suited (I own one) agent still exists, in abundance and they are alive and kicking. But there is a new breed emerging.. slowly I am seeing a shift, a pleasant and refreshing wind of change sweeping through the industry….
You see there are those of us who love what we do. There are those of us who love the area we work in. There are those who have our own businesses and want to be proud of what we deliver to our local community, which we are part of. Believe it or not there are those of us who take legislation seriously, train and qualify, read self-development books, take training courses, believe in proper professional marketing and ultimately put the customer first because they are the ones who entrust us to sell or Let their homes and we do not want to break that trust, ever. We are the ones who don’t change jobs and companies every five minutes, we are in it for the long haul. We are the ones that are the trusted specialists driving our industry forward and are embedded in our local community.
I fear I’m ranting a touch. But the truth is I love what I do and those that know me and my colleagues know that we do care, we do give everything and we do value our customers. You see in this day and age of super-fast internet where everything can be researched and purchased with a click of a button one thing still remains; the need for the personal touch and to have a relationship with someone you know is doing the best for you.
Why do we love it? It is in our blood and after all of the cursing, slamming down off phones, ripping our hair out chasing all parties and basically making sure everyone can complete when they want to (sometimes it feels we are the only ones driving the transactions) something wonderful happens. No it’s not getting paid – although that’s a nice side obviously but completion day comes around. We had a fair few completions this Friday just gone. One young couple in particular summed it up for me. They were so excited to be getting the keys to their first home they actually screamed and jumped down our our office steps in excitement! It was lovely to see and gives you a really ‘warm’ feeling. Couple that with their lovely comments about how helpful and great we had been (no, they really did) and then the owners e-mails of praise and thanks and you know what – we have added value, we have made the experience all the better for all parties concerned. This is what we do, this is part of why we love the job. We maybe “one of those” but we add value and when you make people happy you can sit back safe in the knowledge that these people will come back to you as their agent of choice.
This is who we are at Rice Chamberlains.This is what we do.
So you now know a little bit about me and us, I am “one of those” but you know what; I love what I do and along with other like minded folk I hope to add more value to our profession.
My first blog written and yes a tad self-publicising I must admit but please do keep a look out for further entries of a more light hearted and helpful nature. Tips on moving, selling, renting and buying all to come! Plus local market updates and perhaps the odd funny story thrown in.
See you soon
James.
see our reviews at http://www.agent-tracker.co.uk/ or follow us on Twitter @Ricechamberlain or @MosChamberlains and soon you can come visit us on Facebook.
ricechamberlainsblog.wordpress.com 
Brilliant James, get the word out and continue doing what you love.
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Thanks for taking the time to read over Chris, much appreciated and thank you for the RT’s as well 🙂
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