Estate agents and any dress code

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Unfortunately anyone can set themselves up as an estate agent and many of the high street firms don’t have so much as one chartered surveyor - someone who has to comply with professional ethics and standards.

If you go to a reputable estate agent their senior agents are usually Chartered Surveyors and they also have their own qualifications.

Like any professional office they will also have people on lower grades, who do much of the donkey work.

We are selling our house at the moment and when doing the actual negotiations and discussions on price etc, we have dealt with the professional staff.

I think people respond to the way they are treated. if you think estate agents are sharks and treat them with contempt, you cannot expect good service.

By the way, I have never suggested that anyone should be 'buffed up to the nines', but as you are implicitly saying that dress matters. I only saying that I think that when dong business with someone who is meant to have professional status they should not look as if they have just got out of bed and not had time to get dressed.

It’s noticeable that the female GP’s attached to our surgery look far smarter than the male GP’s. No idea if that can be generalised.

Nope. Not that I care much. For me it's more about how they listen and respond. Their faces and behaviour are more important than what they're wearing.

So long as they look "respectable", which is far more subtle than "professional". Closer to what I'd call 'normal' or my equals.

Which brings me to the question: is selling houses a profession? I'd have called it a business full of sharks. So a non-shark-like estate agent employee would appeal to me more than a tin-of-polish type. I guess I'm more comfortable with "what you see is what you get" apprearances – not anything buffed up to the nines.

keepcalmandcavachon

zakouma66

Some of the most utterly unpleasant and untrustworthy people look very polished on the outside.

There are already numerous threads on politicians zakouma66

Naughty.

Germanshepherdsmum

Trouble is, before they start working for you all you have to judge by is their appearance. If I hadn’t looked the part I couldn’t have expected new clients to place their instructions with me. If you were going to spend many millions of pounds on a development site and then millions more carrying out building works, would you be happy if I turned up to meet you looking like an unkempt hippy, whereas the men competing with me would have been wearing sharp suits?

I think you’re absolutely right, particularly if the chaps all looked very smart. However looking smart and being smart are too entirely different things and sometimes we can be taken in.

In your case, I would imagine, there was even more pressure on you personally, back in the day, constantly having to prove yourself in a man’s world.

The last time I dealt with estate agents both men and women were very smartly dressed but that was 25 years ago. I don't think employees necessarily need to be buttoned up to the hilt, especially in the summer, but I quite agree they should look conventionally professional.

zakouma66

Some of the most utterly unpleasant and untrustworthy people look very polished on the outside.

There are already numerous threads on politicians zakouma66

Some of the most utterly unpleasant and untrustworthy people look very polished on the outside.

Joseann We got to the house before she did.

There’s a bit of a standing joke in our development. See a man in a suit entering a property and they are either an estate agent or an undertaker.

Our last home was marketed and quickly sold by an all female staff team. None looked scruffy, no two dressed the same. I think sometimes it’s harder for women, a suit on a man is an easy option.

It’s noticeable that the female GP’s attached to our surgery look far smarter than the male GP’s. No idea if that can be generalised.

I knew an estate agent abroad once who held the keys to properties while owners were away. She and her lover used to secretly have sex in the bedroom before a viewing so no one would suspect her visit to the house. Maybe your agent did the same, M0nica?! Hence the dishevelled look.

I agree suits are very rare these days, but male estate agents wear them. I expect female estate agents to be smartly dressed in what ever is their style. I just do not expect them to turn up for viewings looking as if they have only just rolled out of bed aand haven't bothered to get out of their crumpled nightwear.

I had a few clashes with estate agents when I was renting and did not hesitate to put them in their place. Sometimes they spoke to me as if I was a child in school rather than a valued client. I told one or two of them "you must have been sitting at the back of the class when customer service skills were being taught."

I was once in the position of being a tenant where the agent wanted to show prospective buyers around before I left. I reluctantly agreed and the agent seemed to have completely lost control of one couple. They turned up an hour before the agreed time - I had just got in from work and was eating my meal. I made them wait in the car for 30 minutes until I finished. They walked around and the male of the couple was passing remarks about my possessions. His wife was terribly embarassed. The EA made no attempt to reign him in. Eventually I said "You are here to view the property not to make remarks about my possessions." They went to look at the garden and I should then have locked the door. A few minutes later the male walked back into the house alone and began asking me questions. I told him "The viewing is over,. How dare you walk into my home. Get out." I then gave the EA an earful for not watching members of the party.

Next day I rang up and gave the boss down the banks. I told him there would be no more viewings until they agreed to a 30% rent reduction for the inconvenience. They would not agree to I deliberately made it difficult for them. They had no idea I had a mobile (early 1990s) so they would ring on the landline. I would see their number and not answer.

Another time I threw out an EA who was doing an "inspection" because she was taking photos without my permission. I snatched the phone from her and deleted all the photos. I would only allow her to photograph recent repairs. My possessions are none of her business.

I probably know more about housing law than the average lettings agent. Some of them have made dresdful blunders which would have landed the LL in a lot of trouble had I chosen to go to court. I think these people make up the rules as they go along.

No wonder they are one of the most hated professions.

Reminds me of the dirty nurse I came cross a few years ago. She was a lady in her 40’s running the clinic for a hospital consultant and his team. She sat at a desk and in front of everyone waiting to be seen. She had lank greasy hair to her shoulders, a spotty face with bright red spots and a nervous habit of sniffing. I felt sorry for her until she sat down and proceeded to pick her nose…….. and wipe the results down the front of her uniform. There was more than one of us patients feeling nauseous.

I’d do business with someone I feel comfortable with. Until very recently my job involved going into very many different types of workplaces and rarely did I encounter people in suits. In fact I don’t think I’ve seen a woman in a suit since the nineties. However I am about to start dealing with estate agents and I shall take extra special interest in how competent they are based on their clothes and complexion.

Well, that would mean I was smarmy for most of my working life.

Maybe PaperMonster considers any professional man in a suit ‘smarmy’. Does the same apply to a woman in a suit?

Why is a man in a suit 'smarmy'? I have dealt with a number of other estate agents, male and female, all looking competent and well dressed, not one was 'smarmy'

Sounds like I’d relate more to her than some smarmy bloke in a suit!

Well done Norah! The sort of outfit I would have chosen. Crumpled linen just doesn’t cut it in a professional setting. I am very pale too.

Actually I too have a very pale uninteresting face. Before blusher came into fashion, sometime late 60s/early 70s, if ever I needed to see a doctor, I would get sent for blood tests to see if I was anaemic. I perhaps should have been more precise and said the sort of pale fairly blank face most of us have when we first wake-up.

Her 'couldn't be bothered to get dressed this morning dress' was matched by her attitude, no make up and a pale uninteresting face.

I suspect her attitude was the main problem.

I expect estate agents to want to do what is expected - walk round to show me that which they presumably want to sell.

I'm exceedingly pale, likely have a very uninteresting face. I fade into any background quite easily. I'm a shy introvert. However, I open my eyes, smile, and do what is required in any situation.

She, seemingly, didn't do what is normally required by her job.

I represented my husband last week, stayed in the background until necessary for me to say my bit. Uninteresting face, silver hair, sparkly ears, navy jeans, white tshirt, black jacket with sparkly buttons, silver mules.

My husband received the bid. I met minimum standard.

The crumpled linen agent doesn't seem to meet minimum standard.

I wouldn’t class any that I have seen (and it’s purely by chance as I don’t watch The Apprentice) as looking professional. Members of the oldest profession, maybe.

Don’t forget the botoxed lips Maw