The estate agent is the most maligned person in business. Why should this be? To find the reason we must examine who the estate agent really is and what function he performs.

At creation our planet was formed of part land and part water. The land was there to sustain life – human, animal and vegetable and once humans settled on pieces of land and demarcated them as their own, to live on, build on, feed off of and build shelter on; it became their “property” or “real estate”.

The Estate Agent was born purely out of a business need…

In ancient times land was coveted by the various tribes as by taking a portion of it and fencing it off; it could be defended against other tribes and by building shelters on it they could protect themselves from the elements. So, in an elementary way, the whole idea of “owning” a piece of real estate was born but it was protected by force and not by legal right.

However, as people multiplied and civilisation progressed there was a need to legalise the ownership of land being occupied, and the buildings thereon, to supercede the “might is right” situation. The Romans were probably the first nation to put into practice the legal transfer of real estate from one person to another and Title Deeds were created to specify ownership. The purchase and sale of the individual plots were initially probably effected by lawyers but as the weight of transactions grew it became impossible for the lawyers to cope and hence a sort of middleman was needed to assist in the transactions and The Estate Agent was Born purely out of a business need.

He was not yet a true professional and his function was probably to run around and identify properties for sale, procure buyers and get some sort of offer and acceptance form signed by the parties and then give this to the lawyers who would effect transfer.  With there being no controlling body, this must have led to a lot of shady dealing with various agents charging big commissions for their work. The “Industry” was wide open to abuse and the estate agent started to get a bad name in the eyes of the public.

The estate agent facilitates the transfer of the most important commodity on earth – earth itself…

Nevertheless, the estate agent was performing a vital and necessary function and, this is the important thing, facilitating the transfer of the most important commodity on earth – earth itself – from one person to another. Why is it so important? Because land is finite and the world population is ever increasing, so with each passing day we get further to the point where there will be no more land to live on. Hence, like any finite resource, it gets scarcer and therefore more valuable.

This is where the estate agent’s function becomes paramount and the responsibility almost infinite. Because of an ever decreasing product and increasing value, a real professional is now necessary to perform the function of transacting property and the “bad old days” are now gone for good. However, it will be some time before this professionalism is implanted in the public’s mind as, usually, bad things stick in the memory. The more the modern qualified estate agent exudes this professionalism combined with totally ethical conduct, the sooner he will be accepted by the public as an essential and esteemed part of the business system.

This essay was written by the late Ian Scott, who was estate agent at Engel & Völkers Knysna.