An Australian property guru has taken aim at some agents in his industry who he says are putting their own egos before those of their clients.
Sydney auctioneer Tom Panos, who runs a training business for property sellers, said in a “rant” shared on his social media that some agents were acting like bankers in the years before the global financial crisis (GFC).
‘When did agents get such big egos? “Wake up call, you’re not the hero, you’re the salesman,” said Panos, known for his appearances on The Block.
Panos said agents who focused on their own profile and portfolios when selling homes were only damaging their business in the long term, comparing the behavior to bankers whose widespread irresponsible lending was the catalyst for the GFC.
“I don’t know when it happened, but at some point in the last two decades, we stopped making the hero the client, and suddenly the real estate agent decides he’s the hero of the transaction.”
Sydney auctioneer Tom Panos said estate agents who acted as if they were the star of the transaction when a client bought or sold a home were damaging their business in the long term.
Panos said he was frustrated by real estate agents who forgot they were there to provide a service to their clients.
‘You see it in the way these estate agents – not all of them and that’s what bothers me – but a small group of agents who are acting like the bankers did before the GFC.
“If you remember, the banking world before the GFC was a money trail: do what you want, sell what you want, make money, don’t worry about the customer, this will be a party that will never end.” .
‘At some point, the hero stopped being the salesperson and the real estate agent decided to be the hero, including the way they act and even the way they do their marketing.
‘On some properties, the agent promotes themselves more than the house itself and has been financed by the seller.
‘Are there any real estate trainers out there who tell people to just do what they want to do, look good, and screw everyone else?’
Panos compared the behavior of a “small cohort” of agents to that of bankers who before the GFC acted as if their industry was “party.”
Many commenters on Panos’ video agreed, both inside and outside the industry.
‘I also blame the franchise agencies who take kids off the streets, put a suit on them and play with people’s livelihoods. Churn and burn,” said one commenter.
‘It’s more about KPIs than customer well-being. They even compete with their own franchise offices for territory.
Another commenter argued that: “If they can sell your house for, say, 20,000 or 30,000 less for a quick sale, it doesn’t make much difference in their commission, but it makes a big difference for the seller to lose 30,000.”
‘Paying an agent to essentially market yourself is ridiculous. No offense to all the good agents out there,” said a third.
However, some argued that real estate agents were justified in promoting their own interests.
‘The best agents keep a lot of information about their properties to avoid screwing the buyer. What will happen when they discover that they were sold a lemon? one said.
“All the agents I know are very down to earth…yet I get complaints about the property managers,” said another.
In a striking example, a Ray White real estate agent in Brisbane was fired last year after she mocked tenants in a suburb where she worked, calling them “nobodies”.
Aimee Therese Marsh was a top-performing agent at Ray White Aspley, near Griffin in Brisbane’s north, until Tuesday, when she was fired for mocking tenants in a local Facebook group.
“They are a disgrace and they are irrelevant,” he wrote.
Half of them don’t even own a home in Griffin. They are tenants,” she added with a laughing emoji.
Her extraordinary comments were made using her professional social media page, meaning she quickly became exposed as an author.
They have since been deleted, as has their social media profile.
When another user suggested the tenants were nobody, Ms Marsh said they “probably make $50,000 a year and are envious of me.”
“I pay double their salary in taxes, or I probably pay their Centrelink salaries,” he said.
He then made another comment from his personal Facebook page: ‘Jealousy is a curse and money controls people and emotions lol.’
‘I can’t wait to sell the houses they rent hehe.’
On Tuesday, Ray White posted a statement on Facebook saying Ms. Marsh’s employment had been “terminated immediately.”
A spokesperson for Ray White told Daily Mail Australia she was fired “about an hour” after the agency’s social media team found her comments.
‘We respect and value each and every member of our community, and we have a great community of renters.
‘Aimee Marsh’s views do not align with the values of our business.
“We pride ourselves on our customer service, we have a great community of tenants and we don’t tolerate anything like this,” the company said.
