{"id":12892,"date":"2026-02-19T13:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/?p=12892"},"modified":"2026-02-19T13:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:51:12","slug":"the-trust-problem-in-estate-agency-and-how-to-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/the-trust-problem-in-estate-agency-and-how-to-fix-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trust Problem in Estate Agency \u2013 And How to Fix it"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no getting away from it. Estate agents don\u2019t fare very well in the league table of trusted professions.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

In a recent survey*, nurses were the most trusted professionals. 92% of people said they would trust them.<\/p>\n

Fair play to the nurses.<\/p>\n

Estate agents came in the bottom ten. 32% of people said they would trust them.<\/p>\n

We still outperformed politicians (9%) and social media influencers (6%). But to be honest, that\u2019s a low bar.<\/p>\n

Why on earth do estate agents rate so poorly?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve heard it said, more than a few times, that estate agency is like the wild west, that it has more cowboys than a free cowboy convention in Texas.<\/p>\n

But today, things couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n

Estate agency is more regulated than ever. But we\u2019d still like to see higher entry levels in place.<\/p>\n

The laws estate agents have to abide by are as long as your arm. Additionally, there are numerous codes of practice, guidelines, and ethical standards.<\/p>\n

(We like it that way, actually.)<\/p>\n

And then there are professional organisations \u2013 like the Ethical Agent Network, which we\u2019re proud members of \u2013 that keep standards sky-high. We have to pass strict tests and stand by our promises to keep our membership.<\/p>\n

Cowboy estate agents (or cowgirl estate agents for that matter) don\u2019t last long.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

They soon get run out of town.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s greater transparency in estate agency than ever before.<\/p>\n

You can thank the Internet for that. Social media and online reviews, like those on Google, make it easy for sellers \u2013 and buyers \u2013 to spot the good from the bad and the ugly.<\/p>\n

(Feel free to check out our Google reviews by the way.)<\/p>\n

But we have to be honest. Not all estate agents are equal.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re selling your home, you are entitled to be sceptical and to demand the best.<\/p>\n

As local independent agents, we think that stands us in good stead.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t promise what we can\u2019t deliver. We\u2019ll strive to give you a realistic market valuation of your home and an appraisal of its saleability.<\/p>\n

We have clear, fair sales contracts with no hidden catches. And we have transparent fees.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not just about getting the sale. We genuinely love helping people with their moving plans, whether they are sellers or buyers. We also treat landlords and tenants with respect and honesty.<\/p>\n

We strive to support our community whenever we can.<\/p>\n

And, we\u2019re very proud to say, that we have many customers who recommend us. They refer us to their family, friends, and friends of friends.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t get that by being a rootin\u2019 tootin\u2019 here-today-gone-tomorrow caballero (keeping up the Wild West them there.)<\/p>\n

Of course, if you still don\u2019t trust estate agents, you could always pop down to your local A&E. and ask the duty nurse to come round and do you a valuation (at least they should be trustworthy but maybe not accurate).<\/p>\n

We hope that\u2019s reassured you. And that, if you\u2019re thinking of selling your home or renting your property out, you\u2019ll give us a chance to explain why we\u2019re the people you can trust.<\/p>\n

Estate Agency Done Ethically<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

We are proud members of the Ethical Agent Network (EAN).<\/p>\n

A national group of independent agents who have been independently tested to ensure we meet strict standards of honesty, service, professionalism and community care.<\/p>\n

To learn more about what we do and why we earned the EAN and are the only local agency in the network, contact us today.<\/p>\n

* Source: https:\/\/www.ipsos.com\/en-uk\/ipsos-veracity-index-2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no getting away from it. Estate agents don\u2019t fare very well in the league table of trusted professions. In a recent survey*, nurses were the most trusted professionals. 92% of people said they would trust them. Fair play to the nurses. Estate agents came in the bottom ten. 32% of people said they would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[8,25],"class_list":["post-12892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moving-home-advice-and-guidance","category-personal-advice-from-our-team","tag-advice","tag-jerry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12894,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12892\/revisions\/12894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}