Why Don`t People Trust Estate Agents?

Date Published 02 March 2026

It's a strange feeling to be in a job where you can assume that only one in three people trust you!

The latest Ipsos Veracity Index reveals that when asked if they thought various professions tell them the truth, only 32% of respondents said they trusted estate agents.

You can view the full survey by clicking here.

Having said that, we've actually gone up a few places as quite a few other jobs come off far worse - among them are journalists (26%), politicians (9%) and bottom of the lot are social media influencers with only 6% of people believing what they say...

Still, it's not much of a consolation and the worst part is that it's all based on an outdated stereotype image of who we are and what we do.

Truth and dare

Things have got better in our industry. For one thing, certain laws are now in place that make it far more difficult for a dodgy agent to make misrepresentations in advertising and marketing materials.

Also, you'll often find that a good estate agent will give you a valuation for your property's market price that could be lower than you expected. Only those who are desperate for your business or simply don't know their local market will knowingly inflate an asking price.

It stands to reason really - overpriced properties don't sell, especially when there are record numbers of other homes crowding the market. So there's little point in telling a seller they can achieve an unrealistic figure and then try and persuade them to drop the price months down the road.

So honesty is always the best policy.

Changing perceptions

When I started the business I set out to change the way people thought about estate agents by breaking away from old stereotypes.

One thing we did right away was ditch all the old outdated jargon, "we are proud to bring to market this exceptional residence" and all of that.

Treating everyone as an individual and not trying to fit them into our own check-box way of doing things was another. It is such a surprise that this still happens, especially in the larger chains and the smaller brand names that are owned by them.

A friendly approach doesn't mean a lack of professionalism either - we enjoy our work, so why shouldn't we be happy and have a certain level of informality too? The bottom line is that to be a good estate agent you have to be a 'people person'.

Mostly though, the way I achieved my business aims was to make sure everyone who worked for me shared my values.

Trust matters

I trust every single one of the team that works at Matthew Anthony incorporating Stafford Johnson. The reason is simple because I hand-picked each and every one of them.

This goes much further than purely having full confidence in their skills, experience, knowledge and professionalism. Most importantly I trust them all to be honest and do the right thing. These are the foundations that every successful local estate agent should be built on.

If you'd like to know more call 01903 501 105, email us or pop into our office at 325-329 Goring Road BN12 4NX and let us tell you in person.

Matthew Cohen
FNAEA, FARLA, AssocRICS, DEA
Managing Director