Estate agents in the eyes of the youth

2017-12-12

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Estate Agents Ordinance and the establishment of the Estate Agents Authority (“EAA”), the EAA organised its first micro movie competition for post-secondary students in 2017. The competition was smoothly run, with results announced and awards presented during the EAA’s 20th Anniversary cocktail reception held last month.

I was deeply impressed after watching these micro movies, which depicted the ideal estate agent in the eyes of the younger generation. In the winning micro movie, “Warm Place”, the young estate agent who has just entered the industry said to an old lady client: “Madam, it is more important for me to help people finding their right apartment than making money.” This reflects the youngsters’ belief that estate agents should have a sense of mission. The estate agent in “The Real Estate Freshman”, the micro movie awarded the first runner-up, helped the underprivileged in society by persuading a landlord to put aside his prejudice and rent his flat to a poor single-parent family. There was also another micro movie in which the estate agent played an important role in the growth of the leading character and accompanied her through different stages of her life as a friend. From these micro movies, I can see young peoples’ expectations of professional estate agents, and that is, they must have a sense of mission, be honest and reliable, and at the same time have aspiration in their work and be able to help their clients find their dream home through providing excellent service, and so on.

In addition, there is also a micro movie about using online property portals, which are quite common nowadays. A father and his son tried to search for a property and complete the transaction through an online property portal, which resulted in almost a loss. This story brought out the potential risks that consumers may face in a property transaction without the assistance of a licensed estate agent.

Four EAA members who are experienced industry practitioners were invited to be coaches for the competition. Their valuable advice deepened the finalists’ understanding of the practice of the estate agency trade and helped them produce their micro movies successfully.

In fact, as a middleman, estate agents take up a crucial role in property transactions. I hope that the professionalism and service standards of estate agents will be further enhanced and the goal of achieving “best practice” proactively pursued. That way, more consumers can share the same feelings as the old lady in the second-runner up micro movie, who said to the helpful estate agent: “Thank God that I found the right person!”

Anyone interested may visit the EAA’s YouTube channel by clicking this link to view the awarded micro movies. (Note: all micro movies are only available in Cantonese.)

Ruby Hon
Chief Executive Officer
Estate Agents Authority