How do Agents operate in Colombo? Are they cultured? Are they good, honest and trustworthy?
The above questions are some of the questions that come to your mind when you think of real estate agents and brokers that operate in Colombo and how you can hire the best. There are certain types of Agents which operate in Colombo. The main two categories are the full time professionals and the part time amateurs. The professionals are the ones that are advisable hiring but if they are not in a position to help you, then you are left with no choice but to seek refuge under the umbrella of the amateurs who are sometimes luckier than the pros.
The Sri Lankan mindset when it comes to agents and brokers also need to change. It’s sad to see some people who are fully occupied in their profession (not real estate) demand 50% from the agents and brokers just to mediate when the owner is abroad. Sometimes, these people are family and friends. Owners should never let family and
friends get involved in their real estate affairs. There are very few trustworthy agents and you must do your homework before you figure out who or which agent is going to represent you, after all, agents and brokers always represent someone, it is either you or the client they bring in.
Sri Lanka is going through a phase where there are too many agents in town and majority of them are there in the market purely to make a buck. There is animosity and hostility among agents too and it makes serious competition come to life. Unfortunately there is no government regulation or system of governance in the country where an agent is trained and polished before they brought into the market. Sri Lanka’s only real estate agency that trains agents in Mr. T. There is so much that agents can learn just to maximise their earning potential and be better professionals in the market.
It’s not easy to become an agent and then to be a famous broker in Sri Lanka. People look at you condescending and they think you are a couple of notches below them. Some even judge you and put you in a very different circle. The truth is that the best agents in the country are sometimes treated like poop and that is when the industry experience either the exit of a good agent or a paradigm shift in the life of that particular agent.
This indurtoces a pleasingly rational point of view.