ERA agents reminded to be careful in choice of words in written communication

Real estate firm ERA has reminded its property agents to be careful in their choice of words when it comes to written communication.

In an email to its more than 3,000 agents on Tuesday, ERA’s associate director of Asia Pacific, Eugene Lim, said agents have a responsibility to communicate the latest property market information to customers.

But agents are not to “twist the information and use them as scare tactics on customers”.

The email added that agents should “never use overly strong words like the market is going to crash”.

This follows a story carried by MediaCorp on May 31 that some agents are employing “scare tactics” to close deals.

Emails forwarded to MediaCorp earlier, detailed how some agents are using the government’s recent land sales as a bargaining tool to lower client expectations of property prices.

One agent disclosed that a deal was closed after telling the client that the “market is going to crash”.

ERA said it has investigated the alleged complaint.

It found that the transaction was sealed at market price, fully supported by a bank valuation.

The property firm added that no scare tactics were involved.

As such, no disciplinary action will be taken against the agent.

Source: Channel News Asia, 3 Jun 2010