Women like to have gay friends because they listen and the
husbands and boyfriends don’t. We listen and that’s one
thing I think gay people do - listen and we’re there to offer
our opinion...
JH: How would you describe your business?
JR: I would say we’re honest. Anyone who is not
honest in my business is given the boot straight
away. It’s one of my whole building blocks and how
we’ve built up over the years. We say it like it is.
Now landlords don’t often like to hear it or property
owners when you’re telling them something and we
have lost customers through it, but then I sleep at
night. It’s full of wankers that are just trying to rip
you off and won’t give you that service. I won’t hold
back on that. You should be able to trust them.
We say, “this is what is going to happen, this
is what we can get for you, this is realistic, this is if
you want to sell it in a reasonable time and
exchange, but someone is going to come in here and
over price it massively and you’re going to go,
‘really?’” Sometimes that works and sometimes it
doesn’t. It’s their biggest investment in life and they
want the biggest amount of money they can get from
it because it’s their livelihood and their retirement. I
believe in being honest. I know estate agents aren’t
honest, that reputation is deservedly so. Outlet’s
vision is to rewrite the book about estate agents.
JH: Are there special tips to get a house to
move quickly?
JR: That’s one of the things we specialise in, we say,
“this is our advice,” - being gay men, “this is how we
can dress it!”
We have dress over crews. People have no idea, that
you walk into a house and they just see a bomb site.
People are very very busy, they are very time poor
and their brain is not thinking about how that could
be really nice, so we buy a few things, it sounds
ridiculous but we buy a few candles, buy throws and
buy cushions…
JH: So those sales tactics still exist?
JR: Absolutely….
44 THEGAYUK | ISSUE 16 | NOV 2015
JH: Painting it yellow? Daffodils? Fresh
coffee on the boil?
JR: You don’t paint walls yellow. They cause more
arguments. That’s a little tip from me.
JH: There was a time in the nineties where
that was the advice…
JR: It’s supposed to be happy and sunshine, but it
actually causes arguments, when rooms are painted
yellow. You can have feature walls. There are all
little tricks.
JH: Do you think that being gay can help you
in business? Is there an added advantage of
being a gay estate agent?
JR: I think the LGBT community in the UK is very
independent than say America. Where in America
they support LGBT companies and go to them
because you have similar values and everything else.
People who are here, who are gay … it’s “normal”
especially London. Obviously there are still hate
crimes still going on but it’s much more acceptable,
you can live your life. You don’t have to necessarily
go to gay bars anymore, you don’t need to go to gay
enclaves in Soho or Vauxhall; you can just generally
live your life. Which is fantastic, but saying that, I do
think there is an advantage to being a gay company.
(We) are coming from a history where you should
have similarities – we as an estate agent are far
softer in our approach and we listen more. I think
gay people are quite good at listening.
Women like to have gay friends because they
listen and the husbands and boyfriends don’t. We
listen and that’s one thing I think gay people do listen and we’re there to offer our opinion – right or
wrong it’s really nice to have someone listen, when it
comes to my lot I can see them listening to mad
people sometimes; but they’re listening, they’re
taking it all in.
There’s a lot of heartache in London,
especially in moving homes, it’s very stressful it’s a