What is for sale, the house or agent?

SCROLL through TikTok or Instagram and you might be forgiven for wondering whether some real estate professionals are selling houses or themselves. Morning workouts, designer outfits, carefully choreographed entrances, luxury vehicles, and glimpses of glamorous lifestyles dominate the screen. Somewhere between the gym session and lunch, a property eventually makes an appearance. It is clever marketing. But, it raises an uncomfortable question: When the agent becomes the attraction, what exactly is being sold? Real estate has always depended on personality. Confidence, charm and appearance help establish relationships. Nobody expects an agent to arrive at a million-dollar viewing looking as though they have just finished clearing a construction site. Yet there is a difference between presenting oneself professionally and turning physical appeal into a commercial strategy. That distinction becomes important when the people watching have little intention of buying property. The business of being seen Social media has transformed property marketing. Agents are encouraged to build audiences around their personalities, relationships and lifestyles. The house becomes part of a larger performance about ambition, success and desirability. There is commercial logic behind this. People connect with personalities, and familiarity can establish trust long before somebody needs to purchase a home. But popularity and professionalism are not interchangeable. An attractive agent might generate thousands of views. A carefully filmed workout might attract more engagement than an entire property presentation. Tight clothing, flattering camera angles and suggestive content may increase attention without producing a single serious enquiry. None of this makes an agent unprofessional. People are entitled to dress as they please and promote themselves creatively. Nor does fashionable clothing constitute an invitation for unwanted personal attention. The difficulty begins when professional visibility becomes confused with personal availability. A million views might make someone famous. They do not necessarily produce a single qualified buyer. When the enquiry is not about property Behind the polished videos lies a profession that can expose people to considerable vulnerability. Agents meet strangers, sometimes alone, inside vacant houses or on isolated parcels of land. They share telephone numbers, travel considerable distances and arrange appointments with individuals whose intentions may be difficult to establish. Most encounters are entirely legitimate. Others raise uncomfortable questions. Female professionals within Jamaica’s real estate industry have privately described receiving unsolicited sexually explicit photographs and dealing with enquiries that appeared to have little to do with purchasing property. There have also been accounts of proposed land viewings becoming questionable when agents requested identification, financial information or further details about the supposed transaction. These experiences should not be exaggerated into claims about the entire industry. Nor does an abandoned appointment establish that somebody intended harm. Nevertheless, they reveal a professional vulnerability worth confronting. How does an agent distinguish between someone genuinely interested in a property and someone simply seeking an opportunity to meet privately? And what happens when the distinction becomes clear only after the agent has arrived?   Sometimes, people simply want company Not every unusual enquiry is threatening. Some encounters reveal something more human. Within real estate, there are occasions when older property owners appear more interested in conversation than the business originally discussed. An appointment becomes an invitation to share refreshments, enjoy a meal or simply stay a little longer. Some already have their properties advertised elsewhere. Others telephone repeatedly, apparently seeking companionship rather than professional advice. There is nothing inherently sinister about loneliness. Jamaica’s tradition of hospitality can make such encounters particularly warm. But they reveal an important reality: A property enquiry is not always exclusively about property. Sometimes the person wants advice. Sometimes they want company. Sometimes they may want considerably more. Recognising the difference requires professional judgement, compassion and clear boundaries.   The price of saying no Perhaps the most difficult issue concerns money and influence. Real estate is a relationship-driven industry. Access to wealthy property owners, investors and developers can transform a professional’s career. A single connection may lead to substantial commissions and years of business. But what happens when commercial opportunity becomes entangled with unwanted personal attention? Consider a hypothetical situation in which an agent is offered access to a valuable portfolio. During the relationship, the person controlling that opportunity makes an unwanted advance. The agent declines, and the anticipated business disappears. Was the refusal responsible? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Without evidence, no such conclusion can responsibly be drawn. Yet the uncertainty itself illustrates the problem. Nobody should have to wonder whether maintaining professional boundaries has cost them their livelihood. There is also a double standard worth examining. When a woman receives unwanted attention from an influential man, society increasingly recognises the possibility of harassment or coercion. When a man rejects similar attention from a powerful woman, his refusal may instead be dismissed as foolish. Neither response is acceptable. Consent is not reserved for one gender. Equally, women who achieve commercial success should never be presumed to have compromised themselves to get there. The issue is not whether consensual relationships develop within business circles. They inevitably do. The issue is whether power and financial dependence can make supposedly voluntary choices less voluntary than they appear.   What the evidence tells us These concerns extend beyond personal observation. A 2025 industry survey commissioned by American property company Redfin and conducted by Ipsos questioned 500 real estate agents across 46 US states. It found that 22.4 per cent reported experiencing sexism within the industry. Among women, the figure reached 34.5 per cent, compared with 8.9 per cent of men. The findings do not establish the prevalence of sexual harassment in Jamaica, and they do not demonstrate that appearance-driven social media marketing causes misconduct. They do, however, reinforce the importance of examining unequal treatment within real estate. Closer to home, Jamaica has taken steps to strengthen legal protections. In June 2026, Culture and Gender Minister Olivia Grange told Parliament that the country’s Sexual Harassment Tribunal was fully operational. The tribunal had received 21 complaints during the reporting period she identified, with 62 per cent resolved and closed. These are national figures, not statistics specifically concerning real estate. Nevertheless, they confirm that complaints of sexual harassment are being addressed through an established legal mechanism. Jamaica’s Sexual Harassment (Protection and Prevention) Act, 2021 also places responsibilities on employers and institutions covered by the legislation to prevent and address harassment. Such protections matter in industries where work frequently involves private appointments, uncertain income and considerable dependence on professional relationships.   Whose interests are being promoted? There is another important consideration: The property owner. Jamaica’s Real Estate (Dealers and Developers) Code of Ethics Regulations, 1998 requires property advertising to promote the client’s interests and accurately represent the property. The Real Estate Board also emphasises professional integrity, accurate advertising and conduct that protects the reputation of the profession. None of this prohibits an agent from becoming a social media personality, nor should appearance alone be treated as evidence of improper practice. But it raises a legitimate commercial question. If the marketing overwhelmingly promotes the agent’s appearance, lifestyle or personal popularity, how effectively is it serving the person who entrusted that agent with selling a property? The answer lies not in the number of followers, but in the quality of enquiries, the accuracy of information, the professionalism of the service and, ultimately, the results achieved for the client. A seller does not engage an agent simply to become a supporting character in somebody else’s publicity campaign.   The profession behind the performance Real estate is demanding work. Behind the polished photographs are uncertain commissions, substantial expenses, complicated negotiations, and transactions that can collapse after months of effort. Competent professionals must understand property values, contracts, financing, market conditions, and the responsibilities involved in handling people’s most valuable assets. They must also recognise risks, protect their personal safety and maintain boundaries without sacrificing courtesy. Social media can be an extraordinary tool for bringing property to market. Personality can create trust. Attractive presentation can generate interest. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things. But visibility must never become a substitute for competence, and commercial opportunity must never depend on personal or sexual compliance. The challenge is not to remove personality from real estate. It is to ensure that personality serves the profession rather than replacing it. Because, ultimately, the seller is offering a property, the buyer is seeking an investment, and the agent is providing a professional service. The house has a price. The agent should not.   Dean Jones is founder and director of Jamaica Homes Limited and a realtor. His professional expertise spans real estate, construction, property development, and strategic management, with a particular interest in Jamaica’s housing market and the built environment. He can be contacted at dean@jamaica-homes.com.