We have to remember, here in the UK, that they work for the vendor not the buyer.

This was discussed in the program. It's absolutely not fair that the buyer gets caught in the profit-making crossfire. Also discussed was the need to protect the buyer in the future.

If you buy a pair of leather shoes and you find out they are not, having worn them, you have the right to return.

But not so if you buy a house with ancient plumbing or the likes.

At the risk of shocking you, we bought our house online. It's a long story, but we'd sold out house because of an accountant rip off, and were in QLD house hunting when Covid restrictions were put in place,. Everything was shut down and we, as well as many others, had nowhere to live.

A friend had an old restored church in the country. She allowed us to stay there. And when the world started up again, house prices skyrocketed. So we were caught twice through that, and thrice by the agent who sold this house.

We couldn't inspect houses and so everyone was buying something rather than becoming homeless. That meant agents had zilch regard for ethics. It was a sellers' market. We couldn't even get them to return a call.

We had a building inspection done just to secure things a little. That's where we made our biggest mistake. The agent organized that, but we soon realized theirs was a cozy little duality. She was certainly in bed with him. I should have read between the lines of his euphemisms in the report. Do you wonder how they sleep at night?

I cried for weeks.

There are some good things about the house, but so much on the outside is tired and costly to fix.

But back to the least-respected, unprofessional professions. On the ABC program they tried to say that the sellers often get a couple of thousand dollars more though the present system. Sometimes it's hundreds of thousands. And we won't talk about the parties the have to celebrate their top-dollar achievements.

I've never been on Tik Tok, but it seems to be how the best RA thieves do their business.

Theirs is not a great intellect, but a scummy version of cunning.

But at the end of the day, Annie, death truly is the great leveler.:)