ESTATE agent Laura Tingley of Winkworth Worthing was the lucky raffle winner of an interview Business Matters. She tells Business Editor FINN SCOTT-DELANY about the buoyant market and how stereotypes of the industry are not altogether fair.

LIKE bankers and journalists, estate agents are not always held in the highest esteem.

And Laura Tingley, who has worked in the industry for ten years, is no stranger to such jibes.

But the popular image of agents as bling, brash and money-fixated could not be further from the truth, she says. In fact, the job can be closer to a social worker or counsellor.

She explained: “Friends like to have a dig, peo- ple think of us as money-greedy. But it’s not like that at all, it’s all a myth.

“I don’t know a single estate agent who takes a regular lunch break, most work extra days – and we don’t have wages that people think.

“It can be very rewarding but it’s also very stressful. “We take on people’s emotions. When people need to rant and cry we take it – it’s what we’re there for.”

Despite the emergence of online agen- cies, there will always be a place for traditional estate agents, especially when complications arise over surveys and multiple chains. But that is no excuse for complacency in the industry, she said.

Winkworth is using social media to market properties while its stylish Worthing town cen- tre office is welcoming, with local artwork on the walls and soothing candles.

The high-end agency has a buoyant market to work with some 50% of customers coming from outside the area.

Laura said: “Worthing is very affordable for people living in Brighton and it’s still very close to London. “It’s a family market now whereas it used to more of an older people’s town.

“You’re getting more and more stuff for fami- lies, like the Aquarena and volleyball.”

The agent is more than happy at Winkworth – but has personal ambition too.

She added: “I have lots of ideas and I’d like to put some of them into practice. “I’d love to have my own agencies but I’m really happy at the moment.”