A real estate agent from Sydney has found himself in hot water after he gave advice to renters on his social media that if they want to score a rental property, they need to start dressing better.
The 25-year-old real estate agent, Amir Jahan, sparked outrage online after he shared a TikTok where he gave advice on how to appeal to landlords and agents when trying to score a lease.
Jahan claimed he had a woman that had been rejected by 50 rentals ask him what the deal was, and why she wasn’t being approved by real estate agencies.
The founder of A-Class Estate Agents shared though there was nothing wrong with her profile or application, he had a “couple of things” come to mind as advice for the struggling renter.
“When you go to the inspection, I’ve seen this a lot of times, I’ve seen people come into the inspection and it feels like they’ve just walked out of bed,” Jahan explained.
“So if I have two people, one who’s walked out of bed, and one who’s dressed up nice, which one [do you think] we’re going ahead with?”
Jahan instructed his thousands of followers online that what they needed to do was treat the inspection as though it were a job interview, and that by doing this they would impress the agent and therefore the prospective landlord.
@amirjahanagent My tennat said she applied for more than 30 properties but no approval – part 1 #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #fypシ #rental #renters #properties ♬ original sound – Amir Jahan
Because dressing better really stopped my landlord from raising my rent because of “the current market trends”.
And it sure as hell helped to dress better when my real estate agent ignored all my calls about needing my shower fixed.
This advice quickly received backlash online from folks who called out real estate agents for being so materialistic they would write off a good tenant because they didn’t wear a bloody pantsuit.
“So we’re judging a book by its cover,” one TikToker commented.
“Can have the best rental history and all but on their day off they decide to attend & dress casually and BOOM one look at them and instantly *dEcLiNeD*.”
“Where do real-estate agents get off … honestly, the nerve,” another wrote.
However, not everyone disagreed. Some people were confused as to why Jahan was giving the “common sense” advice.
“People are not going to give a property to someone who does not look to present well,” one commenter agreed.
Look, at the end of the day, Jahan was genuinely trying his best to give tenants what he believed was good advice to improve their chances of getting a rental. The message was a misfire, but the intent appears to have come from the right place.
The real issue here is the power imbalance.
The fact that renters — who are less wealthy than property owners — need to put their best foot forward to “impress” a stranger or else face homelessness, THAT is what we need to direct anger toward.
Because when you take a step back and look at rental inspections without any prior context, the entire practise is bizarre.
A poor person turns up to a house they want to live in, where they are judged by a rich person on their appearance, job, and background. Then that rich person can then say no, because — as Jahan just admitted — they don’t like how the poor person is dressed, and the poor person faces homelessness.
I dunno about you, but I’m struggling not to see the parallels this has with The Hunger Games, as this US TikToker pointed out.
Anyway, guess I’ll just add “dress better” to the list of things that will help me get a home — along with “stop eating avocado toast” and “move my ass and work“.
[Image: Instagram/TikTok]
