Can there be such a thing as ethical property development?
The deep problem with the property industry is how it’s structured. Most people are employed commission-only. You can work in real estate for 60 hours a week and have nothing to show for it at the end of that week. (It happened to me frequently.) This creates a survival-of-the-fittest attitude, where “whatever it takes” is an acceptable business ethos. Additionally, real estate often is not a repeat-client business. It can happen, but usually the cycles are long. Agents and developers know they can behave inappropriately or unethically because they won’t be competing for your business and your money again for many years, if at all. And there are plenty more fish in the sea. Tell me about your first book, the Pocketbook of Aussie Patriotism. Talk to me about some of the difference between that project, which was presumably written to a directive, and Sold, which was probably more a labour of love. The projects are linked, in a strange way. Nadine Davidoff was fiction editor of The Month
