To all the awards committees out there. I can’t help but think that there should be an mention somewhere in the unnecessary volume of estate agency awards for the man or firm who have tried so very hard against all the odds.
Having not enough to do and with the power of Google at my fingertips I have looked into The Myth of Sisyphus who you will already know from your classical education was charged by the Gods to ceaselessly roll a rock to the top of a hill only for it to roll down again so that he could start the exercise once more. The Gods had thought, with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labour. Something that many agents will recognise from the property market this past year!
Against this background I wonder if I might nominate Mr Mike Ockenden to be the first recipient of such an award. A man who, in the spirit of Christmas, must be recognised to be a worthy contender regardless of ones own views on his cause. Mike appears to have been ambushed by a complete canteen, being knifed by friend and foe alike. Just as he managed to get one particular part of the Home Information Pack lobby squared away, he has been let down – as likely by his own side as by the estate agency industry who finally woke up to what was being proposed.
In what many expect to be the final year of HiPs, having loyally served eight ministers (and mistresses!) and having stoutly defended the continued u-turns that were delivered ,often unsuspectedly upon his cause, I submit that Mike and his various PR advisors have truly laboured in the spirit of Sisyphus and as such, should be recognised by the property industry during this season of goodwill.