Based on an analysis of recent customer reviews across South African real estate providers, the sector is split into two starkly different experiences. On the sales side, estate agents earn extraordinary personal loyalty, with clients naming individual agents and recommending them in language usually reserved for personal relationships. On the rental and property management side, the experience is defined by deposit disputes, ignored maintenance requests, and a power imbalance that leaves tenants feeling trapped. The same industry that builds remarkable trust through its agents simultaneously erodes it through its management companies.