Meet Pav Sheen, Essex-trained, London-practising estate agent, self-confessed master of the dark arts, who - interviewed here - claims he's tried it all:

"We played on people's ignorance, and nudged them into making decisions, so that we could close a deal as quickly as possible," he recalls. A favourite trick would be to arrange two viewings to coincide, and when one lot had left, get someone from the office to ring, and pretend that it was them putting in an offer.

Who'd fall for that? The Tweenies?

Anyway, he's also claiming to have turned... from poacher to game-keeper... and has self-published a book for the benefit of vendors far and wide. Here's a short extract from the summary over at his website:

Chapter 7 deals with the topic of the Valuation. From the moment the estate agent steps into your home The Sales Show has begun with one objective in mind at all times, “ to get you to sign on the dotted line”. It will show you how the agent comes to price he values your home at and how he may overvalue your property just to get it on the market. It will also explain the way in which the agent achieves a high commission rate as a result of over valuing your property and ways in which he gets you to sign with his company.

It gets more sinister:

Chapter 9 talks about other sales tools an estate agent may use that are naked to the eye. How an estate agent uses word structures, different voice tones and physical gestures to subconsciously sell you their products.

And I thought my agent was just playing with his balls.

Anyway... the book - "Tips, Tricks, Traps - Everything You Need To Know About Estate Agents" - is available here. And if you're the kind of person who needs this kind of advice, you're probably in no position to notice the absence of a literate editor. Tomorrow... a special edition of Glengarry Glen Ross for CBBC.

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