Three Jamaican real estate professionals gaze enthusiastically at a luxury home carrying a US$1 million price tag. Across from them, a prospective tenant waits beside a modest house advertised at J$40,000 per month. The contrast is intentionally exaggerated, but the question is serious: who serves the people searching at the lower end of Jamaica’s rental market?
The story behind the cartoon
A million-dollar listing can promise a substantial commission. A J$40,000 monthly rental may demand phone calls, viewings, transport, paperwork and negotiation for a far smaller return, particularly once brokerage arrangements and business costs are considered. For many agents, that difference shapes which enquiries they can afford to pursue.
That does not mean every realtor overlooks modest rentals, nor that the work involved is automatically the same. It does, however, raise a question about incentives. When the market rewards attention to the biggest transactions, ordinary renters can find themselves struggling to be heard.
The cartoon is not an attack on agents trying to earn a living. It asks the industry to consider the people who still need homes, even when their budgets do not generate headline commissions. A property market should be judged not only by the deals it celebrates, but also by the people it manages to serve.
When everyone is chasing the big listing, who is looking after the little one?
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