A recent interview on Trulia reminded me of a topic I’ve been chewing over for some time: real estate agent reviews. Like most real estate applications online, this has the familiar tension between what the consumer wants and what the real estate agent would like. This might be one of the more controversial subjects in the marketplace at the moment – right up there with online real estate valuations…
Pros:
- It’s easy to find a “top rated” agent
- Peace of mind on the selection for the real estate agent who is going to best help them buy/sell a home
- The cream will rise to the top – those best will get more business
Cons:
- Will a bad review lose an agent a lot of business? What if it wasn’t their fault?
- Being compared in an online review-market doesn’t allow for the personal touch
Here are some of the players with a summary of what they are doing:
Homethinking
Without a doubt one of the best looking real estate applications online, and also one of the first-movers in the real estate agent review space. Homethinking bases their ratings on statistical information on how an agent is actually doing in their businesses.
Primarily, they measure 1) number of listings, 2) time listings spend on the market, 3) difference between advertised price and closing price, 4) if the selling price good for that point in time. On top of that, they also have functionality that allows consumers to review the agent and score them based on their interaction and satisfaction.
AgentRank
AgentRank claims to be, “nothing more than an objective rating assigned to a Realtor representing the quality of service a consumer can expect.” They do this by rating agents on criteria that indicates whether a real estate agent is extraordinary or not. They use the system within RealtyBaron to ensure that consumers are being paired up with the best agents in their auction format.
Criteria for measurement consists of; 1) knowledge of the local areas price trends, 2) online visibility through their blog, 3) experience, 4) sales and 5) client satisfaction and recommendations.
Incredible Agents
Possibly the most “pro-agent” tool, Incredible Agents positions itself as the manager of customer testimonials for real estate agents. One of the compelling reasons to use their tool is the fact that they allow agents to respond to a user comment – this means that if there is a negative comment, agents can at least voice their side of the story. In this way, it shares a lot in common with eBay’s reputation management.
Further categories for ratings are; 1) knowledge, 2) courtesy, 3) communication, 4) website and 5) effectiveness. These are all consumer ratings, so entirely subjective. This shields poor-performing agents from the harsh spotlight of objective statistics that the other two services provide – thus making it more agent-friendly.
In Summary
Whether or not real estate agents like, appreciate of want reviews is irrelevant. Websites like the three listed here are making it a reality and agents can choose to get on board and embrace their reputation management or let it sit while their competition runs away with their potential clients.
My one recommendation for all of these sites is to make it easy for the agent to get their customers to leave reviews. I haven’t seen that type of functionality in them yet, and can’t help but think that a real way to grow this is to create tools that get more people leaving reviews. This means more than a button on a website, it means creating interactive ways and incentives for use. Since review sites are only as good as the amount and quality of reviews, the first one to critical mass will steal the show.
Lastly, kudos go out to AgentRank for their brilliant widget! What an outstanding way to spread the word about their product by helping their agents show how good they are.
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20 users responded in this post
Hi, Erik. It’s Marc from RealtyBaron. Thanks for an excellent analysis of agent review sites. With market activity slowing around the country, it becomes even more important to ensure you’re represented by an agent who can deliver results in a tough market. Glad to be included in your post. Thanks, again.
[...] – MyAgentRank™ receives its first kudos from RealtyThoughts: …kudos go out to AgentRank for their brilliant widget! What an outstanding way to spread the word about their product by helping their agents show how good they are. [...]
Erik, Thanks for your review of our review sites. This is very important stuff that will begin to matter more and more in the coming years. As far as we’re concerned, all three sites deserve kudo’s for offering a great service to consumers.
We will be working on plenty of new ways to make our site stand out and eventually build that coveted critical mass. All in due time my friend…all in due time.
[...] Reviewing Real Estate Agents: Under the Microscope – Whether or not real estate agents like, appreciate of want reviews is irrelevant. Websites like the three listed here are making it a reality and agents can choose to get on board and embrace their reputation management or let it sit while their competition runs away with their potential clients. » original newsEnough Already With The 55+ Condos – …Those 55+ condos, and Planned Unit Developments, are going to tank badly in the near future. Get your money out of them and into something else real estate related while you can. The reasons are simple » original newsAnalysis: The Condition of HouseValues Own House – What are the main problems with HouseValues business model? Can a new CRM and services offering replace its old lead model? » original newsInterview with Niki Scevek, CEO HomeThinking.com and founder RealEstatevoices.com – I havent listened to the full interview yet, so I’m not sure if he discusses REV, but HomeThinking is in the very controversial business of rating and reviewing real estate agents, how they do it is pure genius. » original news4 Reasons to Keep the Wage Earner Stated Income Loan – The mortgage industry is about the sacrifice the wage-earner stated income loan on the alta of reform. This is a stupid and short-sighted solution to a very real problem » original news [...]
Agent Rank registration appears to be not working, at least, doesn’t work ubiquitously.
Hi, Ronald. Marc from RealtyBaron. I discovered a bug this morning when registering from the AgentRank.com domain. I’m working on it right now. In the meantime, you can also register at http://www.realtybaron.com/agent
The code snippet for MyAgentRank(TM) is at the end of agent registration.
I’m writing this anonymously because homethinking allows anyone to write reviews of agents and doesn’t check any transaction history. So basically I can boost myself, and bury others…which is obviously happening if you read some of the reviews.
Realtybaron is in direct violation of IDX agreements by scraping website IDX feeds. Your smart search is aweful. I did a search for my listing and found it listed on RB 3 times all with links going to different brokerages. We spend a lot of money listing properties and do not want our listings to be used as advertising for other brokerages. Then you have the gawl to create an agent rank widget…you obviously don’t care about agents because you jack their listings for your own personal gain.
Hi, anon. RealtyBaron is not a party to the IDX agreement and, therefore, cannot be “in direct violation”. If you don’t want the additional traffic generated from our search, add the following to your robots.txt:
User-Agent: OmniExplorer_Bot
Disallow: /
Also, I don’t refer to our search as “smart”. It’s exactly one month old today and will remain a work-in-progress indefinitely.
Interesting stuff. Here are my thoughts… I think it’s a nice idea in principle, however, the comment above has some merit. It can easily turn into personal warfare with most of the traffic and comments being Realtors, backstabbing each other.
But there’s a more important observation to be made here. I don’t think that buyers really give a crap about agents. They care about listings. They want to see properties, photos, prices, they really couldn’t care less about how good an agent thinks they are. If they find the property they want, they’re going to get the agent that comes with it anyway – at least on the seller’s side. Proof for this argument comes from Realtor.com. They will tell you themselves that the vast majority of their visitors search for property. They have an agent search right there on the home page too, but guess what? The only people that go there are Realtors who are putting up their info in the hope of being “discovered”. Sort of like American Idol. The truth is, that by and large, people cruise for properties, not people. Another example of this is Monster Board (and the like.) You can post jobs there or you can post your resume there. Which catagory gets the traffic? Do you think most people on Monster are looking for jobs, or browsing resumes in the hope of finding the perfect candidate for their position? I hope I don’t have to answer that one. If you’re posting your resume and tooting your own horn in the hope that the phone will ring with that perfect job, you might as well waste your time doing something more fun – like picking your nose.
Realtybaron, read my complaint again…I WOULD LOVE ADDITIONAL TRAFFIC, the problem is you are spidering idx feeds off other broker sites. My listing is generating traffic for Mcguire, Zypher, and pacunion. They are getting the traffic from my listing and this is unacceptable.
Quote from SFAR Broker IDX agreement.
“Broker participants’ and real estate subscribers’ websites must protect MLS data from
misappropriation by employing reasonable efforts to monitor and prevent “scraping” and other
unauthorized accessing, reproduction or use of the MLS database.”
So you are telling me that I have to go to all these other brokers and tell them to block you? Do you want these brokers to get notified that they are in violation because of your scraping tactics?
I can easily take my IDX feed and syndicate it and grab traffic from other agents listings, but that is wrong and unethical.
I am sorry for calling your search “smart”. I was way out of line.
I was looking into one of these sites you mentioned a few weeks ago. The process did not seem to lead to an objective evaluation as much as it led to another business model to monetize.
I think a truly objective rating system is the one offered by “Diamond Certified” http://www.diamondcertified.org/ where an unbiased group takes a good hard look into your business practices.
John, while I agree that an objective certification might get you a much more fair representation as a real estate professional, the consumer would rather hear from their peers about you. In other words, a certification might give them greater confidence in you, but hearing positive/negative testimonials from their neighbors counts for a lot more.
Websites that manage real estate agent’s reputation are going to be doing it from now on. They don’t even rely on you choosing to be a part of it, you already are by default. If that is the case, it makes sense for you to take charge of your reputation on these sites and at least let your voice be heard.
Of the three sites mentioned here, AgentRank and Incredible Agents designed their system as an addition to their already successful business models. Homethinking.com is the only one that opperates completely independently of any other revenue model – they just charge for “premium” accounts. I guess I’m just not clear on why having a business model applied to this concept is a bad thing.
[...] Thursday links 02-07-2007 By Jim Duncan Rate your agent sites [...]
Here is how to rank an agent.
1. You find a few good agents
2. you INTERVIEW them
3. you choose the agent that best fits you.
you do not choose an agent because they have 8 on a widget on their blog.
you do not choose an agent based on what strangers have said.
you do not choose an agent based on how much commission they give back to you before you even enter into a transaction.
you do not find an agent because they paid $30 to be featured on a website, or paid to be an expert in an area
how about this for a strategy…walk into a real estate office and ask for the top producer in the area you are looking for. That to me seems like the best and fastest way to get the best agent you can get.
these new “sites that manage agent reputation” do not help agents, nor do they help the consumer…they are adword based, hope to get bought by google, web 2.0 sites.
[...] An anonymous real estate agent in the comments of a Realty Thoughts’ post on agent review sites pens three things you should avoid doing when selecting your real estate agent: 1. do not choose an agent because they have 8 on a widget on their blog. [...]
Anon, you\’re point of view is exactly what I was referring to when I mentioned that this topic would be controversial. The whole idea of agent reviews outside of the agent\’s control is completely disruptive.
Your solution is what can be expected of someone who knows the real estate market well. The truth is, that many people don\’t know how to pick an agent, they don\’t know how to find even a few good agents to interview, they don\’t know who to ask that will give them an objective answer.
So, what do they do? Unless they already know of a good agent, they search online, just like everyone does everyday for information.
What do they find? They find the RE blogger with an 8/10 score on their widget, they find the guy who paid $30 to be featured above everyone else. It\’s the reality of where things are.
So, you can choose to fight it or ignore it, but it won\’t go away. What the end consumer wants, or more accurately, what is easiest for them, will be what happens. Thus my position on managing your reputation online. Just because you ignore your online reputation doesn\’t mean it\’s not there and is not affecting you or your business.
Anon, who is “You” ? We should not be preaching to the Choir, but addressing the user habits of the millions of Buyers and Sellers out there who indeed, are looking at listings, then agents.
While these widgets and other rating systems can be useful, they do need moderating to prevent puffing/stuffing and flaming by the agents or the public. As soon as it is perceived that the system is corrupt, it will be dead. The widget owners need to be careful of this.
I also suspect that a thoughtful buyer or seller would not simply turn to one of these rating systems to find an agent and may even be skeptical of them.
Most of the public will simply go to listings and leave it at that.
Sellers respond to mailings (farming), referrals and for sale ads and signs.
Transparency, user/public input, is the current trend and very W 2.0, but it needs to be credible.
— Karl Lingenfelder
I just visited Homethinking as was largely unimpressed. (The other site wanted me to register…didn’t want to.) My name was found two different ways. One had me with 0 listings and the other with 1. (7 at this time would be more accurate.) When was the last time the info was “scraped” or whatever? If it’s always going to be inaccurate, what good is it? Can I hold them liable for any slanderous or erroneous information contained therein? Just a question I would have for an attorney if push ever came to shove.
This agent opted out of home thinking. When I saw that the basic information about me was wrong and that when I looked myself up a couple of my competitors who do not even do business in the same market came up I decided that I did not want my name in the database. I don’t think I will lose any business because of it. What would prevent me or someone else from writing a false review? What would prevent home thinking from being sued if someone did. What are you thinking? I am thinking of letting agents know how to opt out, and of writing another review about your site.
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