The Town Broker

Online Agent Reviews: Would You Use Them? Should Agents Be Afraid?

It’s well know throughout the real estate industry that despite all of our marketing efforts, the most common way that a client finds a Realtor is through a personal recommendation. When asked how they found their agent in a recent NJAR survey, buyers cited ”referred by a friend” 3 times more often than the second most popular choices (and there was a tie here)  ”used in a previous transaction” and “internet website”.  

Those agents fortunate enough to have “raving fans” find that their business grows steadily through word of mouth referral. But sometimes, people are moving to a new area where they don’t know anyone. And sometimes they don’t know who to ask. Then who do you do?

Online Real Estate Agent Review Sites

We live in a world of online reviews. Whether you’re buying a new car, a BBQ grill or even a book for your weekend reading, there are scores of places online where you can learn what others are saying about that product. Increasingly, sites like Angie’s List and Yelp! are gaining momentum, and consumers are sharing their experiences with contractors and businesses.

But the real estate community has been reluctant to engage…

Let me clarify…there are already sites like Incredible Agents and Rate My Agent which exist to provide just the service I’m describing. But a quick search shows that most agents aren’t registered. And those that are have almost no reviews. Why?

And the Houston Association of Realtors is introducing a controversial new application designed to provide information for the consumer about agent productivity. Now that’s a level of transparency that I’ve not seen in the industry before!

I’ve spoken to many agents who are afraid of these online review sites. They worry that if a transaction goes bad, a disgruntled client could trash them online. And we all know that once your reputation gets hammered online, it can create a firestorm! (Just ask the folks at DELL about how this post by Jeff Jarvis changed their entire business plan). And consumers tell me that they worry about sites like this being “gamed”, with bogus testimonials singing the praises of a lousy agent. 

My personal opinion is one that welcomes the idea of online agent reviews. I think this is increasingly the way that consumers look for information about products and services. Today’s agents need to be OK with this level of transparency. Yes…there could be a bad review posted on occasion…real estate transactions can be complicated, emotional endeavors. But on balance, I have to believe that the good reviews should outnumber the bad.

So I put the question to you the real estate consumer: If agent reviews were readily accessible online, would you use them? Should agents be afraid? I’d love to know your thoughs on this…

Tags: Agent reviews

This entry was posted on Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Buyers, Real Estate Industry News, Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply