RealTown's RealTalk

Hi Saul,

You asked, "Before you buy or sell real estate (you being a consumer), wouldn't you like to be able to compare real estate professionals?"

No! Who is going to do the comparison? What objective criteria could even be used?

"Has the agent ever had a complaint filed against them with the state licensing board?" You can find that right now on the Virginia Real Estate Board site, since it is public record. So that might work... but the vast majority of us have never been in that situation. So I guess 99%+ would all pass. "How many sales have they had in the last 12 months?" Wow, that would certainly put the new agent at a decided disadvantage, no matter how much potential he/she might have to be a great agent in the future, because they are just getting started. "We could get testimonials or ratings from past clients just like people staying in hotels and motels write on www.hotels.com." You and I both know that would be abused in a "heart beat"! Ha! Sort of in keeping with the start of your post. More experienced agents would get their past clients to pump up the reviews - whether they were really true or not, just to skew the system. So that won't work.

We don't really keep statistics on real estate professionals other than their individual production, extra designations, and length of time each has been licensed. But even those only give part of the picture and doesn't tell you how good any agent really is at what they do at all. So a consumer could no more compare real estate agents than we could objectively compare accountants, auto salespeople, stock brokers, dentists, family counselors or any other profession.

Win

**********************
Win Singleton, CRB, e-PRO
Associate Broker
Northern Virginia Real Estate, Inc.
1018 Shipman Lane, Suite 200 
McLean, VA 22101
(703) 536-7631
wins@winsingleton.com
Licensed in Virginia
**********************

I'm thinking maybe your courting a potential sponsor. Someone in the business of rating real estate agents.

Editor's Note
No, what you suggest is not the case. Rating systems play a role in the Web 2.0 environment. Some real estate web sites are already experimenting with agent ratings. It's a pretty heated topic but one worth exploring to see if a fair rating system can be developed with fully disclosed criteria and standards.John

People would love to have rating systems that tell them how good any service provider is. There are problems with any rating system in that they do not always tell the whole story.  Although we can look up hospital mortality rates and even the complication rates of surgeons, etc., again something is often missing.

Before becoming a Realtor I was in the medical field for 18 years and did autopsies. I can tell you by first hand experience that some of the best surgeons take on cases that are the toughest and tend to have a high mortality rate. The same can be true of certain hospitals. Often times the rating systems cause the effect of making a physician wonder whether they should take a high risk case or not. Yes, some have come up with adjustments for some of the variables but they do not always work well.

As a Realtor we had a Home Inspector that came in to introduce himself. At the end he said I am a member of I believe it was Angie's List. He asked us to go and give him a great rating, and anyone who did would get some coupons to give a discount to our clients. He also said if we could have family members help him also that would be appreciated. The problem is none of us had ever used him. I was not about to give him my recommendation.

For Real Estate ratings how would we set this up and keep it fair for new and experienced agents. And imagine sellers going on a rating us as terrible because we could not sell their home, even though we told them their price is too high, or maybe the buyer that wants to offer 50% off the price our CMA gives as a good value. When we say it is time to find another agent would they rate us poorly.

When ratings are done by the public it seems that most that report something will report the bad and not the good. And those that rate by some sort of criteria seem to not report some things well.

My experience with rating systems has not been good. Can one be designed that is fair?

Jeff Launiere, P.A., e-PRO, TRC
Keller Williams Realty
Tampa, FL
813-469-3163
info@SweetHomeTampa.com
http://www.SweetHomeTampa.com
http://www.HomesOfTampaFL.com
 

Saul (et all) --

The issue with rating sites generally is the misuse of the sites by people with a grudge, people who don't know any better and people who are just plain mean.

The anonymity of the internet turns generally mild mannered people into cyber bullies who use that opportunity to degrade people because they know they cannot be identified. We had that years ago on RT where people signed up under an alias just to try to put down other members. We even had people who were banned, signed up under another name and continued their diatribes and put downs. And don't forget the case recently publicized about teens who cyberbullied another teen into suicide.

And in the past, agent rating sites (we'll hook you up with a top agent) were generally places like  House Values and Service Magic where the top agents were those willing to pay the fees.

Until a means is found to identify the writer (and hold them responsible for libelous posts) like something published in the traditional media, almost any kind of "rating site" will become an open invitation for disaster.

Editor's Note
For a timely article on Review Sites by Karin Hanna, see today's RealTown.com featured blog article http://www.realtown.com/lovemyagent/blog/building-a-recommendation-bank/review-sites-help-you-or-harm-youJohn

Hi Saul,

You wrote -

"Who said anything about REALTORS rating REALTORS? What about consumers rating REALTORS?

What are you afraid of?

I think you should get used to the idea. How will you react when it begins to happen? Now is the time to create strategies for the future."

This is not a case of fear at all. And no, we don't have to get use to it. In all of my 32 years as a real estate broker, I've never heard of an MLS or a REALTOR Association wanting to provide such a forum. This is a question of who is doing the rating and how trustworthy those ratings will be. As I wrote before on this topic, the top agents will certainly figure out a way to pad their ratings by getting "their people" to write glowing reviews. The new agent simply will not have that same advantage. This is not the iTunes store or the Apple online store where I am trying to decide if I really want to buy a $9.99 album on line that I know nothing about or spend my hard earned money on new accessories for my computer, but I'm not yet familiar with that product. Those opinions and ratings found there are for items so inconsequential that those reviews, while sometimes insightful, can ultimately be taken with a "grain of salt". But here we are talking about people's careers... based purely on opinion and innuendo.

Saul, I read with interest your paper on MLS 5.0! I agree with many, many parts of it. But this one component has no place as a part of any future MLS. It is not necessary, the public is not clamoring for it at all, and it really provides no additional benefit to the public or MLS members alike.

Saul, how highly would you have been rated by some of your real estate prospects the first 6 months you were in the business... bumbling through your first couple of transactions? Everyone one of us at one time or another has had a real estate client who we just could not satisfy, no matter how hard we tried or how well we performed our job. To think that we would now allow that individual to come into our MLS system and write a negative opinion or give us just 1 star for everyone else to read boggles the mind.

It is one thing to provide the consumer with facts and even give full access to property data - historical as well as in "real time" under one roof. Factual data and statistics help to educate everyone. But it is altogether different to provide consumers and fellow REALTORS an area to read submitted opinions or rankings - good or bad (which is all any rating system is - 1 person's opinion that can be highly subjective) - about any of the members who are all paying their MLS dues to provide this platform. I, for one, will not support nor pay my dues money to an MLS system that allows people to either slam or put down a fellow member (rightly or wrongly) or puff up other members who have figured out how to beat the ratings game.

Sorry Saul, but opinions from the public have no place in an MLS. As Sgt. Joe Friday use to say on "Dragnet", "Just the facts ma'am."

Win

**********************
Win Singleton, CRB, e-PRO
Associate Broker
Northern Virginia Real Estate, Inc.
1018 Shipman Lane, Suite 200 
McLean, VA 22101
(703) 536-7631
wins@winsingleton.com
Licensed in Virginia
**********************

Editor's Note
You can’t stop it Wyn. If not in a regulated way through MLS, it will happen anyway in forums where you have no control. I don’t remember my first 6 transactions, but I remember my first 2…both were families of 4. The wives did not work; the husbands were both US Navy E-5s. They made somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 per month and they could not find any REALTORS who would work with them.  I got one couple into a house using an FHA loan and the other by using a VA loan. My split on the commission was about $250 for each of the transactions. Saul 

I have to agree with the majority of responses I've read that this would be very unfair. Typically, people don't offer up good testimonials unless they are being bribed or harassed to do so, but they are very quick to air their opinions when they have something negative to say.

Barbara Lanz, REALTOR

MHI Realty