Two New Sites Review Agents

Two websites have surfaced that aim to provide comparative information on agents: one UK based, and one for the Chicagoland area of Illinois.

Through usetheagents.co.uk, buyers can register and specify the postcode they are interested in, which then generates an email to agents working in that area with the buyer’s desired call-back time. Agents are then rated in terms of performance, and buyers can edit their reviews at any time.

usetheagents.co.uk assures agents that “You need a valid email address and password to register and leave feedback and we constantly monitor to check for patterns and abuse.” The current top five UK estate agencies are listed on the front page of the website

The Negotiator magazine quotes usetheagents.co.uk creator Tony Raffermati as saying:

“It will save buyers time. There are 26 agents in Chiswick; how are they supposed to choose? I’ve been in the business for 30 years and seen all the changes happen. When I started it was a professional business; I fear the rise internet means agents’ days are numbered unless we change our ways.”

Meanwhile, Chicagoland website agentscompared.com evaluates agents in terms of factors such as their track record, price, specialties, and local market knowledge. A post from founder Michael Erdman explains the motivation behind the website:

“In the summer of 2007 it occurred to me that consumers really had no place to go to discover and meaningfully evaluate local real estate agents. I’ll write more about this later, but existing ‘Find an Agent’ websites seemed either entirely agent-centric or of limited usefulness to buyers and sellers.”

The website requires that agents subscribe to participate, and Erdman told inman.com that this is partially to ensure that agents are who they say they are. He also stressed that agents can choose to disclose as much or as little information about their services and costs as they see fit.

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