Why Online Reviews May Tell You Less About a Real Estate Agent Than You Think

Before you choose a restaurant, you check the reviews.

Before you book a hotel, you check the reviews.

Before you buy something on Amazon, you probably check the reviews.

So naturally, when it comes time to hire a real estate agent to handle what may be one of your largest financial assets, you check the reviews.

But should you believe what you read?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Because there is something consumers should understand about online reviews:

Reviews have become part of the marketing business.

Think About Amazon for a Minute

We've all seen it.

You find a product on Amazon with thousands of reviews and an impressive star rating.

4.7 stars. Must be great, right?

Then you buy it.

It arrives and you're left wondering:

“How in the world did this thing get 4.7 stars?”

There's a reason consumers have become more skeptical.

Online reviews can be influenced in numerous ways. Sellers can aggressively solicit positive reviews. Incentives can influence participation. Fake-review operations exist. Review manipulation has become sophisticated enough that major online marketplaces continually work to detect and remove fraudulent activity.

That doesn't mean Amazon reviews are worthless.

It means a high rating isn't the same thing as independent verification of quality.

And here's the question:

If reviews can be manufactured or manipulated to help sell a $29 product, why would we blindly trust reviews when choosing someone to handle a $1,000,000 asset?

Think about that.

Almost Every Real Estate Agent Has Five Stars

Look around online.

Five stars.

Five stars.

Five stars.

“Best REALTOR® ever!”

“Amazing!”

“Highly recommend!”

If practically everyone is exceptional, how do you identify who actually is?

Most of those reviews may be completely legitimate.

But there's something important you aren't being shown:

Who was asked to write them?

Reviews aren't necessarily a random sampling of every person an agent has represented.

Agents can ask their happiest clients to post reviews. Automated systems can repeatedly request them. Marketing companies can help generate more review activity.

There's nothing inherently wrong with asking a satisfied client for a review.

But let's call it what it is:

Marketing.

A carefully cultivated five-star profile shouldn't automatically be confused with superior experience, judgment, negotiation skills, or market knowledge.

I'm Probably Not Very Good at the Review Game

And I'm okay with that.

I'm busy.

I'd rather spend my time analyzing a property, preparing a listing, studying comparable sales, negotiating an inspection, solving a problem, returning a client's call, or figuring out how to protect someone's money.

I'm simply too busy working for my clients to constantly ask my clients to brag about me.

Maybe my parents had something to do with that.

I was raised to believe that you don't need to constantly tell people how wonderful you are.

Do good work. Treat people correctly. Let your reputation follow.

There's Another Reason I Don't Chase Reviews: Privacy

Some of my clients don't want people knowing I represented them.

And I respect that.

Real estate can involve divorce, estates, financial situations, job changes, family circumstances, significant wealth, major purchases, or people who simply don't believe their personal business belongs online.

Your transaction isn't automatically my advertising opportunity.

Your business is your business.

I'm certainly not going to pressure someone who values discretion to publicly announce that they bought or sold a property with me just so I can add another five-star review to my profile.

Sometimes no public review at all is exactly what the client wants.

Reviews Measure Something. They Don't Measure Everything.

A five-star review doesn't tell you whether an agent:

• Priced a house correctly.
• Prevented a seller from accepting a bad offer.
• Recognized a serious inspection issue.
• Negotiated an additional $30,000.
• Told a seller their house was overpriced when nobody else would.
• Helped a buyer avoid making an expensive mistake.
• Understood the financial implications of the transaction.
• Knew how to hold a difficult deal together.
• Protected confidential information.
• Had the experience to recognize a problem before it became one.

And those are precisely the things that can matter when serious money is involved.

Ask Better Questions

Instead of asking:

“How many five-star reviews do you have?”

Try asking:

“Tell me something you would advise me NOT to do.”

That's a much more interesting interview question.

Then ask:

• How would you price my home, and why?
• What happens if your pricing recommendation is wrong?
• What would you change about my house before putting it on the market?
• What are buyers pushing back on right now?
• Where do sellers leave money on the table?
• How would you protect my negotiating position?
• What would you do differently from the other agents I'm interviewing?
• How many different Atlanta real estate markets have you worked through?
• What will you tell me when you disagree with me?

Listen carefully to the answers.

You're looking for judgment, not a sales presentation.

Atlanta Real Estate Isn't a Popularity Contest

Atlanta isn't one residential real estate market.

Buckhead isn't Dunwoody.

Sandy Springs isn't Morningside.

Virginia-Highland isn't Decatur.

And two houses a few streets apart can require completely different strategies.

Pricing matters.

Presentation matters.

Timing matters.

Negotiation matters.

Financial knowledge matters.

Experience matters.

And sometimes the most valuable thing an agent can do is tell a client something the client doesn't want to hear.

That may not earn you another five-star review.

It might, however, save your client a tremendous amount of money.

Five Stars Are Easy to Understand. Judgment Isn't.

I'm not telling you to ignore online reviews.

Read them.

Just don't outsource one of your largest financial decisions to a star rating.

We learned not to blindly believe every Amazon review when we're buying a $29 gadget.

We should probably be even more careful when choosing the person who will advise us on a $500,000, $1 million, or multi-million-dollar real estate transaction.

So don't just count stars.

Have a conversation.

Ask difficult questions.

Challenge the agent.

See if they challenge you back.

Because ultimately, there's a much more important question than:

“How many five-star reviews does this agent have?”

Ask:

“Would I trust this person with one of my largest financial decisions?”

Because you're not hiring stars on a screen.

You're hiring judgment, experience, discretion, and someone you trust to tell you the truth.

And Amazon hasn't figured out a star rating for that yet.

John W. Patrick, MBA | REALTOR®

Harry Norman, REALTORS | Forbes Global Properties

Serving Atlanta residential real estate since 2011

#HarryNormanREALTORS #GeorgiaRealEstate #AtlantaRealEstate #LuxuryRealEstate #GlobalNetwork #atlantarealtor

One conversation and you’ll appreciate the difference. | 770.862.9427