So how’s that internet working out for you?

If you’re like many other Americans, internet reviews persuade your choice of online purchases. Internet reviews have become so influential that it is life or death for many restaurants. Even service industries have added weight to internet reviews. But a recent Amazon lawsuit, once again, has many talking about the authenticity of internet reviews.

The gaming of internet reviews was first given attention in a 2011 New York Times exposé by David Streitfeld, when he described the effort for businesses and individuals to appear better than their competition by saying: “…an industry of fibbers and promoters has sprung up to buy and sell raves for a pittance.” And at that time, Cornell researchers concluded, at the 49^th annual meeting of the Association of Computational Linguistics (Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, pages 309–319, Portland, Oregon, June 19-24, 2011.), that the detection of fake reviews is “well beyond the capability of human judges;” and recommended an analysis of reviews to include, among other things, psycho-linguistically motivated features.

Since the issue was brought to light in 2011, you might think that the practice of using fake reviews might have dwindled. On the contrary. It seems as if the practice has become increasingly sophisticated to circumvent the controls that are meant to weed them out. You can still find services that will write reviews – for a fee; fake reviews have even become specialized, where “reviewers” advertise to place their evaluations on specific websites. Furthermore, you can find online classified ads offering payment for reviews or to “swap” reviews for free.

In response to the seemingly persistent problem, Amazon is the first to take legal action to crack down on fake reviews. Jay Greene’s April 8^th Seattle Times report (Amazon sues to block fake reviews on its site; seattletimes.com) indicated that the Amazon suit alleges that such reviews are deceptive and harmful to those who don’t abuse the review system. And according to CNET (Amazon sues alleged reviews-for-pay sites; cnet.com), Amazon (like many online sites) has invested in monitoring controls to foil fake reviews; but people seek out to game the system.

I hear you asking: “Surely, real estate agents don’t post fake reviews, right?”

According to Lani Rosales of AGBeat, the posting of fake agent reviews are “…unethical but seemingly common practice.” She reasoned in her 2011 report (Sketchy new trend – hiring fake online review writers; agbeat.com) that there has always been an element posting fake real estate agent reviews. And she anticipated that the trend would continue, as agents coped with the down market, “…Realtors are already using and will undoubtedly increase use of these willing reviewers, making for a repeat of history where agents are painted as being ‘number one,’ having ‘impeccable integrity’ and ‘superior service’…”

As we spend more time online (emarketer.com reported in 2013 that web users spent an average of 23 hours per week using email, texting, and social media), getting your online attention is big business – especially in the real estate industry. Apparently, there’s a lot of money at stake, such that a battle has be waging during the last year between Zillow Group (Zillow and Trulia) and News Corp (Move Inc and Realtor.com); alleging stolen secrets and wanting access to property listings.

And much like the fake reviews that vie for your business, the lawsuits between the real estate giants may ultimately reveal the business of the internet; which may not actually be about customer service, but really about selling a commodity – you.

Disclaimer. This article is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice. Readers should not rely solely on the information contained herein, as it does not purport to be comprehensive or render specific advice. Readers should consult with an attorney regarding local real estate laws and customs as they vary by state and jurisdiction. Using this article without permission is a violation of copyright laws.

November 20, 2013November 23, 2021

Realtor production or customer satisfaction – importance and meaning of rankings

What’s more important? The number of homes your real estate agent sells; or the customer service they provide?

“#1 Real Estate Agent.” “#1 in Sales.” “Top 1% Nationwide Producer.” If you’ve spent some time with real estate agents, you may notice how many tout themselves as being #1. And although some of these rankings are legitimately given by a recognized organization; many agents may be creating their own production ranking designation to use for marketing purposes.

by Dan Krell © 2013

Ranking designations are used in various industries to demonstrate a superlative product, or excellent service. One of the most recognized organizations that bestow ranking designations is J.D. Power & Associates. J.D. Power & Associates is most notable for ranking customer satisfaction in the auto industry, but they also rank satisfaction and other industries including real estate. In fact, you may see the J.D. Power & Associates ranking on a home builder or national/regional broker.

Production ranking is more prevalent in the real estate industry, however, and there are a number of organizations that rank the production of agents, teams and brokers. With the growth of the internet, unofficial production rankings can be found on many home search and real estate data websites. REAL Trends (realtrends.com) is a company that is dedicated to providing analysis of the residential real estate industry, and offers real estate data online; the site provides agent, team and broker production rankings in the U.S. and Canada

The National Association of Realtors® has been toying with the idea of adding a ranking system on the consumer home search site Realtor.com (operated by Move.com). The pilot program, called “AgentMatch,” has not been received well by many agents. There are concerns about the perceptions created by the displayed production statistics; some critics cite issues about statistics that may not be representative of production, which also may not tell the entire story behind of many transactions.

Another NAR initiative in agent ranking is a pilot program called the “Realtor Excellence Program.” Currently the program is being tested in several U.S. markets; and as a recent Chicago Tribune article (Realtor group testing agent ratings program, March 15, 2013; by Mary Ellen Podmolik) reported, it is being received well. What’s different about the “Realtor Excellence Program” from other agent ranking programs is that this program provides agent ranking through customer satisfaction. A quote from Laurie Janik, general counsel of the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors® says it all, “I’m looking at reducing liability. I want happy sellers and happy buyers…Right now we measure agent performance based on how many deals they did…But was (the transaction) a train wreck?”

This distinction between agent production and customer satisfaction is an important one. Although you might think that high volume production and customer satisfaction are not mutually exclusive, the relationship usually has some negative correlation; customer satisfaction typically takes a back seat when production goals increase. If a high volume real estate agent or team is invested in maintaining or growing their production, you need to ask about their commitment to customer satisfaction.

Many agents use national averages to determine that they are in the top percentile in production. Using these averages and stats, I also find myself in the “top tier” of various categories. Be that as it may, many consumers deem self promotion about production in a service industry as gauche and trivial. Many consumers are less interested in hiring agents whose focus is about being #1; rather, consumers want to be treated as #1.

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Disclaimer. This article is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice. Readers should not rely solely on the information contained herein, as it does not purport to be comprehensive or render specific advice. Readers should consult with an attorney regarding local real estate laws and customs as they vary by state and jurisdiction. This article was originally published the week of November 18, 2013 (Montgomery County Sentinel). Using this article without permission is a violation of copyright laws. Copyright © 2013 Dan Krell.

November 10, 2011September 17, 2019

Are internet Realtor® reviews real or fake?

The internet is a great tool. It conveniently provides access to information about real estate activity and home sales to assist you in your decision making. It’s only natural that people tend to gravitate to the internet because it provides somewhat of a buffer from aggressive real estate agents; it allows a certain amount of anonymity. This may also be a reason for the rise in popularity of internet Realtor® reviews.

But, internet anonymity can be a two way street. Besides reading online what others are saying about your agent, without anyone being the wiser; online reviews are often posted without verification.

An August 19th New York Times article by David Streitfeld (In a Race to Out-Rave, 5-Star Web Reviews Go for $5: Printed August 20, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition) is an exposé of the fake review business. Yup, fake online reviews. Streitfeld describes how in an effort for online businesses to appear better than the competition, “an industry of fibbers and promoters has sprung up to buy and sell raves for a pittance.” Streitfeld illustrates the “game” as it’s played; posts on websites such as Craigslist and help for hire sites offer a positive review for a fee.

Also known as “deceptive opinion spam” or “review spam, Cornell researchers claim “these fake reviews are fictitious opinions deliberately written to sound authentic, in order to deceive the reader.” They conclude that the detection of fake reviews is “well beyond the capability of human judges;” and recommend an analysis of reviews to include, among other things, psycho-linguistically motivated features. (Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, pages 309–319, Portland, Oregon, June 19-24, 2011.)

“There have always been fake reviews from employees and competitors,” states Greg Sterling, of Sterling Market Intelligence, in a March 7th blog post “Fighting the Rise of Paid Reviews.” Describing the increase of “guaranteed positive reviews” for a fee, “… the increasing importance of online reputation to consumers and the potential influence on rankings that reviews bring the stakes are higher than ever. Hence the emergence of services that will guarantee positive reviews.” He further states, “I don’t know this but my guess is that somewhere in some room … there are minions writing positive reviews without ever having actually used the business or visited its location.”

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) code of ethics prohibits deceptive practices, which includes posting or encouraging fake reviews. However, Lani Rosales of AGBeat argues that there has always been an element posting fake Realtor® reviews and testimonials (“Sketchy new trend – hiring fake online review writers”).

What to do?

Suresh Srinivasan of agent reputation platform ReachFactor (ReachFactor.com) stated in email correspondence that review spam is a “big and growing problem. It’s extremely cheap to pay others …to write a review of any service professional.” He states that many websites get “gamed” because they only require the reviewer to register but don’t actually verify that a transaction took place with the agent. He points out that even though some popular real estate websites try to read every review, it is not entirely effective in weeding out the fake reviews. Mr. Srinivasan’s company verifies factual information collected about Realtors® so as to ensure consumer transparency as well holding Realtors® to a higher ethical standard.

This article is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice. Using this article without permission is a violation of copyright laws.