Gar Anderson

"Agent Ratings from A to Why" approaches this game changer issue from a very amusing perspective. Let's not forget, however, what Edwin Wong of Yahoo taught us during the 2008 Inman Conference in San Francisco, "77% of the home buyers and home sellers today consult the Internet to help them decide which agent to use". Presumably, this occurs before the agent ever hears from them. If this number is even close to being accurate, managing one's "online reputation" has suddenly become a new paradigm of our future success. Ask any seller on eBay how important her/his rating is. I mention eBay for two reasons: eBay's success is directly related to the consumer confidence it has built through its online rating system and the 1.3 million sellers making a living off selling things on eBay approximate the number of REALTORS selling real estate. Ted Jernigen's comment above raises one of the most important issues in the online agent evaluation debate. Ted speaks of the disgruntled customer speaking out "without the benefit of all the facts". Yes, we are seeing a lot of this happen online. The popular agent rating sites like IncredibleAgents.com, however, provide an opportunity to challenge incorrect information or, for a fee, to present the facts the way the broker or agent sees them. I recently noticed a very effective approach from a well respected Rhode Island broker who responded to a negative review by a seller he did not represent by having his buyer client post a well written response on his behalf (found on the site "all real estate agents hate", OutrageousAgents.com). From my perspective, the real issue for agents and brokers is how will we find the time to manage our online reputations? Just discovering where these comments reside on the Internet is enough of a challenge not to mention the time it takes to follow up on the ones we feel are unfair, misunderstood or worse yet untruthful. As Nobu Hata stated above, "It isn't right or wrong, it's what the consumer is demanding." If indeed, this becomes a tool of choice for today's new consumers, taking a proactive position like the brokers of Colorado Springs have done (see IncredibleAgents.com) makes sense. Gar Anderson Stowe, Vermont