Realtor association launches ratings program
Members can choose to opt out
By Inman News, Tuesday, April 21, 2009.The Houston Association of Realtors announced the launch of a program that allows homebuyers and sellers to rate the performance of Realtors.
The "Client Experience Rating" program is free and optional for members of the Houston association, a regional Realtor trade group with about 23,000 total members.
The rating system features a star system with a five-point scale, and buyers and sellers are asked to rate Realtors in several categories:
- Competency: "Explained process clearly; ensured paperwork was correct; use of technology; negotiation skills; attention to detail; represented and protected my interests."
- Market Knowledge: "Knowledgeable of market, neighborhood and community."
- Communication: "Kept me updated; responded in (a timely manner); communicated based on my preference."
- My Experience: "Understood my needs; (gave me) personal attention; made me feel valued; on time and prompt."
About 1,000 members chose to participate within the first month of the program's launch (see example), HAR announced, and their average rating was 4.93.
Several other real estate companies allow consumers to rate and/or review real estate professionals, such as Redfin (see article), ZipRealty (see article), Homethinking (see article), and RealtyBaron and AgentRank (see article), though HAR reports that it is the first Realtor association to launch a Realtor-rating program.
Under HAR's program, the buyer's Realtor and seller's Realtor each receive an e-mail asking for their client's e-mail address when a for-sale property listing's status is changed to "sold," according to HAR's Web site.
Clients can issue score-based ratings and can also enter detailed comments about their Realtor. HAR member Realtors receive an e-mail notifying them when a client has completed a rating survey, and the member can then choose whether or not they want all of their ratings displayed on the association's HAR.com Web site -- they can change their privacy settings for the rating program at any time, according to HAR.
"Asking clients to evaluate their Realtors in a number of areas enables our members to easily gauge what they're doing well and identify areas of improvement," HAR Chairwoman Vicki Fullerton said in a statement.
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Submitted by Larry Whited Sr. on April 21, 2009 - 6:05am.
I applaud this bold first step by the Houston Board of Realtors. They continue to lead the industry with visionary services that includes their outstanding public MLS listings website. We should all follow their lead.
I was the first agent in my area to start write in my listings contracts 25 years ago “Seller can cancel this contract at anytime with a written 30 day notice.”
I tell them that if I don’t do all the things I said I would they should fire me. I then sign all my contracts to the end of the next calendar year. They don’t care how long the contract is as long as they can cancel at anytime.
It takes more effort for them to cancel the contract than it does to simply let a 90 listing contract expire.
While I can not force the sale of their home if it is overpriced, they can still cancel me at anytime if they lose confidence in me. That keeps me on the bubble to stay in contact and council them through the process.
I also have a clause in my listing addendum that gives me the right to cancel them. If they turn out to be too difficult or do not want to disclose defects etc I want the right to fire them. (You can see our Listing Addendums on our www.WebMLS.net website under the Contract and Forms link).
Larry A. Whited, Sr., CRB, CRS, GRI
President & Founder
www.maxUnet.com & www.WebMLS.net
A Virtual Real Estate Franchise System
** Virtual Is the Future **
P.O. Box 757
West Chester Ohio 45071
Direct - (513) 543-2727 Fax - (513) 297-7497
Submitted by Randy Barnes on April 21, 2009 - 11:58am.
As a Zip agent I'm used to the rating and can say that my customers are more aware of it than I am. As our world has moved online I think more and more folks will be expecting this. Its great for those agents working full time at being productive and professional experts in the industry.
Randy Barnes
Atlanta GA
ZipRealty,Inc
www.TheFrugalAgent.com
Submitted by Bob Hale on April 22, 2009 - 2:10pm.
Thank you for the kind words from both Inman and the commenters to the post about the Client Experience Rating.
I did want to make one quick point of clarification. Our program does not allow our members to cherry pick which clients receive the survey.
Any participant has 15 days from the date of the closing to provide the contact information of their client to receive the automatically e-mailed survey. In fact, if the participant says they do not have the e-mail address for the client, we ask for a physical mailing address and mail them a hardcopy survey. And so far, nearly 2,200 clients have submitted surveys. If the participant does not provide the required information within 15 days, they are automatically removed from the program.
Our Client Experience Rating was established to be an all-or-none system that does not allow “selective opt-out.” Either all results are published or none are. If a participant opts-out for a period, the previous surveys are maintained and will still be included if they later choose to opt back in.
There is obviously an aspect of competition among the participants so prospective clients will likely look for REALTORS® who have ratings and comments posted to know more about the person they are hiring to help them with what is likely the biggest financial transaction of their life.
The integrity of the Client Experience Rating system is dependent upon transparency, which I think anyone who has followed HAR will agree has always been our hallmark (witness HAR.com).
I always enjoy reading your coverage and just wanted to make certain that you and your readers knew that the system does have extensive rules and guidelines to prevent cherry picking.
Thanks, and keep up the great coverage, as always.
Bob Hale
President & CEO
Houston Association of REALTORS®
http://members.har.com/Realtor-Rating-Program/