Powered by data from multiple listing services and other statistics that can be used to gauge real estate agent performance, Realtor.com’s experimental new agent rating service for consumers, AgentMatch, is a bold move that could help the site differentiate itself from competitors like Zillow and Trulia.
AgentMatch, is currently being beta tested in two markets and has raised the ire of agents, many of whom are concerned about the validity of statistics-based rankings.
Some real estate agents are also expressing dismay that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is allowing Realtor.com to move forward on an initiative that some feel is not in their best interests.
NAR, which holds a minority stake in Realtor.com operator Move Inc., allows the company to operate Realtor.com under the terms of a 17-year-old operating agreement. Thanks in large part to its ties to NAR, Move gets data feeds of “active” listings from more than 800 MLSs across the U.S., representing 98 percent of all MLS-listed properties for sale nationwide.
Some, but not all, of those MLSs also provide Realtor.com with sold listings data that can shed light on agent performance. Although the Realtor.com operating agreement was amended in 2010 to allow for the display of productivity statistics such as active listing counts and sold transaction data with approval from listing brokers, NAR reserved the right to sign off some aspects of implementation.
Move says it’s using only sold data from MLSs to power AgentMatch in markets where the MLSs have agreed to participate in testing.
AgentMatch, currently aimed at home sellers and available only in Las Vegas and Boulder, Colo., is designed to identify top real estate agents in a consumer’s search area through an algorithm based on recent sales, list-to-sale-price ratio, average days on market of homes listed, recommendations and other information.
Consumers can also see that information dating back six months in real estate agent profiles on the site when they search by city, ZIP code or neighborhood. The general reaction to AgentMatch from real estate brokers and agents has been overwhelmingly negative, both in the comment section of an Inman News story about the launch of the service, and on social media channels, including several Facebook groups. “I don’t think NAR should do this at all,” said David Hanna, a broker-owner in Chicago. The association should “create and maintain a business environment that we could all work with.”
Hanna said he thinks that providing quantitative MLS data to consumers presents a restricted picture of an agent’s performance.
Paul Scheufler, a managing broker with Expert Realty Services Inc. in the Chicago suburbs, said AgentMatch’s emphasis on agents’ production puts newer agents at an unfair disadvantage, and favors business models such experienced real estate agents and agent teams.
Scheufler and Hanna said qualitative data can present a more accurate picture of an agent’s value.
Hanna, Scheufler and other agents have expressed frustration with NAR for letting the controversial tool see the light of day.
“It is tough enough earning a living as a Realtor,” Scheufler said. ”Why would the association that represents us want to make it tougher?”
I personally feel AgentMatch will provide transparency and bring clarity to homeowners looking to identify a skilled and highly qualified real estate professional to aid them in fetching top dollar for their home. In today’s market it takes much more than a price and a sign to sell a home… homeowner's need an agent who has the expertise, knowledge, determination, and integrity to handle all of your real estate needs! Agent's need have a premium marketing plan that provides maximum exposure to the marketplace which will aid homeowners in their efforts to secure the highest possible price for their homes, in the shortest amount of time.
A home is an investment and for most, it is one of their largest financial assets, and one that should not be trusted to just anyone!
Negative reaction no surprise
The Houston Association of Realtors, which operates one of the nation’s largest MLSs, and Seattle-based brokerage Redfin have each experimented with MLS-powered agent ranking platforms. Both were met with loud protests from agents, and were short-lived..
After HAR pulled the plug on its attempt to serve up agent productivity statistics in the spring of 2010, CEO Bob Hale predicted that consumers would eventually get access to agents’ transaction histories, but that it would “happen outside of the industry, and everybody will be mad.”
As Hale predicted, some companies that operate third-party websites not affiliated with NAR have in fact made moves in that direction. But they’ve encountered opposition when attempting to provide consumers with agent productivity statistics that may include information derived from MLS data.
American Home Realty Network Inc., which operates real estate listing portal and agent ratings website NeighborCity.com, was sued by two MLSs not long after launching its “Agent Match” tool. The company remains embroiled with NAR in long-running copyright infringement and antitrust lawsuits.
In the latest twist, American Home Realty Network this week sent realtor.com operator Move Inc. a cease-and-desist letter alleging Move’s “AgentMatch” tool infringes on NeighborCity’s trademark registration of the term “Agent Match.”
The largely hostile reaction from agents to previous attempts to surface agent productivity statistics — even by groups with strong industry ties, like HAR and Redfin — was no secret to realtor.com executives. So it was not a surprise when the tide of agent opinion quickly turned against AgentMatch, Realtor.com said President Errol Samuelson.
“If this goes well, agents and Realtors will say that this was a good thing for the industry,” he said.
As realtor.com shifts its focus to catering to consumers’ needs in an effort to stay relevant and retain its status as the leading listing portal, unhappy agents may be a fact of life — at least until they see the pluses outweighing the minuses.
Zillow and Trulia allow agents to manage profiles on the site that can display information on past sales and current listings inputted by agents. Zillow users can rate and review agents, and Trulia users can post recommendations. On realtor.com, agents may add client recommendations they receive through RealSatisfied, a service that surveys clients on customer satisfaction, to their Find-a-Realtor profiles.
NAR’s latest survey of homebuyers and sellers showed that 89 percent of homebuyers used the Internet to search for a home, but only 9 percent said they found their agent online (88 percent of buyers worked with a real estate agent to purchase their home). That discrepancy will not hold, Samuelson said. Consumers will demand more info they can use to evaluate agents on the Web.
It’s only a matter of time before transaction-based agent information becomes widespread, Samuelson said. Consumers will demand the data, he said, and Realtors can get ahead of the curve with AgentMatch.
AgentMatch’s agent-ranking algorithm incorporates more than just MLS stats, he said. The rating system also factors in agents’ recommendations and certifications. Agent rankings are not based only on the volume of active listings or the number of home sales, Samuelson said, addressing a perception voiced by many agents.
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