An Update On Brokerate
You can beta test something to death, but sometimes there’s no substitute for the real world. When we began planning Brokerate we struggled with how to handle comments and the potential for abusive behavior. At the time, we thought that we’d provide the platform, appeal to everyone’s sense of decency and let the market take…
You can beta test something to death, but sometimes there’s no substitute for the real world. When we began planning Brokerate we struggled with how to handle comments and the potential for abusive behavior. At the time, we thought that we’d provide the platform, appeal to everyone’s sense of decency and let the market take care of itself. After watching things play out over the first few days, we’ve grown increasingly uncomfortable with the number of mean, trite and foundationless comments. While our goal in creating the site was clearly to provide the consumer with a useful tool, we’ve decided that on balance the comments are too destructive; while we are unapologetic about the need for more transparency and accountability in the profession, we have to listen to our own conscience–which has served us well navigating the sometimes dicey waters of Brownstoner–and balance that need with the fact that peoples’ livelihoods are at stake here. So here’s the plan: We’re keeping the rating system (which has a control in place to limit each user to voting only once for each broker), replacing the comments with a references (if you feel strongly about a broker, you can leave your email for potential clients to contact you), and are going to work over the next few weeks to build more functionality and searchability into the broker profiles (hopefully to include things like neighborhood specialization and lists of closed transactions). We hope to have the changes to the comments section done by the end of the day today. We’d also appreciate everyone’s ideas about additional functionality they would like to see in the future.
Thanks,
Brownstoner
Maybe you could offer a supplemental questionaire in addition to the ratings that allowed a more detailed evaluation. At the end, the filler could leave their e-mail address as a reference.
You could then post those results.
I see a 6 point scale for:
Promptness/Reliability?
Hard Sell?
Local expertise?
Loyalty?
Physical appearance (seriously)?
Would use again?
Advertising/Marketing?
Ask price versus selling price (higher, lower, same)?
Time on market(1 month, 3 months, more than 6months)?
You get the picture.
I think the changes are good. I don’t think the concept of Brokerrate is “mean” per se, in that people can comment positively as well. However, if society at large has negative perceptions about brokers as a profession (like they do lawyers), based on things which have little to do with each broker’s individual performance, then the site will probably still have a “broker-bashing” quality to it.
The lack of comments is a positive thing and one not need look further than this site for proof: consider all the idiots who make a mess out of these blogs from time to time!
Also since we don’t have a functioning MLS here in Brooklyn, I am not sure that people deal with one particular broker when buying a house. I guess this might help sellers though. Seems like it would just be a popularity contest for the brokers themselves.
FSBO is the way to go.
The broker listings need to be alphabetized and searchabe by name. Also newest comments should be at the top of the list and time stamped to improve their relevance.
Bad idea all together! Stay true to site’s mission “An unhealthy obsession with historic Brooklyn brownstones and the neighborhoods and lifestyles they define” Public rating system’s never work.
The problem with having no comments is that any broker can vote for themselves at every computer they come across (this could mean going to the internet cafe and voting for themselves at every computer).
Additionally, there might be something wrong with my computer, but every time I sign off, I get to revote.
The good thing about comments is that I can instantly tell which realtors are doing this when their comments don’t match their scores. If you kill the comment section, then Brokerate has no credibility whatsoever.
I think you should keep the comment section, but make it so that the most recent comments are on top. Realtors should not have the life-long stigma of that angry comment to be the first thing that everyone sees.
One reason I believe that comments are trite: people don’t want to give specifics when rating a realtor negatively because then the realtor could retaliate. They know a lot about your house and your finances, and could report problems to various authorities.
For this reason, if you do change the site to just give references, then the brokerate should hide the references’ e-mail address ala Craigslist.
The more people that vote, the more relevant the ratings should become. Right now, which most brokers only having been rate once or twice, the numbers aren’t particularly meaningful. Over time, that should change.
The best brokers (by far.. leaps and bounds the best in the industry) have some of the lowest scores. This is a competitive field and the number one people voting on this are other brokers. So they vote their competition low. Quite simple.
You want a fair system. Remove the anonymous vote as well as the anonymous comments.
Can I suggest pulling in the broker’s photo too? I think that would break up all the text and also help ID the good ones a little better.