Brownstoner Launches Brokerate.com
Remember when we asked for some volunteers a couple of weeks ago to beta-test a new service? Well, forty or so readers pitched in (thanks everyone!) and the result is a new website for rating and commenting on real estate brokers around the five boroughs–Brokerate.com. We’re not delusional enough to be unaware of the potential…
Remember when we asked for some volunteers a couple of weeks ago to beta-test a new service? Well, forty or so readers pitched in (thanks everyone!) and the result is a new website for rating and commenting on real estate brokers around the five boroughs–Brokerate.com. We’re not delusional enough to be unaware of the potential pitfalls of the project or the potential (near certainty, make that) for brokers to write about themselves and get their friends to vote for them. We’ve taken some steps to mitigate that behavior, but in the end we think people’s b.s. detectors are pretty good and that the honest anecdotes–good and bad–that people contribute will shine through. For the project to work, though, it’s going to need a lot of input up front, so we’re hoping that you’ll find the time over the next few days to browse through the list of brokers who’ve already been uploaded (you can sort the existing list by borough, ranking, broker last name, agency name) and provide feedback where you can. Then add the names of other brokers you’ve had experiences with. Our biggest plea to everyone is to remain courteous and civil even when expressing negative opinions. If you just write “This guy’s a loser” without providing any anecdotal context it’s going to carry a lot less weight. So please be honest, smart and civil–and thanks in advance for helping to create what we hope will be a useful tool for navigating what can be a stressful and frustrating experience.
Thanks,
Brownstoner
View All Brokers [Brokerate]
Rating Brokers [NY Times]
Bad Broker Beware [Gothamist]
Cool new Thing: Brokerate.com [Curbed]
No, but you can only vote once for each broker from each IP address. But there’s nothing to prevent a broker getting all his/her friends to vote. That’s why it’s critical to get a lot of people using it–and why the comments are so important.
Maybe add a column for the number of respondents?
The weightings are equal but soon you will be able to sort and search by effectiveness
are you allowed to rate sales agents or brokers only?
Is equal weight given to Knowledge, Courtesty and Effectiveness. It would appear that a broker who is knowledgable and courtesty, yet ineffective would score higher than a broker who is highly effective, yet unknowledgable and uncourtetious.
With such an uneven scoring methodology, how am i as a consumer be able to make good use of this information?
For me effectiveness is more important than courtesty and knowledge. For others it may be different. Is there a way to sort by these criteria in addition to be able to sort by name, rating, firm and date added?
You can sort the names by any of the criteria at the top–just click “Rating” or “Name” or “Company” and the list will sort by that criterion. Also use the “View by Location” function on the navigation bar…Of course, there’s tons that can be done to improve the functionality and usability but at some point you gotta just get the product out there…We want as much feedback as possible. One thing we want to add is a search panel where you can select several criteria and generate a list of brokers that fit it…
I’d rate brokers between 1% and 6%, based on the % commission that most brokers get in NYC.
Just a thought.
I think this is a great service,although I have no personal need for it at present, having bought my house long ago and not having any plans to sell it. However, unless I’m doing something wrong, the website seems rather hard to navigate. Wouldn’t it be easier for the user if brokers were listed alpabetically, or by the company they work for?
The random arrangement of names is hard to use now and may become unmanagable as more and more are added.
I’m not sure if I like the way the default sorting is via “added”.