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Would this be a useful service on patrick.net?
2012 May 11, 3:01am 3,693 views 8 comments
by agst follow (0)
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PockyClipsNow
2012 May 11, 4:12am
There was a database of agents with closings per year but it was inaccurate and then lawsuits started and they shut it down maybe 2 years ago- I think it was zillow or trulia. It stayed up maybe a month.
Im not an attorney but you will get into privacy, slander, libel and other legal issues. Any agent who 'is dissed' on such a site can easly get that data taken down i think.
Its the exact same issue with finding a good doctor, dentist, auto mechanic, etc. 1-800-Dentist will refer you a dentist who paid them to be on the referral list probably. thats your only busniess model, not anything actually useful to buyers other than maybe checking the gov websites to screen for molesters or unlcensed.
Also you can check out their license status at dre.ca.gov its called 'license status check' - not much there though!
APOCALYPSEFUCK is Tony Manero says
No one needs any information on Realtor®s
the assumption here is that RE have no affect on realestate prices. Is that a true assumption?
Right now they are a necessary evil in this whole process. Until you can change the process, why not an Angies list for realtors(R)?
elliemae
2012 May 11, 8:19am
Why don't we rate prostitutes? It's much more honest, and a real public service.
Its the exact same issue with finding a good doctor, dentist, auto mechanic, etc. 1-800-Dentist will refer you a dentist who paid them to be on the referral list probably. thats your only busniess model, not anything actually useful to buyers other than maybe checking the gov websites to screen for molesters or unlcensed.
Haven't Yelp and AngiesList shown somewhat different models?
Patrick
2012 May 11, 10:35am
Im not an attorney but you will get into privacy, slander, libel and other legal issues. Any agent who 'is dissed' on such a site can easly get that data taken down i think.
Yes, I'm afraid that's true. There was an interesting article in the NY Times recently about why there are no comprehensive doctor review websites. Same reason: all those sites regularly get sued and harassed.
Free speech in America does not seem to include giving your opinion of specific doctors or realtors.
It would be a good feature to have a comment area like Redfin has on the listings. On Redfin the comments are only those by their own agents.
This is an off topic idea, but how about a service that allows users to submit realtor (R) ratings? Part of the problem with the process is that these people have no accountability and that is largely due to anonymity and the lack of a centralized location where I can check out their actual credentials. There are a few ways this could be useful to buyers, however, the monetization aspect is still open in my mind:
If you can build a database of realtors and their closings by year, You can embellish this data by allowing :
1) people who submitted offers to rate their agent and their buying agent. The ratings cannot be submitted anonymously and you may want to randomly request verification by asking for a copy of the submitted offer with signatures. However, the data is only visible in aggregate or summary, therefore protecting personal information etc
2) and the actual people that closed the transaction could do the same.
This would be more useful with the data around closings but it would still be useful without it. The questions and ratings system itself must be thought out to be useful and relevant. A service like this by default would probably collect more negative ratings than positive ones, but that is exactly what is of interest to buyers. Organize the data by region or zipcode and charge buyers a few dollars to view the data for a limited period of time. Allows people to avoid sharks and be selective about their realtors. Some investigation would be required into legal liabilities etc.
agst
#housing