Create a 'Tripadvisor' style review site for Real Estate Agents/Agencies

I would like to see a ‘Tripadvisor’ style review site/app where consumers could rate their experiences of dealing with Real Estate Agents / Agencies when renting, buying or selling.
I think there is a great need for this and, if it were successful, it would do much to increase accountability and ethical behavior in the Industry.

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I agree with you Madeleine, I have had the experience of renting homes over the past few years and have had a range of experience from great to poor. I had been thinking for some time how good it would be to have a review site as you suggest!

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One has been developed in Australia with the name OpenAgent for comparison

Thanks for the tip. I checked out the OpenAgent site but it appears to be more of a real estate broker and only deals with buying/selling. There seems to be very few independent reviews from clients and the reviews are moderated.

Hi, I recently came across one called https://www.ratemyagent.com.au/
Haven’t had a good look at it to check authenticity, but seems to have a large database of agents rated.

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Thanks Justin, ‘ratemyagent’ is also only for buying/selling property and seems to be more of an advertising / agent broker platform. “For agents and agencies, RateMyAgent provides a common platform to demonstrate experience and sales ability to prospective vendors. If you’re an agent or broker, get the most out of RateMyAgent by claiming your profile, reporting your results and requesting reviews from your vendors and buyers.”
All reviews appear to be 5 stars. I’d like to see a consumer driven review site and I would expect to see a range of rating for the same place as you do on TripAdvisor.

Great concept! This industry could do with being held more accountable and consumer power and market forces may be the only effective way.

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Love the concept! I am sure that Tenant Advice and tenant unions would as well

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It doesn’t help when governments can’t even provided clear regulations.

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I couldn’t agree more. My father ran his own Real Estate business for over 40 years. I won’t publish the name here to protect my identity and his. We all worked there at some stage. Some of the stories we would hear were shocking. Even through the Real Estate Depression in the 80’s my father’s business survived. Why? Because anyone that had dealt with him before always came back to him because of his honesty and integrity. He only sold the business (not the business name) a few years ago and retired. It was very important to Dad that whomever took over his clients would take care of them as he did. There were lots of promises, but sadly they weren’t kept. More fool them as they have now lost some very wealthy, long term landlords and vendors. Word does get back to people. There are some great Real Estate Agents out there, there really are, and it’s sad that the shonky one’s give the rest a bad name. Word of mouth is a very powerful tool. I think a site or app is a great idea. :slight_smile:

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Qld has Tenants Qld and QSTARS which are for renters who have issues with their landlords/rental property managers.
This could be right up their alley if they don’t already have one in place. However I would imagine it would be leaving them open for defamation claims loss of income etc.
I am unsure if other states have a similar type of community service yet that could be a good place to start off.