As much as personal recommendations from friends and family are revered when it comes to real estate recommendations, people nowadays turn to the Internet for reviews, including real estate agent prospects. Consumers have become more critical, and they want to get as much bang for their buck, so that means getting a good review on your service will upgrade your chances of scoring clients. Here's a list of websites you can use:
Zillow is specifically made for real estate agents, and you get to have separate star ratings for several aspects, like your negotiation skills, process expertise, local knowledge, and responsiveness. Take note that the site gets a whopping 124 million visits per month! If you take this into account, it's safe to say that getting your share of leads through this site will be high. Included in the Zillow group websites that advertise realtors are Trulia and StreetEasy.
- Why it's good for you: The site has a feature that lets you be a Zillow Premiere Agent through which you can promote your listings, generate buyer and seller leads, and even advertise on Facebook. This comes with a fee, but it gives you the benefit of exclusivity – you’re the only agent promoted on the page when you submit your listing, as opposed to not getting signed up as a Zillow Premiere Agent wherein other agents will appear on your listing – and wider reach, because even if you don’t have a listing of your own yet, you get to advertise on the local listings by non-Zillow Premiere Agents.
- What to watch out for: If you ask your clients to give a review, they would have to make an account in Zillow which might prove to be a hassle. Also, they do not have a clear description of how they filter reviews so it is likely that you might get a bogus review for your work. Another problem that clients encountered with Zillow is that home prices listed on the website are not always accurate.
Yelp is a broad review platform that allows its users to give their take on restaurants, schools, and even realtors. The site has been around for a while, and it's been redesigned as a social networking site where reviewers can connect with fellow reviewers.
- Why it's good for you: Yelp is easy to use and navigate; you won’t need to stress over learning how to use a specialized website. Another great aspect of the site is that they try to ensure the integrity of their reviews by screening them first before posting them. It filters the bogus reviewers, and if one does come up on your page, you can request to have the review moved.
- What to watch out for: The robot that they’ve created for the website to filter reviews works on its downside too – their faulty algorithm could have half of the legitimate and helpful reviews buried.
Trulia helps its users not only find their home, but it also helps them find real estate professionals such as brokers, agents, mortgage brokers and lenders, appraisers, and property managers through its extensive agent directory.
- Why it's good for you: Now that it’s owned by Zillow, you can have a wider reach. It also allows you to send a client listing report so that your clients can know how you’re featuring their home on Trulia.
- What to watch out for: There were complaints by realtors mentioning how Trulia promised them leads from zip codes where the housing market was “hot,” but the site failed to deliver them this promise, even after they had purchased leads.
Realtor is a site dedicated to real estate, which enables their users to look for listings, to know details about mortgages, and to find realtors.
- Why it's good for you: Realtor has real estate articles popping out of Google searches for when someone wants to know more about buying and selling property. And they almost always have a link on those articles leading to finding a realtor on their website. They also have rating categories for real estate agents’ attributes such as market expertise, communication, professionalism, negotiation skills, and responsiveness.
- What to watch out for: Some buyers may veer away from properties posted on this site because of the lack of information that could be featured on the site, such as crime rates within the area. They also don’t feature photos of the property as much as other websites do.
You can say that Facebook is oversaturated with all sorts of things, or that it can distract people from your property. This is true to some extent, but it's also the first thing people check when they open their phones, so the market is assuredly big.
- Why it's good for you: You can make your page as easily as you can have it noticed, since everyone is on Facebook. You can pay to have your page advertised (it’s actually cheaper than you think!) or you can opt to have your friends and family share your page and have you easily connected to a web of people who could be potential clients.
- What to watch out for: If you do use Facebook as a website for getting clients, it’s advisable to have other websites in tow – specifically websites which are mainly used for selling property - since Facebook may cause limitations in terms of presenting the full range of what realtors have to offer.
