Realtor review site
We introduced you to Mountain of Agents earlier this year, a site that allows consumers to rate Realtors based on far less subjective metrics than the industry standard of “give this agent five stars” mentality.
Mountain of Agents Founder, Michael Becker said, “With the gaggle of sites out there trying to cram the entire real estate universe into a cluttered, messy single entity, our site offers a breath of fresh air to consumers and agents by focusing on usability, relevancy and reliability.”
Becker and his team has just made some changes to the public member profiles and how they are rated and has other updates in the pipeline.
iPhone app now available
Mountain of Agents’ biggest update is that they now offer an iPhone app which they are calling “consumer-centric” and offers to “showcase the agents in the palm of your hand.”
When Realtors register themselves on the site, the are included in the mobile search as well as the web search and Becker adds that when a Realtor reserves a zip code, their featured listing is displayed on mobile searches.
We suspect that the biggest use for an app like this is consumers physically on the prowl that need an agent to open the door for them or as one of several research methods for selecting a potential listing agent.
Mixed reviews of reviews
The site has launched to mixed reviews as many in the industry are not supportive of ratings for Realtors. The biggest criticism being publicly noted regarding Mountain of Agents was that there is no validation method employed like Zillow ratings, thus allowing any web user to review any agent which lends to gaming of the system or abuse at the least. Becker told us that they have responded to this criticism by requiring a validated email address in order to rate an agent and users can only rate an agent once.
