Ranking the Real-Estate Agents: Clunky Site Identifies Best Bets
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Homethinking.com is a site designed to help home buyers and sellers select a real-estate agent. It aims to help consumers target the most active and the most recommended agents through a combination of consumer reviews and Homethinking.com’s ranking system. “The agents who do the most work usually get the better price,” says Niki Scevak, founder of Homethinking LLC, based in New York. An agent who is actively buying and selling homes in a particular area may be able to get a seller a sales price that is 10% higher than someone who has sold only a few homes, he says |
Homethinking.com uses a computer model to rate agents (those who sell more homes and receive positive reviews are ranked higher), so a search for real-estate agents in a particular city will first list agents who sell the most homes and have gotten the highest number of positive reviews from site visitors. (With the exception of agents listed in the “Sponsored Profiles” box — those agents have paid for their spots.) Homethinking.com shows the average asking price and price range of an agent’s listings and if the information is publicly available, the asking price, number of bedrooms, address and map location for each property. For an agent’s sold properties, the site notes the original listing price, final sale price, month and year sold, number of bedrooms, address and map location.
