Real Estate Brokerage Review Manipulations
If you're social media savvy, you can potentially rely on the reviews and feedback of your friends and family before trying a business for the first time. Real estate, a profession that's highly regulated by state and local laws, requires education and licensure- word of mouth referrals and reviews can mean the difference between surviving as an agent or not. But an agent is just that- a cog in a bigger wheel. Any brokerage can have tens, if not hundreds of agents. One bad apple might not speak to a bigger issue, and again, we can fall back on reviews for a litmus before we choose to hire an agent or particular brokerage for one of the most emotional and important transactions in an American's life. You expect honesty and ethical behavior. These transactions involve your personal information, your finances, and what can be a lifelong commitment to a property- it is absolutely imperative that you trust the broker or agent you hire as well as their managing office before you commit- and that includes their reviews. But what if you can't? What if you discover that a brokerage uses their employees and agents to manipulate reviews on social media to apparently combat negative reviews. I decided to take a look at the Facebook page of a brokerage local to my own area that has some questionable reviews. After visiting the Facebook business page of Coldwell Banker- The Real Estate Group to investigate their social media reviews, I discovered a disturbing pattern.
Based on 36 reviews left by page visitors, the business' review ranking is at 3.9 Of those 36 reviews- only 16 people actually recommend the company. Of all the visible reviews, I was able to confirm that 9 of them or 25% were left by employees or ownership of the company. And despite what looks to be a clear and blatant attempt to manipulate reviews to benefit their image- 20 of the 36 reviews (visible or otherwise) DO NOT recommend this company. Ed Prodehl, the former CEO and current chairman of the parent franchise, Coldwell Banker Honig-Bell and father of Mike Prodehl- the current VP of Coldwell Banker- The Real Estate Group, left a review on the Facebook page himself:
Well trained and honest, you say? Maybe he doesn't see the irony of manipulating reviews and calling the company honest.
Here's a family photo from Ed's Facebook page that shows him and his son (big guy with the soul patch on the right) together.
And here's a link announcing a merger between Coldwell Banker- Honig-Bell (Run by Ed) and The Real Estate Group (Run by son, Mike): HERE Continuing on about the reviews- Not all reviewers left visible feedback, but the visible feedback is disconcerting. Allegations of rude agents and unethical billing practices paper the page. As I was investigating the reviews left, and the reviewers who left visible comments, I pointed out the comments left by agents as I found them. One agent was kind enough to reply- pretty aggressively- accusing me of trolling. But he confirmed something for me- an earlier review that called their agents rude. I looked deeper into this outspoken agent and provided him a bit of feedback of my own. Not only is he an agent, but also a property appraiser that owns his own appraisal firm. No... no potential conflict of interest there. I let him know, just in case he didn't.
One with a fiduciary interest in a property, product, or business is duty bound ethically to disclose their relationship in a review. Ask the FTC. As an influencer myself- if I received or will receive compensation as a direct relation to my review- I must disclose that. Parties that are employed or contracted by- or even OWN a business should probably disclose that when leaving a review- so it looks honest and unbiased. But you know... laws... I hear they're optional for some people. (shrugs) At the very least, discoveries like this serve as a reminder to users of review systems and social media that you must look deeper than face value of reviews before deciding who to hire and trust. Update: Upon further investigation, I see that the FTC agrees with me: HERE for the full article. Or:
"EMPLOYEE ENDORSEMENTS I work for a terrific company. Can I mention our products to people in my social networks? How about on a review site? My friends won’t be misled since it’s clear in my online profiles where I work. If your company allows employees to use social media to talk about its products, you should make sure that your relationship is disclosed to people who read your online postings about your company or its products. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Isn’t the employment relationship something you would want to know before relying on someone else’s endorsement? Listing your employer on your profile page isn’t enough. After all, people who just read what you post on a review site won’t get that information.People reading your posting on a review site probably won’t know who you are. You definitely should disclose your employment relationship when making an endorsement.On her own initiative and without us asking, one of our employees used her personal social network simply to “like” or “share” one of our company’s posts. Does she need to disclose that she works for our company?Whether there should be any disclosure depends upon whether the “like” or “share” could be viewed as an advertisement for your company. If the post is an ad, then employees endorsing the post should disclose their relationship to the company. With a share, that’s fairly easy to do, “Check out my company’s great new product ….” Regarding “likes,” see what we said above about “likes.” If this happened to you, you can file your complaint HERE