Realtor review sample: the good, the bad and the ugly

Reviews can be a deal maker or a deal-breaker for any business, including your real estate company. And, review management is a big part of attracting new clients and holding on to your existing ones.

5-star reviews are what you should be aiming for.

You want reviews that contain phrases such as:

• Stress-free
• Such a pleasure
• Fantastic realtor
• Extremely responsive
• Wonderful job
• Good advice
• Extensive knowledge
• Huge help

This is what will make you stand out from the other real estate agents.

If you want to know what kind of real estate agent reviews will win you repeat and new business, read our guide below.

PS: asking for realtor reviews the hard way is overrated (not to mention, unreliable). Want to know how Rental Property Network collected 234 Google reviews in 30 days?

They used Cloutly to drive, monitor, respond to and showcase their customer reviews on autopilot.

Instead of verbally asking your clients for reviews, manually following up and trawling through your emails trying to find out where that review link went... do yourself a favour and take a look at how a tool like Cloutly can help you score more 5-star reviews than ever before (and become the top-rated agent in your area).

Why is it important to get a good realtor review?

Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest decisions in a person's life. It's a journey fraught with research and requires ample levels of trust. As an agent, winning listings doesn't happen by driving flashy cars or wearing expensive watches, it happens when other people trust you, talk about you, and spread the word about their success with you. Excellent realtors have a big following.  

That starts with a good realtor review on relevant real estate platforms - getting your current and past clients to review you in order to attract new leads (like first-time home buyers, or returning sellers).

It's extremely helpful not just for the agent's business, but it helps future, potential customers make an informed decision about who to choose as their agent. If you're a newly licensed real estate agent, you can even look at other realtors' positive reviews for insider tips. Learn from the competition's reviews. What can you implement that other agents' clients are praising?

From your phone mannerisms or the initial meeting, you can generate success just by showing yourself as someone that exudes confidence and competence; someone who understands the local area does their research prior to speaking to new clients and understands how to listen.

Scoring a review starts from day one. After all, you're on the clock, being measured on your professionalism throughout the entire buying or selling process (not just at the end when you remember that you need a review).

And when it does come time to ask? Reviews are bread and butter for agents. Clients are more likely to trust and put faith in agents with consistent, glowing reviews. Why? Because they've done it before. Others have seen it happen. Reviews indicate that you know what you're doing, you've got the runs on the board and you're the right person for the job.

If you're a real estate agent, you need great reviews to boost your business.

A good review builds your reputation

You need good reviews to build a reputation for your real estate agency. Whether it's on Google, Zillow or elsewhere, your future clients are comparing you. What will they find?

What people say about your business is what future, potential clients will see and believe. Don't make it hard - help your happy clients review you on the sites that matter. Show them where and how they can review your outstanding services to build your reputation (and if you want to make it easy, use a tool like Cloutly).

When you're a phenomenal agent, your reviews will speak for themselves. The upside? Top-rated agents rise to the top and win even more listings.

A good review establishes trust

Death, taxes and real estate agents being perceived as a bit dodgy; certainties in life! But that doesn't have to be you.

Collecting glowing, positive reviews (as text or video testimonials) is a shortcut to building trust with future clients. When you're being compared to another local real estate business, people are looking for proof that you're an honest person; someone who can help them with their home buying process (or with selling houses - the whole process).

It's also easy to 'rate your real estate agent' if you use a great review tool like Cloutly, so your clients have no excuse not to.

A good review boosts your SEO ranking

Ever Googled 'real estate agency' in your local area? Chances are, the agencies who show up first are the ones who've collected the most reviews.

Collecting a consistent stream of great reviews is one of the fastest ways to improve your Google rankings. High rankings reap the most rewards (when people need their home sold, you bet they're looking for the best agent).

Rather than paying for ads, if you can improve your local SEO (search engine optimisation) just by collecting positive feedback, then that is, in effect, a free marketing tool that compounds over time.

Google's local 'map pack' listings also appear before any traditional organic search results (like websites). So just by consistently scoring Google My Business reviews alone, you're in with a strong chance to appear amongst the best realtors when a customer searches for a real estate agent in your location.

The best part? It doesn't need to be a pain. Even if you've never put effort into collecting real estate reviews before, using a tool like Cloutly can maximise your chances of success.

That's how Rental Property Network collected 234 Google reviews in 30 days.

Learn more here so you can replicate their success.

Examples of client testimonials

There are many types of real estate reviews out there. We've categorised them for you: the good, the bad and the ugly.

The type of review you'll receive of course depends on the client journey. Are they buyers or sellers? How about tenants, builders or tradespeople? Don't feel like you're limited to only collecting reviews from buyers and sellers; if you're delivering an absolutely wonderful experience through your real estate process, from the first meeting, to feedback after house viewing, to settlement; capitalise and get people talking about it!

Ultimately, while we always hope our clients will be completely satisfied, some may have unmet expectations and some may be downright unhappy. At the end of the day, both types of clients are able to give testimonials.

Unsatisfied customers could be a result of unrealistic expectations, poor outcomes or a hitch in communications or processes. At times, you may even have outliers - reviews that are completely odd - a case of mistaken identity or a competitor out there who takes pleasure in ruining your reputation for their own commercial benefit. Read how to remove negative Google reviews here.

While consistency and volume of reviews are important to you as a real estate agent, what also matters is how you respond to the negative reviews.

Good review example

What makes for a great real estate review? Look below at Anton's review for his agent, Rebecca:

In this case, the entire home buying process took place without the buyers physically seeing the property. Wow! That requires a special experience, and from this review, we know that the agent was able to quickly investigate and answer questions from the buyers while providing a comprehensive, 1-to-1 experience with great advice and outstanding service throughout the whole process.

Here's another example (below).

This glowing review would score a real estate agent repeat business and new business, and for good reason:

It was a real pleasure working with Tania. We weren't sure whether we really wanted to sell our first house but we had seen an open house on our street (in a quiet suburban area) sell in one day, with multiple offers. We met with Tania and explained our reservations and from the get-go, she was extremely patient and eased our decision making process. We had a professional photographer at our house and within less than a week, we had offers way over our asking price.

Tania truly understands how to sell houses. She made the process incredibly easy and her thorough knowledge, not only of general real estate, but of the local market made it a great pleasure throughout the whole process.

Now our good friends are going to get their house ready to sell as they saw that we were extremely happy. She's the best realtor with a great team around her.

This isn't just a review that contains glowing praise, but it contains specific, extremely helpful information that will inform other home sellers of the real estate agent's capabilities.

It's clear that what this real estate agent is great at doing is working closely with sellers to provide a stress-free experience, having a deep understanding of the local market and getting great results (with offers higher than the asking price).

Bad review example

A bad real estate agent review doesn't necessarily mean a venom-soaked diatribe; it can also simply be a review that doesn't provide any useful insight into the whole process, the agent or the result. Reviews like these rarely benefit you as a real estate agent, because they're not telling an engaging story, authentically promoting you to future clients.

Now, truly bad reviews are often the most damaging:

I met with Paul when I saw such a beautiful home online and he was the listing agent. It was clear that I was not his only client as he didn't respond in a timely manner.

I thought we might reach out to the entire team to see if they could get back to me but no one was helpful and I missed the closing date.

There's always more than meets the eye, but future clients will see this review and only take away one, key insight: Paul doesn't communicate.

Of course, we don't have all the details. Perhaps this buyer was a low-baller, or perhaps there was a misunderstanding. Unfortunately for Paul, he'll be judged as guilty until proven innocent.

When you receive a negative review like this, there are two things you should do:

1. First, try to resolve the issue privately with the reviewer (if you know them). You may be able to ask them to change their review if there's been a legitimate misunderstanding.

2. Respond to the review and make a case for yourself calmly and professionally. If there's been a misunderstanding, offer to make it right. Your response isn't just for the reviewer to read, but for the next 10,000 people who see it.

Downright ugly review example

There are bad reviews then there are scorched-earth terrible reviews that not only tell the world that you're a bad real estate agent but can also suggest that you're a bad person.

I tried this realtor despite the other poor real estate reviews as they were the only one available to help me find a vacation home. All I can say is, NEVER AGAIN!!!!

It was not stress free, the buying process was made so complicated with them insulting the home owners of the home that I really wanted to buy.

They have all the qualities of an evil dictator and I have no idea why they even have a real estate license when they clearly don't like people, let alone houses. Valuable advice would be to STAY CLEAR, the entire process will be giving me nightmares for years.

This review is so ugly that it's almost too unlikely a competitor wrote it. Sometimes ugly reviews are the handiwork of your competitors trying to discredit you, and while this can be a problem, many real estate review sites do provide methods to deal with fake reviews (and safeguards against them).

Here's another one, sure to derail your reputation:

These types of reviews have a substantial negative impact on your business. Anyone reading this would actively avoid working with you as their realtor. If you're on the receiving end, the manner in which this review is handled will need to be very sensitive. If the accusations are true, this is the sort of real estate agent the industry would be far better without.

Why would someone want to review a realtor?

If a real estate agent has gone above and beyond to accommodate you through the buying and selling process (maybe they even got you the keys to your dream home), you'd be more than happy to write a review of your experience. Most agents never ask!

Building a great reputation starts with providing an absolutely fantastic experience throughout the entire process. Do that, and your clients will rave about you. The trick is getting them to spread the word about you on the right channels, like Google or Zillow, so future real estate clients find you first.

Your real estate agent ratings and reviews are an asset. They're a longstanding reflection of your professionalism, character and expertise; a way for people to quickly understand what it would be like to work with you, and whether or not you're the right agent to list with.

On the other hand, like in any industry, reviews also serve as a warning sign. Unsatisfied clients will also lash out when reviewing a realtor, either to warn others about their bad experience or to simply express their dissatisfaction.

It's important to give all your clients consistently great service if you want consistently great reviews.

Final thoughts

Online reviews should be an integral part of your marketing efforts. Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest decisions someone can make, so you can bet they'll certainly be doing their research and comparing you to others.

After all, no-one wants the worst-rated real estate agent selling their home... right?

As an agent, your reputation is your lifeblood. It's the fastest way to win new listings (or the fastest way to deter them). After any real estate transaction, you should always ask for client reviews on the sites that matter most, like Google or Zillow, where future clients are spending time, actively comparing you to the competition.

But asking for real estate reviews and keeping track of your reputation is a mess. You ask for a review, verbally, and while they say 'yes'... nothing ever happens! Your inbox is already overflowing, so following up with clients becomes an impossible task.

In the end, you know you could probably double your reviews, if only there were an easier way...

That's why we built Cloutly. It's a tool for real estate agents to consistently collect reviews (on any review site) in a more personal, less transactional way. You customise your campaigns with text and/or video, and Cloutly handles the sending, the follow-up, and can even showcase your best reviews and video testimonials on your website.

It's the fastest way to get your clients talking about you. The fastest way to climb the ranks on Google. The fastest way to collect video testimonials. The fastest way to win more listings.

Just ask Rental Property Network, who collected 234 new Google reviews in 30 days. You could do the same and become the top-rated agent in your area.

Sign up for a free trial today and get the unfair advantage.