A new partnership between RE/MAX and startup Two By Fore has the potential to calm the “Wild West situation” real estate agents face when building an online reputation, according to the Vancouver tech company’s co-founder.
Instead of rating agents by their knowledge, Two By Fore’s Adam Lerner said he finds real estate professionals are often judged by their personalities on services like Yelp or Google My Business — formerly Google Places.
“What they (real estate agents) were really interested in is a tool that could enable them to build a reputation in the areas that they really wanted to be known for,” Lerner told Business In Vancouver.
Two By Fore launched a pilot tool in July that allows people to pose questions to real estate professionals, who are in turn rated by users based on the quality of the answers.
The more “likes” a response receives, the higher it ranks.
The startup has since partnered with franchise brands like Royal LePage and independent brands like Vancouver’s Dexter Associates.
In late November it reached a one-year affiliate marketing agreement with RE/MAX of Western Canada that provides agents with a discount on the service.
“They recognized it would never be credible in the consumers’ eyes if it was only ever going to be a RE/MAX product and somebody was only seeing RE/MAX agents,” Lerner said, adding the company is in talks with a “national franchise” to bring the service across Canada.
One of the challenges Two By Fore is getting real estate agents to participate, according to Lerner.
He said managers understand the importance of online reputations but agents are often more focused on closing a sale than sitting down to answer questions from people who likely won’t turn into clients.
But Margaret Wong, a real estate agent with Dexter Associates who uses the service, said she’s had to raise her own bar when providing information to people through Two By Fore.
“When you just tell someone (to their) face, you’re just telling one person,” she said.
“When I’m writing it online it’s for anybody that’s seeing it — forever.”
