As Brian said, “Rotten Neighbors” may be too harsh for real estate, but if there is no ability for a consumer to differentiate between agents/brokers, then how can a consumer think that there are differences of quality?

Jeff Johnston, CEO
http://www.besthomepro.com
Twitter @JeffPref

Complaint sites aren’t the answer. I would guess it is a 10 to 1 ratio where angry people will bother to complain than happy people will take time to praise.

The Realtor is a good person to seek the referral because in theory has has done several deals with the loan officer. Or someone who has bought and refinanced homes several times.

On a side note, I notice customer service declining. Layoffs creat higher demand on existing employees and there own worries about their job and the economy affect them.

I can relate. Clients of mine called not long ago. The number the appraiser came up with seemed steeped in science fiction, not fact. So I did the appraiser’s work for him and generated the number associated with the time frame and proximity of the property. How unfortunate to have to correct somebody with nearly 20 years in the biz and thousands of appraisals. But even with all of that self-proclaimed expertise he still managed to have his head betwixt his cheeks.

My sense is that guys on the funding side are either running scared or Or they’re fatigued. And so the fellows that can’t tell what’s theirs from a hole in the ground go undetected, set up to play spoiler for the next innocent. So maybe we need to more fully embrace and employ the philosophy of “it takes a village.” If I am my brother’s keeper let me praise him when he does estimable things. And let me point out when he falls quite shy of the goal.

The problem, though, is that the hyper-anonymity of the internet typically gloms on to the negative and exchanges are supplanted by unprintable rants.

Here’s to taking responsibility – both personal and social. And to doing it in a responsible and civil way.

Tom McCarey

Awesome article – and obviously you’ve touched on an idea that some of us have been wondering as well. The main challenge I see is the liability.

We live in such a letigious society today that almost anything negative you say about someone – especially if it negatively impacts their pocketbook (even if they deserve it) – can be viewed as slander/libel.

As we know, you don’t have to be on the “right” side of a lawsuit for it to sap resources and money.

I fully agree though that it’s the street level originators and agents who need to help weed out the bad and incompetent apples. Great article man.