Wilson, former chairman of Personal Touch Financial Services, his wife, Malone, executive chairman of PMS and Reynolds, former PMS business development director and PTFS broker Simon Dejemil will launch Agent Tracker, a consumer facing site on Friday this week.
Estate agents will have to subscribe to the site to achieve a star rating but consumers will be able to review any estate agent in the country - whether the agent is subscribed or not.
Reynolds told Mortgage Introducer: “We see this as a two way service: it will help consumers looking for an independent review of how estate agents have performed but it will also be a good way for agents to promote their own businesses by referring buyers to an independent review site.”
Agent Tracker will not censor consumer reviews which Reynolds says makes the site completely independent.
“The site will be reflective of consumer views,” he added. “It should help to raise the standards of all agents in line with those achieving good ratings.”
Malone said that the site was not trying to be a regulatory body, but added: “Currently there’s nobody out there giving independent, recognised reviews of estate agents in this sector. We believe this will create some guidance for consumers.”
There are already in excess of 30,000 estate agent branches listed on the site and Malone said more would follow, adding that if successful the group would consider extending the model to the rental sector.
Malone declined to comment on whether this model might be used in the future to review mortgage brokers’ performance, but Reynolds said: “Customer reviews are the way forward whether people want them or not.”
Agent Tracker director, Simon Djemil, said:"The website will allow consumers to make informed choices about which agent to choose to market their property. Buying and selling a property is a big decision and in most instances only occurs a handful of times during a consumer’s lifetime. Choosing the right agent is important.”
