Yesterday Move, Inc. relaunched Realtor.com. I haven’t fully explored the new site, but imagine they’ve made great strides with their home search functionality. Can’t wait to try it out.
Naturally I gravitated toward the “Find REALTORS®” tab located toward the top center of the page. You can’t miss it – it has a fancy orange “NEW” ribbon hanging just above it.
Curious, I clicked it just now and entered my zip code. Immediately I was informed that 1,527 agents serve my area. Interested, but a little overwhelmed, I hit the search button.
You’re going to love this. Realtor.com has sorted this list of 1,527 agents alphabetically – using the agent’s first name mind you – and divided it up into 150+ pages of 10 agents each. Think Michael Adams, Michael Burke, Michael Carter, Michael Dole, etc. After clicking the search button, I was randomly taken to one of these 150+ pages.
Are you kidding me? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Making matters worse, the only other way to sort this massive list is in reverse-alphabetical order. I think the only thing worse – and more useless – than sorting 1,527 agents alphabetically by first name is to sort them reverse-alphabetically by first name. Where’s the beef? I may as well flip through an old phone book and randomly select an agent, no?
As before, Realtor.com offers no easy way to compare agents on the few relevant fields included in its agent search results. The status quo lives on.
This is the kind of nonsense that consumers, to put it politely, can’t stand. It’s also what in part inspired me to launch AgentsCompared.com last year in Chicagoland. Our mission – help consumers choose the right real estate agent for them.
I’m not sure what, if anything, Realtor.com’s “Find REALTORS®” function accomplishes, other than frustrating consumers and inspiring entrepreneurs. Oh, but wait a minute. If I’m feeling like sorting my Realtor.com agent search results in reverse-alphabetical order, Zoran Denovich is going to be looking pretty good! (Zoran, if you’re reading this, email me and I’ll set you up with a free, one year Premium Plan subscription on AgentsCompared.com)
Thoughts?
