You have a good service and you’re trying new things. Keep up the good work.

You and your commenters make very good points about the nebulous value of commenting on properties. We put property comments in PropSmart last December because it seemed like the “right thing to do,” but we guessed that uptake would be slow and may never happen due to the conflicts of interest and motivation you describe. If the non-trend continues, we’ll quietly remove the commenting function and nobody will notice.

Regarding property ratings, that’s a popular feature of PropSmart, and is useful to the individual home shopper to save and rank her homes of interest. We do not display an “average rating” on properties, because to do so would carry the same negative incentives for the user who doesn’t want others to know about the “good ones.” But the data points we’re collecting will have far-reaching value to provide “homes of potential interest” to a user, like “if you liked these, you may also like this one.” This application would help all and hurt none.

Keep up the great coverage of our space!

You go to an Open House and like it and want to buy it directly from the listing agent to save money. You know you can’t get any “straight scoop” there (unless it’s me, of course so what do you do?

You go to ALL of the Open Houses in the same price range nearby and say to the agent, I kind of like this one but I also like a property I just saw at 123 Great Street over there.

That agent will tell you EVERYTHING BAD they can figure out about the other house, to get you to like the one they are in. Great source of info! I do it myself as an agent when I’m treading in unknown waters. I’ve done it myself as a buyer when relocating.

Trust me…it works like a charm. If they have nothing to say, it’s because they don’t know nuttin’…move on to the next house.

It’s bad enough when sites like amazon have fake good/bad reviews (like when they discovered authors were giving themselves good reviews and their competitors bad reviews), but that’s a $10 book. Consider all the money eBay has to spend combatting fake positive feedback/sock puppet bidding – and they still have plenty of fraud.

Can you imagine the liability when you discover that competing agents or agencies have been bad-mouthing your $500,000 house online? Or pumping up their own listings with fake testimonials? It’s a bad idea all around.

It also reminds me of many of the ideas I’ve heard from “Web 2.0″ Real estate companies – they all sound “super neat” and “keen” if you don’t think through the consequences. Like allowing “prospective buyers” to send letters or emails to people whose homes are not for sale. I’ve heard that described as “awesome” – but as someone with a home not for sale I think it’s a (freaking) nightmare – the last thing I want is to be inundated with more spam.

Editor NOTE: Cricket…had to edit you comment slightly…remember, there’s a lady “in the room”. ARDELL

That’s why it’s in quotes – “comment and rate houses” is what ShackYack says on their website. I have no affiliation with ShackYack whatsoever.

When I say that no one has figured out a way to open dialog about homes on their website, I’m leaving open the possibility that someone will figure it out, but I really don’t think anyone will.

Homes are only on the market for a little while, and really, why would a buyer look at homes and THEN go online to leave comments?

Your desire for people to “comment and rate houses” is somewhat naive, if you do not see the harm that would cause to some very nice people.

Clearly I have a “spot on” opinion of every single house whether it is for sale or not. I know every house that is overpriced, and by how much. I know the house that should be sold, but that has a structural integrity problem that is not fixable, because the owner put in the wrong fix. I know the house that just sold ar $125,000 over market value and the one that will never sell unless someone buys it through Redfin.

Conversely I know an absolutely excellent house that can be had, that is not for sale.

How could I possibly post about any of that with specific reference to the actual house? How can you even conceive of such an idea?

If you owned the house, and someone said “Oh, and this one is overpriced by $800,000 (and I do know one that is), you have set the stage for that owner to lose, in their minds, that $800,000. When it eventually does sell for $800,000 less than the current asking price, which it will whether I point that out or not, then the owner will forever feel that the person who pointed that fact out, caused it to happen as in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Even if I point out only the GREAT ones, I can’t, because my clients pay me to get those GREAT ones for them. If I blog about them and their are 4 offers as a result, then my client will pay more for that house than the would if I had kept my mouth shut.

What makes you think that those in the know can post their knowledge on these sites, without adverse consequence?

You know I love ya…but we’ve gone round on this one before…and you still don’t seem to get it. It’s like ranking girls on the beach by holding up a #3 or a #7…the girls feelings get hurt as a result, and there can be irreparable damage done.