RateMyAgent and Online Reviews - How to Use Them When Choosing an Agent

RateMyAgent (ratemyagent.co.nz) is the dominant platform for real estate agent reviews in New Zealand. For Canterbury vendors researching agents, it is one of the most useful tools available - but like any review platform, it needs to be read with some critical awareness to be genuinely useful.

What RateMyAgent Shows

RateMyAgent publishes verified reviews from buyers and vendors who have transacted with a specific agent. Reviews are verified against actual property sales data to reduce fake reviews from non-clients. For each agent, you can see: their overall star rating (out of 5); the total number of reviews collected over their career; their average response rate and response time to enquiries; the number of properties they have sold in the last 12 months; and their average days on market across recent sales. For agencies, RateMyAgent publishes agency-level ratings that aggregate all agents within that office.

What Makes a Strong RateMyAgent Profile

Look for agents with: a rating of 4.8 or above from a sample of 30 or more reviews (smaller sample sizes are less reliable); recent reviews within the last six months showing continued active selling; consistent themes in the review text (communication, negotiation skill, local knowledge) rather than generic praise; and specific mentions of the suburb or property type relevant to yours. Harcourts Gold Papanui was named Agency of the Year at the 2026 RateMyAgent Awards across 11 Christchurch suburbs and two regions - this is a genuine third-party recognition based on the platform's own data analysis, not self-reported.

How to Spot Inflated or Unreliable Ratings

Be more cautious of agents with: very high ratings from fewer than 10 reviews (small sample, easily inflated); reviews that all arrive in a short cluster rather than spread over time; review text that reads generically positive without specific detail; and ratings that are dramatically higher than the agent's sales volume data would suggest is plausible. No review platform is immune to manipulation - use the review data alongside objective performance data (sales volume, days on market, sale price versus asking price) rather than treating ratings alone as decisive.

What to Combine RateMyAgent With

The strongest research approach combines RateMyAgent review data with: settled.govt.nz sale price data to verify the agent's claimed comparable sales; direct reference checks with one or two of the agent's recent vendors (ask the agent for referees and actually call them); your own assessment of the quality and evidence base of the appraisal they provided; and a direct conversation where you assess their knowledge of your specific suburb and property type. Reviews tell you what past clients thought. Your own assessment tells you whether those past clients had similar properties to yours and whether the agent's approach suits your preferences.

RateMyAgent information from ratemyagent.co.nz and 10best.co.nz. For general information only.