Is Iron Valley Real Estate Right for You? An Honest Review

Overall rating | Customer experience | Agent quality | Brand visibility and reach | Service value | Methodology

Iron Valley Real Estate is an independent real estate brokerage based in Lebanon, PA. Founded in 2016, the company is one of the fastest growing brokerages in the U.S., with over 1,000 agents across 37 offices in five states: Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Bottom line: Do we recommend Iron Valley Real Estate?

Iron Valley might be worth considering, but only after you’ve interviewed agents from other brokerages. Since the brokerage is relatively new, it’s okay to approach it with some caution.

The company has great reviews on Google, but only for one office. It’s also expanding at a rapid pace, though the current distance between its offices is also a point of concern. And the agent quality at Iron Valley is pretty average — on par with the industry medians but less impressive than other real estate companies we’ve reviewed.

For that reason, it’s crucial to interview your local Iron Valley agent to ask what services they provide and how much experience they have.

Iron Valley Real Estate: Our in-depth breakdown

Reputation and customer experience

Iron Valley Real Estate has very few reviews on third-party review sites and no Better Business Bureau profile. Only one of its offices has reviews on Google — its main office in Lebanon, PA — with an average of 4.5.

In addition, Iron Valley's website appears more interested in recruiting agents to its network than providing important information to buyers and sellers. That makes sense with newer brokerages, but it doesn't inspire confidence.

Agent quality

When compared with similar brokerages, the agents at Iron Valley Real Estate seem decent, but not exceptional. For example, each agent averages a minimum of 8 years experience and 7.8 transactions per year — that's on par or below industry standards.

Since Iron Valley works with so many different real estate agents, who may have different service methods, it’s difficult to assess all of them equally. That’s why we highly recommend interviewing individual agents in your area. When you connect with an Iron Valley agent for the first time, ask them for their sales numbers and references from past clients.

Brand reach and visibility

Iron Valley Real Estate has decent brand reach and visibility, but nothing to write home about.

According to our analytics tool, the company’s main webpage gets roughly 6,700 visitors each month. That’s not a lot of traffic, and many brokerages get double or triple those numbers. In addition, roughly 8,000 people search "iron valley real estate" and other branded terms on Google each month — again, not exceptional.

One possible problem is that Iron Valley's 37 offices are spread far from each other, even within the same state. While brokerages with strong local networks can connect you with buyers and listings faster, spread-out agents weaken the network and the brokerage as a whole may lack the localized knowledge to work efficiently in your favor.

Furthermore, their locations don’t always match up with where the majority of homes are selling. For example, the majority of Pennsylvania homes listed with Iron Valley are in Philadelphia, but the nearest office is 30 miles north in Gwynedd. That’s not too far, but it makes us wonder how well they can cover the Philadelphia market without a concentrated presence.

Just remember to ask your local Iron Valley agent how well they know your specific market.

Service value

We weren’t super impressed with the services listed on Iron Valley’s website. Although the company advertises itself as full service, it’s unclear what differentiates it from other brokerages.

At a minimum, you'll get all the home-selling basics, including help pricing your home, listing it on the MLS and syndicating across real estate websites (like Zillow and Trulia), negotiating, and closing. But to find out whether you'll get an in-depth marketing plan or any extra marketing services, you'll need to interview individual Iron Valley agents.

Ask them how they will market your home — for example, if they'll coordinate staging, professional photography, and showings, and if they'll use advanced tactics like geotargeting ads to attract more buyers.

Finally, Iron Valley agents will likely charge a non-negotiable commission for their services, no matter what local competitive rates are. To give you an idea of those rates, here are the state averages where the brokerage operates.

» MORE: Average Commission Rates Across the U.S.

Additional info about Iron Valley Real Estate

General contact info (corporate office)

Other Iron Valley services

For this review, we focused on Iron Valley Real Estate’s core real estate agent service. The company also has an online home value estimator to give you a ballpark estimate of your home’s market value. While it’s helpful when you’re just getting started, it shouldn't replace the professional pricing guidance from an agent.

Next steps: Start interviewing agents!

Interview multiple agents (ideally two to three) to ensure you get the best fit and value. Remember: always hire the agent, not the brand. When you’re ready to start searching, check out our guide on how to choose the right real estate agent. Clever’s free agent-matching service makes agent shopping fast and easy, and it can save you money.

Rating methodology

We evaluate brokerages based on four core criteria we think will help readers make informed decisions. We broke those criteria down into discrete metrics so we could make the score as objective as possible.

Here’s a quick breakdown of that criteria and methodology: