Read TopAgentsRanked reviews | Is TopAgentsRanked worth it? | How it works | Is it legit? | Costs | Pros and cons | Top alternatives | FAQ
| ✍️ Editor's take: TopAgentsRanked can help you find an agent fast. But because it has poor quality control and doesn't offer savings, alternatives offer better value. |
What is TopAgentsRanked?
TopAgentsRanked is a free service that finds real estate agents for you if you’re buying or selling a house.
TopAgentsRanked’s parent company, ReferralExchange, owns two other companies called Agent Machine and RealEstateAgents.com that provide the same service. There's no advantage to using one over the other.
The company makes big claims about its vetting process and promises to match you with top agents in your area. But our mystery shoppers often got matched with agents who didn’t fit our criteria, and many weren’t even based in our area. The company also makes misleading marketing claims, has a lackluster website, and offers zero built-in savings.
We think TopAgentsRanked has more drawbacks than benefits, especially compared to alternatives that offer more robust quality control and commission savings. Learn more about the top alternatives.
Should you use TopAgentsRanked to find a realtor?
Pros
- Concierges are knowledgeable and helpful.
- Getting matched with agents is fast and easy.
Cons
- Recommended agents often didn’t match our criteria.
- Agents can pay to rank higher in your matches.
- There are no built-in savings or discounts.
- Marketing claims are misleading.
- Customer dashboard makes it difficult to assess agent quality.
TopAgentsRanked isn't the best option if you’re looking for a qualified local agent who’s a good fit for your situation.
The company allows agents to pay to rank higher in your matching results, so you can’t be sure if you’re actually getting the best agent for you or just someone who has paid extra.
The service also offers no savings or discounts for buyers or sellers. You’ll pay as much for an agent through TopAgentsRanked as you would finding an agent on your own — and much more than if you got an agent through a company that offers commission discounts.
All agent finding services are free and come with zero obligations — and most do a better job of quality control and tailoring recommendations to your needs.
We recommend starting with a different service, like Clever Real Estate or Ideal Agent, that has higher vetting standards and can save you thousands of dollars on realtor fees.
Why pay more in commission fees for less service? Clever offers you bigger savings without sacrificing the service you expect from a traditional realtor.
With Clever:
✅ You'll only pay 1.5% to list your home
✅ You'll work with a full-service realtor from a top broker
✅ It's free, with zero obligation — you can walk away at any time
Saving on realtor fees doesn't have to mean sacrificing service. Find a top local agent today!
How does TopAgentsRanked work?
- You sign up by entering basic information about your upcoming home purchase or sale on the TopAgentsRanked website.
- A TopAgentsRanked concierge will call you — usually within minutes — to learn more and curate a personalized list of agents. But you will still get a list of agents even if you don’t talk to a rep.
- Within a few minutes of the phone call, you will receive your list of real estate agents via email and a customer dashboard.
- Your agents will likely start trying to contact you directly right away. You can also call, text, or email them via your customer dashboard.
- You can interview any of your agent matches or reach out to TopAgentsRanked to request more matches.
- If you don’t feel like any of your matches are a good fit, you’re free to walk away.
| 🚨 Matches probably aren't personalized
TopAgentsRanked claims it personalizes your agent matches based on your needs. However, we got our agent matches almost instantly after talking to a TopAgentsRanked concierge, and many of our agent matches didn't fit our criteria. That suggests TopAgentsRanked doesn't take the time to really tailor agent matches to your needs. |
» MORE: Learn how TopAgentsRanked works for agents
Is TopAgentsRanked legitimate?
Yes, TopAgentsRanked is a legitimate company with an active brokerage license in California. All agent matching services must be licensed brokerages in at least one state to operate legally.
TopAgentsRanked’s parent company, ReferralExchange, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau, where it has an A+ rating.
| Average customer rating | 4.6/5 |
| BBB rating | A+ |
| Year founded | 2005 |
| Network size | 25,000 |
While TopAgentsRanked is a legitimate company, some of its practices stuck out as red flags.
🚩 Agents can pay for higher rankings
TopAgentsRanked lets agents pay extra to rank higher in your agent matches.
An agent matching service should match you with the best agent for your needs, not with the one who has simply paid to get to the top of your rankings.
This practice is unusual for an agent matching service. Most of TopAgentsRanked’s competitors explicitly ban agents from paying to get more clients.
With TopAgentsRanked, there’s no way to distinguish in your results between agents who are paying to rank higher and those who aren’t. So, don’t assume that your "Top Ranked Agent" really is the best fit for you.
Indeed, we found that many of our No. 1 ranked agents were a lot less impressive than agents who ranked lower. While we can’t be sure, we suspect our higher-ranked agents paid to move up the rankings.
🚩 The company makes misleading marketing claims
TopAgentsRanked uses a lot of marketing speak and misleading claims to make agents sound more impressive than they are.
For example, it gives your top-ranked agents a badge that claims, "This Agent is a designated REALTOR®, the highest distinction in the community."
This claim isn't true. To become a REALTOR®, agents only need to meet very minimum requirements, like having an active real estate license and being willing to pay membership fees to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In fact, more than half of all real estate agents in the US are REALTORS®.
TopAgentsRanked also gives your highest-ranked agents a different "Top Ranked" badge, along with a claim that "This Agent is a Certified Top Agent, meaning they will get you the best possible deal on your home."
Again, this claim doesn’t appear to be based on any measurable metrics. While our "Certified Top Agents" did have plenty of sales and experience, so did many of the agents who weren’t "Certified Top Agents."
When choosing an agent, focus on things that matter, like experience, sales numbers, and fit for your situation — not on flashy badges and association memberships.
How much does TopAgentsRanked cost?
TopAgentsRanked is free to use, like all agent finding services. However, unlike low-commission companies, it doesn’t negotiate discounts with its agents. So you’ll still have to pay the full realtor commission rate — just as you would if you found an agent on your own.
If you’re selling, you'll need to pay the listing fee — which goes to your agent — and the buyer’s agent commission, both of which are usually 2.5–3% of the sale price. Expect the total commission to cost 5–6%.
Other agent finding services, like Clever, save you money by pre-negotiating lower listing fees with agents before you’re matched with them. That can help lower your overall commission to 4–4.5%. On a $400,000 home, you'd save $6,000 with a Clever agent versus a TopAgentsRanked agent:
TopAgentsRanked pros and cons
👍 Customer service reps are helpful
The TopAgentsRanked representatives we spoke to were highly knowledgeable and able to answer our questions about the process.
This may be because TopAgentsRanked representatives, like Clever’s Concierge team, are all licensed real estate agents. This is an important distinction: Legally, a representative who isn't licensed can’t offer you advice about your real estate transaction.
A licensed representative can advise about real estate decisions and provide more useful information that could help you with your buying and selling needs. Plus, representatives who are licensed tend to know more about how real estate works.
At companies where the representatives aren’t licensed, the reps may act more like salespeople rather than focusing on getting you the best agent.
👎 Agent matches weren’t great
Many of the agents TopAgentsRanked matched us with were totally off-base in regards to our criteria. Since getting good agent recommendations is the primary reason agent matching services exist, the fact that TopAgentsRanked can’t get this right defeats the entire purpose of using it.
We often got matched with agents who lacked experience in our area. Given that TopAgentsRanked claims to have a network of 25,000 agents, you’d think they’d always have an agent available nearby!
We found it especially strange that, often, our No. 1 agent match wasn’t based in our town and had fewer sales than agents who were ranked lower but were based in our town and had more sales.
Upon further digging, we discovered that TopAgentsRanked allows agents to pay for what it calls "PRIME Service." Among other things, this service allows agents to get "priority ranking for referral distribution" — in other words, TopAgentsRanked will rank them higher in your agent matches than non-PRIME Service members.
Nowhere is it made clear whether an agent match is a PRIME Service member. You’ll have no way of knowing whether the match was based on your actual needs or because the agent paid to rank higher.
👎 Customer dashboard makes it hard to compare agents
TopAgentsRanked’s customer dashboard lags behind the competition. It feels clunky and doesn’t provide enough information to make an informed decision about your agent matches.
Some agent profiles were incomplete and only provided the agent’s contact details, average selling price, and number of clients helped. You’ll also see a list of their "specialties," but a lot of these are just empty marketing speak.
For example, the below agent gets a star for being "perfect for first-time home buyers" — but that’s something that should be true of almost all experienced real estate agents!
Important information, like customer reviews, recent listings, and links to the realtors’ Zillow/Realtor.com profiles, was often missing.
Some of the info TopAgentsRanked shares with clients via the dashboard is also incorrect or out of date. For example, our top agents always had a badge designating them as a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), whereas lower-ranked ones didn’t. But when we Googled the agents who didn’t have a badge, we found out that they were all NAR members, too.
👎 Zero built-in savings
While TopAgentsRanked is free to use, it won’t save you any money on your home sale or purchase. It doesn’t pre-negotiate discounts with real estate agents, so you’ll pay the full agent commission just as you would if you found the agent on your own. The total commission is usually around 5–6%.
Other agent finding services actually pre-negotiate discounts with agents beforehand, potentially saving you thousands of dollars.
» JUMP TO: Companies that can save you thousands on commission
What are TopAgentsRanked reviews?
In general, TopAgentsRanked reviews online are positive, but its overall rating is lower than most of its competitors. It has an average rating of 4.6 from 3,655 reviews. While that may appear high, it’s actually low for an agent matching service.
| Average rating | Number of reviews | |
|---|---|---|
| Weighted average | 4.6/5 | 3,592 |
| Better Business Bureau | 4.8/5 | 293 |
| 4.7/5 | 701 | |
| Shopper Approved | 4.6/5 | 2,598 |
We searched hundreds of online TopAgentsRanked reviews to find out what the service does well and where it comes up short.
While many reviews we found online were positive, others complained about problems with the company. Here is what our team found out.
What customers like about TopAgentsRanked
Most of the positive TopAgentsRanked reviews concerned the quality of the agents and how easy the service was to use.
"Great communication & negotiating skills"
This customer, for example, was very happy with their agent matches:
While we’re glad this customer was able to find a good agent, our team of mystery shoppers actually had many issues with the agents TopAgentsRanked matched us with. Many were outside of our local area, or they just didn't meet our criteria.
However, with such a large network of agents, quality will vary, meaning some agents will be very good, others less so. You may end up finding a great agent like the customer above did, or you may not.
TopAgentsRanked isn't worth the gamble with something as important as buying or selling a house.
"All very easy"
Another area where some customers praised TopAgentsRanked was its ease of use.
This customer found TopAgentsRanked to be very easy to use, and they got their agent matches quickly:
While we wished TopAgentsRanked included more information about agents — such as recent sales and customer reviews — we do agree that the site is easy to use, and we got our agent matches within the same day.
That said, we didn’t find TopAgentsRanked any easier or faster than most other agent matching services, so we don’t think these should be reasons to use it over an alternative service.
TopAgentsRanked complaints from customers
The most common complaint from customers was that agents weren't good matches.
"NOT top sellers"
This customer, for example, went through two agents with TopAgentsRanked, neither of whom seemed to put much effort into selling her house. One didn’t even work very much in the county where the customer was located:
Our experience with TopAgentsRanked was similar. We were frequently matched with agents who didn’t seem to fit our real estate needs, and we were often paired with agents based outside our local area.
Agents were "over 30 miles away"
This customer had a similar experience. Their recommended agents weren’t located nearby, despite there being agents in the area:
Because TopAgentsRanked allows agents to pay extra in order to rank higher, we suspect paying agents outranked actual local agents.
"Never saw any statistics or reasons for the recommendations"
Other customers complained that TopAgentsRanked didn’t give them enough information to make a decision about an agent.
This customer, for example, didn’t get much useful data about their agent matches and felt that TopAgentsRanked wasted their time:
We agree that TopAgentsRanked doesn’t provide nearly enough data about agents. If you want to learn about their recent sales or current listings, you’ll have to search on your own.
Since agent matching services are supposed to save you time, the fact that you’ll still have to do your own research means TopAgentsRanked isn't doing its most basic job.
TopAgentsRanked alternatives
After researching the services, reviews, and costs of dozens of real estate companies, we're recommending these three companies as the top alternatives to TopAgentsRanked.
Each company provides multiple recommendations for full-service agents in your area. Each service is also free, with no obligation to hire an agent. Here's how they compare.
Clever Real Estate: Like TopAgentsRanked, Clever’s Concierge Team is also fully licensed, so its members can provide you with insightful advice about your real estate transaction. But unlike TopAgentsRanked, Clever doesn’t let agents pay to rank higher in your matches and will call you beforehand to ensure your matches fit your needs. Clever also negotiates 1.5% listing fees with all the top-rated realtors in its network, so you can save thousands without sacrificing service. Learn more about Clever, and read reviews from real customers.
HomeLight: HomeLight has a large network of agents, just like TopAgentsRanked. However, HomeLight has a much better dashboard and gives customers a lot more data about their agent matches. Its online experience is user-friendly and makes it easy to compare agents. The company doesn't offer built-in discounts. If you sell with a HomeLight agent, you'll have to pay full price on commission, just like you would with TopAgentsRanked. Read the full HomeLight review.
UpNest: UpNest has a much better customer dashboard than TopAgentsRanked, which makes it easy to compare your agent matches. The quality of UpNest's matches is also better, with most agents well-aligned with your needs. UpNest is unique in that it has agents compete for your business, which tends to lower agents’ commission fees to around 2.2–2.5%. That’s better than TopAgentsRanked, but it's higher than Clever's rate. Read the full UpNest review.
If you're weighing your options for buying or selling a house, Clever can help!
Our fully licensed concierge team can answer your questions and provide objective advice on getting the best outcome with your sale or purchase.
When you enter your info below, we'll ask you a few questions about your situation via a short form. Then our concierge team will be in touch shortly to help.
This service is free, and there’s never any obligation to move forward with us.
FAQ
Is TopAgentsRanked worth it?
TopAgentsRanked might connect you with a good agent, but you also might get an agent who's not local and not the right fit. The company also doesn't offer any savings. We recommend using an alternative service that offers commission discounts and has more consistent agent quality.
How does TopAgentsRanked make money?
Whenever an agent closes a deal with a client referred to them by TopAgentsRanked, then TopAgentsRanked takes a share of the agent’s commission. This is called a referral fee, and it's how all agent matching services make money.
Agents can also pay optional fees on top of their mandatory referral fees for extra services, such as:
- Referring clients to other agents
- Home seller and buyer validation services
- Improved rankings
- Enhanced customer service
Why do agents work with companies like TopAgentsRanked?
Agent matching services like TopAgentsRanked offer a low-risk way for agents to grow their business. Because real estate is so competitive, agents typically spend a lot of time and money on marketing to find new clients.
TopAgentsRanked does some of that marketing work on behalf of agents so agents can focus on what they do best: helping people buy and sell houses. In exchange for getting more clients, agents agree to pay TopAgentsRanked a share of their commission.
Methodology
Clever and its mystery shoppers spent nearly 1,500 hours researching real estate agent matching services to deliver the best reviews in the industry. Our reviews are continuously updated to ensure you have the latest information to inform your decisions.
