Overall rating | Customer experience | Agent quality | Brand visibility and reach | Service value | Locations | Methodology
| ✍️ Why trust us: We strive to provide objective recommendations and advice. Learn more about how we research. |
Watson Realty is a full-service brokerage headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Since its founding in 1965, Watson Realty has grown into one of the most reputable real estate companies in northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia.
Bottom line: Do we recommend Watson Realty?
Watson Realty is definitely worth considering for buyers and sellers in parts of Florida and Georgia. As a full service brokerage, sellers can expect all the services they need to sell their homes — pricing assistance, professional photography, MLS listing — plus some help with buying a home before selling theirs.
For one, the company has a huge presence in northeastern and central Florida, with the majority of its 48 offices centralized in Jacksonville and Orlando. Its workforce of nearly 1,400 agents are highly experienced, and previous clients have left the company stellar reviews on Google.
Notwithstanding its good reputation, it’s always best to choose an agent because you like them, not because they come from a great brand. We would still advise you to interview your local agent before working with the company, to ensure the agent is the best fit for you.
| 🏡 Compare agents, save money! Try Clever’s free agent matching service. Choose from top local agents from the best brokerages, get built-in savings. Learn more. |
Watson Realty: Our in-depth breakdown
Reputation and customer experience
📊 Our rating: 4.5/5
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Customers are generally satisfied with their experience working with Watson Realty agents. In fact, the aggregate rating of the reviews on Google is 4.3. That’s fairly high, especially since many people use third-party sites (like Google and Yelp) to complain rather than praise.
When we ran these 500+ reviews through an AI program that detects emotional language, we found the following themes:
| 🟢 Top positive themes | 🔴 Top negative themes |
|---|---|
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In general, previous clients were very pleased with their agents. The biggest complaints were about its property management services, which may or may not be relevant to you. Watson Realty has zero reviews and zero complaints with the Better Business Bureau.
Agent quality
📊 Our rating: 4.5/5
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Most Watson Realty agents have around 14.3 years of experience, far exceeding the industry median of 8 years. Agents typically complete around 9.3 transactions annually, which is fewer than the industry average (12 transactions per year) but still good considering the brokerage itself completes a high number of transactions (12,992 in 2021).
Many previous clients praised their agents' professionalism and expertise and were generally satisfied with how quickly and seamlessly agents sold their home. If you interview a Watson Realty agent, ask them for sales numbers and references, and make sure they're right for you.
Brand reach and visibility
📊 Our rating: 5/5
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Watson Realty has around 5,000 active listings, and its roughly 1,400 agents are spread across 48 offices in Florida. Most of these offices are concentrated in Jacksonville and Orlando, which could mean connecting you with buyers and listings faster.
The company website gets more than 42,000 visits every month, while many real estate companies of the same size get less than half that. And around 9,400 people search "watson realty" and other branded terms on Google monthly — another impressive number for a regional brokerage.
Service value
📊 Our rating: 5/5
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With Watson Realty, sellers get all the standard benefits of a full-service brokerage, as well as advice on profitable home repairs and marketing strategies. Watson Realty can also help you buy a new house before you sell your current home by converting your equity into cash.
» LEARN: How Do You Buy a House Before You Sell Yours?
If you hire a listing agent directly from Watson Realty to help you sell, you likely won't be able to negotiate their commission. For a frame of reference, here are the average listing rates for Florida and Georgia:
» MORE: Average Commission Rates Across the U.S.
Clever’s free service matches you with top local realtors from the best brokerages (like Watson Realty) but negotiates big savings.
Sellers list for just 1.5%. Buyers can get thousands in cash back after closing.
Additional info about Watson Realty
General contact info (corporate office)
| 📍 Address | 7821 Deercreek Club Road Suite 200 Jacksonville, FL 32256 |
| ☎️ Phone | (904) 596-5960 |
| 📱 Social media | Facebook |
Watson Realty local offices and contact information
You can search for Watson Realty's offices on its website. Below are some popular locations, based on those that get the most search on Google.
| Office location | Phone number |
|---|---|
| Gainesville Office 4516 NW 23 Ave. Gainesville, FL 32606 |
(352) 377-8899 |
| Jacksonville Beach Office 1326 3rd St. S Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250 |
(904) 249-8261 |
| North Jacksonville Office 1566 Dunn Ave. Jacksonville, FL 32218 |
(904) 757-8800 |
| St. Augustine Office 3505 US-1 S, Ste. 1 St. Augustine, FL 32086 |
(904) 797-8600 |
Other Watson Realty services
This review is focused on Watson Realty's core real estate agent service. We’ve listed its other services (mortgage, title, insurance, etc.) and links to their respective websites below.
Make sure you shop around to get the best fit and value. Don’t go with a Watson service just because of the convenience!
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.
🚀 Ready to get started?
Sign up below to get matched with top-performing agents in your area! Compare options, choose the best fit, and save money.
- Sellers get pre-negotiated 1.5% listing fees (avg. seller savings is $9,600.)
- Buyers can get 0.5% cash back after closing ($2,000 on a $400,000 house)
Clever is 100% free with no obligation. Give it a try today!
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:
Customer experience
Do most people who work with this brokerage have a generally positive experience? Are there any red flags?
What we looked at:
- Average customer ratings across various third-party review sites, like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Google
- The content of those reviews, via sentiment analysis tools and manual reading, to pull out key positive and negative themes and summarize key risks and benefits
- The Better Business Bureau profile for formal complaints
Overall agent quality
How strong is the agent team? What are the chances of ending up with a solid realtor that will meet different needs, preferences, and availability?
What we looked at:
- Total number of agents vs. offices to gauge how wide the selection is
- Average experience of the entire team, based on public agent data on sites like Realtor.com and Zillow
- Average annual transactions per agent, sourced from RealTrends or brokerage-provided data, compared with the industry average
Visibility and reach
How much "brand power" does this brokerage have? Does it increase awareness and get more eyes on your listings, more showings, or quicker offers?
What we looked at:
- Social media presence across all major consumer-facing social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram)
- Online audience size through web traffic volume and monthly Google searches for the brand name
- Marketing reach, like listings on all major MLSs and populator listing sites like Zillow and Realtor.com
Value and service quality
How does the brokerage compare with other conventional brokerages? How does it compare with the market rates for commission (~3% listing fees)? Are you getting too little, the right amount, or more service for the tentative fee?
What we looked at:
- Services provided to see if the brokerage is standard full service
- Quality of active and past listings (photos, listing descriptions, etc.) according to established best practices
What we consider "full service" for a real estate brokerage:
- Professional home valuation
- Advice on how to stage your home
- High-quality professional photography
- Listing on a multiple listing service (MLS) and home-buying websites
- Open house management
- Negotiation
- Assistance with paperwork