In just a few weeks, we will welcome in our first official grandchild. Ironically, it is my youngest who has decided to reproduce. My two oldest children have adamantly sworn that they will “never” have children. Perhaps it was my terrible pregnancies that they both had to witness (nine months of consistent puking, central IV lines, home health care nurses and the inability to swallow my own saliva), or it could have been my insistent reminder that I would not be raising any of their children. Either way, I’m ecstatic to be getting one.

Although I will not be raising this child, I will be spoiling this child with all the latest and greatest baby paraphernalia. Last night, I jumped on Amazon and looked up infant car seats. I primarily rely upon the reviews to help me decide which one. Perhaps I shouldn’t.

As a Realtor, I have asked clients in the past to review me on various online platforms. Although I have strayed a bit from online reviews in the past few years, for no particular reason except a shift in focus in new and existing client care and marketing, I can still acknowledge that incorporating testimonials into a marketing plan is critical for realtors in order to grow their business. I preach it to my new agents all day. However, it is unfortunate that every proverbial rose has its thorn, and the Federal Trade Commission has recently decided that they are going to sniff out fake reviews and impose a hefty fine if found in violation. After learning of this, some things suddenly began to make sense.

“Would recommend this cars eat to all mew mothers. It’s a great comfortable Lil car seat. My Lil one seems to love it so a+ on that.” This is literally word for word. Here is another example from a dental office, “These people are truly angels working with some pretty scared kids who sometimes aren’t easy to deal with.” The problem is that this exact review landed on many dentist’s reviews across the country. Those are some pretty bad teeth.

Almost all fake reviews are positive. Either a business or professional can write them for themselves, or they are created by digital marketers who are paid to post fake reviews. The FTC can only do so much to police this. If a marketer is based overseas, their hands are tied. But this can be life altering to rely on reviews that may turn out to be false. While it is one thing to buy a vacuum online that says it sucks but doesn’t really suck (except in a way it isn’t supposed to suck), it is something entirely different when it is one of the largest financial decisions you make in a lifetime.

There are specific red flags to look for when reading reviews for a product or service. If there are too many five-star reviews in a short period of time with little text or a string of five-stars after one negative review, it is possible these are fake. Be sure the reviewer is a legitimate person. There are plenty of examples of reviews that have some picture of Matt Damon or Taylor Swift by the review. It is likely these individuals did not review the service, but their picture was taken off the internet and used for a fake review. Profanity or poor grammar and misspelled words (see first example) is another red flag.

Ultimately, the most credible source is to talk to real people. Get a recommendation from a friend, neighbor or relative. This is the best way to ensure a smooth real estate transaction, as well as a satisfying Amazon purchase. For the car seat, I ended up purchasing one that a new mom in my neighborhood highly recommended. I’m confident it will be a five-star review.

Jen Fischer is an associate broker and Realtor. She can be reached at 801-645-2134 or jen@jen-fischer.com.

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