 | An impartial editor has reviewed the proposed edit(s) and asked the editor with a conflict of interest to go ahead and make the suggested changes. |
Hi. I’d like to request several improvements to this article. As a HomeLight employee I have a COI so I can’t implement any changes myself. Could an independent editor please review these proposals? Thank you.
1.
The fourth sentence of the Overview section of the article contains a completely unsourced and false statement about the company. The fifth sentence is sourced only to the Terms of Service of the company and should be removed for not having a secondary source. Please remove that sentences, which read:
Matched results provided by HomeLight only include real estate agents who have agreed to pay the referral fee to HomeLight after the transaction is complete. While HomeLight ranks real estate agents independently of their referral status, it does not match real estate consumers with agents who have not signed their referral fee agreement.[1]
2.
The "Referral Fee Criticism" section is a compilation of original research, unsourced and very poorly sourced statements. It is not a summation of criticism in reliable secondary sources. As a result, this entire section violates WP:NOR and needs to be removed. Additionally, two of the section’s four paragraphs are entirely unsourced, while the other two have multiple unsourced claims. Of the three references given in the entire section, two #17#18 were written by non-journalist “contributors” and cannot be considered reliable sources under WP:Reliable Sources.
The fourth paragraph, first sentence, is an impermissible WP:WEASEL and WP:SYNTHESIS. (“Some real estate agents advocate that…”) The source is a website with an advice column by a real estate agent named Elizabeth Weintraub, who states her own opinion about the real estate industry, but does not even mention HomeLight. #17
The fourth paragraph, third sentence, cites a real estate broker website (and therefore not a WP:RS) but just to address it, this sentence is also a WP:WEASEL (“Some agents feel that a client referred from Homelight may cause said agent to work less aggressively for that client…”) and misstates what the source says. The source does not actually claim that any number of agents feel this way – in fact, it never uses the word “aggressively” at all. And the source itself is the personal opinion of a single real estate agent
The only legitimate source cited - Barlow Burke. "Law of Real Estate Brokers" Aspen Publishers Online, 2007 - is a general review of real estate law and does not, and could not, even mention HomeLight. HomeLight did not come into existence until 2012, five years after the publication date of the book cited. The only possible use of this source would be impermissible Synthesis or Coatracking.
If the section were a valid criticism based on reliable sources that would be one thing, but this section is simply original research and unsourced opinion. I request it be deleted.
3.
The lead for this article is out of date and now paints an inaccurate picture of HomeLight’s products and services. I’ve omitted specifics on the products and services and instead proposed they be added to the body of the story in request #4. Here is a suggested new version to replace the outdated one:
HomeLight is a real estate technology company[1] founded in San Francisco, CA and based in Scottsdale, AZ.[2]
Its products and services include an online platform for matching real-estate agencies with buyers and sellers,[3] making cash offers to buy houses and, connecting sellers with buyers willing to make quick cash offers.[4]
4.
The current History section for the article only covers company history up to 2019. A number of significant developments backed by reliable sources have happened since that time, so I propose new content to bring it up to date. Here’s the language I propose as the new last paragraphs:
In August 2020, the company acquired Disclosures.io and introduced a new service to assist real estate agents called HomeLight Listing Management.[1]
In 2021, HomeLight partnered with the National Association of Real Estate Brokers to launch the Black Real Estate Agent Program, which provides stipends and mentorship for aspiring African-American real estate professionals to help them start their careers in the industry.[2]
In early September 2021, HomeLight was valued at $1.6 billion.[3]
5.
Please change “Overview” as the name of the section to “Products and services” and add the following text below as the first paragraph. First, “Overview” is not a section name used in company articles I have looked at, whereas Products and services sections are common. Second, I’ve tried to keep the list of products and services short but to understand what this company does, there needs to be a description of its products and services. I’ve tried to keep it neutral in tone to avoid it stepping into neutral tone.
Products and services
The company provides an online platform that uses data to connect people buying or selling their homes with local real estate agents,[1][2] as well as title and escrow services, mortgage lending.[3] and matching sellers with buyers who make fast cash offers based on instant valuations, sometimes serving as the lender while the buyer arranges a traditional mortgage.[4]
6.
Please replace the existing logo in the Infobox with the following updated one:
HomeLight logo 2019.png
Thank you for your consideration. HIB7639 (talk) 17:20, 3 May 2022 (UTC)
- @HIB7639: . Please edit the page to implement your requests. ––FormalDude talk 00:48, 2 August 2022 (UTC)
- @FormalDude: Made the changes as you directed. Thanks! Ilovecats9669 (talk) 20:12, 8 August 2022 (UTC)
- @FormalDude: These edits are quite bananas. HIB7639 (talk) openly states that they work for HomeLight. Their edits essentially have rewritten the entire article and even though many of the WP:WEASEL points are correct, they take the liberties to delete entire sections. I do not have the time to line item each issue, but just one for example in the last line of the article: "HomeLight says their algorithm ranks agents regardless of agreement status..." This is patently false. HomeLight will only show a real estate agent's profile on their website if they agree to their referral agreement (25%). Unless this is a sneaky way of saying that their algorithm ranks all agents, yet they only connect consumers with those who have agreed to their (HomeLight's) terms. The article should be revered back to it's form prior to the edits and improved. Otherwise, I will call for it's deletion. ––KlausReissler (talk) 20:20, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
- @KlausReissler: That line was included in the article before Ilovecats9669 implemented HIB7639's edit request. Regardless, it fails verification with the Forbes source, so I removed it for now. If you want to restore any of the deleted content you can do so and it will be treated as a normal WP:CHALLENGE. ––FormalDude (talk) 00:32, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
- @FormalDude: The article should be reverted back to before @Ilovecats9669 made their edits. It's clearly in violation of Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. It's a single-purpose account. The article simply reads as an advertisement for HomeLight. I'll revert it, but the original article has issues too, so it's a catch 22. I could also add in a controversy section, but that will probably be removed by HomeLight employees. Advice? {{uw-coi}} KlausReissler (talk) 15:47, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
- Most COI accounts are SPA accounts and they are allowed to edit articles so long as they follow our COI policy, which is the case here, so no there's no violation. If you want to revert it go ahead. Controversy sections are generally not recommended, it's preferred you work that content into the main text of the article. ––FormalDude (talk) 21:00, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
- I'll plan on reverting when I get the chance & have time to make some edits, but someone else can feel free to as well if they read this before I do. KlausReissler (talk) 23:30, 20 September 2022 (UTC)
