Redfin "hot homes"

[Anonymous]

any idea how redfin identifies these? the hot home predictions (e.g., "80% chance this house will sell in 10 days") actually seem to be very accurate. are they self-fulfilling prophesies?

[Anonymous]

Google.

See Which Homes Are Likely
to Sell Within Two Weeks

In competitive real estate markets, speed is critical. Redfin aims to give you an advantage by identifying Hot Homes™ that are likely to sell quickly, so you know which homes to go see in person right away.

A Hot Home is a new home for sale that has a 70% or higher chance of going under contract with a buyer in its first two weeks on the market, according to the proprietary Redfin Hot Homes algorithm.

The Hot Homes algorithm automatically calculates the likelihood by analyzing more than 500 attributes of each home — including price, property type, and neighborhood — as well as buyer preferences in the area.

You always see the most up-to-date likelihood that a Hot Home will sell quickly because the algorithm evaluates each home as soon as it hits the market, and then reevaluates it daily for the first two weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Google.

See Which Homes Are Likely
to Sell Within Two Weeks

In competitive real estate markets, speed is critical. Redfin aims to give you an advantage by identifying Hot Homes™ that are likely to sell quickly, so you know which homes to go see in person right away.

A Hot Home is a new home for sale that has a 70% or higher chance of going under contract with a buyer in its first two weeks on the market, according to the proprietary Redfin Hot Homes algorithm.

The Hot Homes algorithm automatically calculates the likelihood by analyzing more than 500 attributes of each home — including price, property type, and neighborhood — as well as buyer preferences in the area.

You always see the most up-to-date likelihood that a Hot Home will sell quickly because the algorithm evaluates each home as soon as it hits the market, and then reevaluates it daily for the first two weeks.

yeah I was aware of all that (it's what redfin says on their website). i'm wondering, though, if any of you crafty agents have been able to divine what factors redfin seems to consider most important. it seems to me to be just price. i also wonder if buyers tend to jump on hot homes *because* redfin has deemed them to be hot homes (or are redfin users such a small percentage of the market that this isn't the case?)

[Anonymous]

Price per square foot only.

[Anonymous]

I don't know. Our townhouse was identified as a "hot home" when we listed it last month. We got tons of traffic - tons! We only got 2 offers, though. First offer was super low-ball and refused to negotiate. Second offer was full ask. We accepted, and ended up going under contract within the predicted "hot home" time period.

I was skeptical, given how slow the offers were in coming. But also relieved the prediction came true!

[Anonymous]

Wildly inaccurate in my area (Baltimore county). Lots of houses sell within a few days of listing, but none of the ones that Redfin identifies as a hot home. Zillow's "hot property" seems to be more accurate.

[Anonymous]

Arlimgton agent here. Must of my
Listings under $1.2 million have been hit properties per Redfin. A Redfin agent told me identifying the properties as hot is based on days on market for similar properties. Very straightforward; Reffin has only applied a label.

[Anonymous]

PP. Hot not hit!

[Anonymous]

I think that the problem with the "hot homes" algorithm is that it is based entirely on stats (e.g. price per square foot, number of bedrooms) without any reference to the actual condition of the home. For example, in the area we've been looking I've seen lots of houses labeled "hot" because they are priced lower than comparable sized houses because they need TONS of work. However, these houses in reality actually sit because they are priced too high for developers (who I guess don't feel they'd be able to make adequate profit doing a flip) and too high for regular buyers (because the amount of work needed more than offsets the lower price compared to houses in good condition).

We also recently saw a house on Capitol Hill that was labeled as hot but, several weeks later, still hasn't sold. The bedrooms were oddly sized/shaped and there was visible water and mold in one of the bedrooms.

For those houses that are in good condition and competitively priced, I'm not sure if the "hot homes" label is so much a self-fulfilling prophecy as opposed to just stating the obvious -- I think those houses would sell quickly in most cases label or no. But for those that have something wrong with them that the algorithm doesn't take into account (e.g. the weird room layouts) then I think it actually can be counterproductive because I think it can make the seller hold out at their original price (Redfin says that this house should sell at this price!) when they otherwise might have lowered the price after 2 weeks because it didn't sell.

[Anonymous]

Do we really need a thread on this topic every month?

Here is one from May:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/472564.page

And one from April:
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/463686.page

[Anonymous]

Yes, just like we need a thread on why we love or hate the area

[Anonymous]

My home in bethesda is listed as a hot home. We've had some foot traffic but 9 days in no offers. I wonder if it actually keeps some buyers away thinking that since it's "hot" they wont get it unless they offer asking or above. I didn't really think about whether it would be considered hot when we listed it but I was hoping we'd have an offer by now.

[Anonymous]

It probably also has to do with how many hits the property is getting on redfin and how many people are adding it to their "favorites" list.

[Anonymous]

My home in bethesda is listed as a hot home. We've had some foot traffic but 9 days in no offers. I wonder if it actually keeps some buyers away thinking that since it's "hot" they wont get it unless they offer asking or above. I didn't really think about whether it would be considered hot when we listed it but I was hoping we'd have an offer by now.

ours was a hot home and indeed we had a ton of showings and multiple offers above asking in under a week.