Benefits of Listing with Redfin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's face the facts - there are bottom feeders from the suburbs who want a discount and think they know how to decorate with their chintz and plug-ins and 2.5% coop commission will sell their down trodden, lackluster townhouse in the God-forsaken suburbs. There are educated people in the city who leave selling real estate to the professionals. Try doing it yourself at 2.5% (or less) , see what results you get and then come crying to us.

Wow, this is harsh. I'm the pp who posted the link of my townhouse in the suburbs. For the record, there are also educated people who work in public service by choice and don't make a lot of money who live in the suburbs. And while you can see that our place was a little barren leading up to our move, we certainly know how to create a beautiful space free of any and all disgusting scenty type things. In fact, just search for jobs at non-profits. You can get a position as a do-gooder with a starting salary of 40-50k... in a job that requires a PhD!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be comfortable (maybe even prefer) listing my house with Redfin if it's under $800,000. Above that I tend to still earn towards traditional, solely because that's still the dominant source of buyers and the conflicts of interest in the agent game are still so great that I think you will have so e agents (not all) that find reasons to deter their buyers from looking at or offering on Redfin listings.

I think this will change over time, or at least agents will begin accepting lower commissions, but today I believe higher end buyers still tend to use traditional agents and I'd want my listing to be appealing/supported by the largest. Umber of potential buyers possible.

I wonder if that's really true though. Buyers look for houses online and then make appointments with their agent. What is the agent going to do, say they can't see that house because it's a redfin house?

[Anonymous]

There really aren't that many Redfin listings to show. Let's look at their stats again. Of the 28 closed deals Redfin has had in DC in 2014, only 4 of them were single family homes.

Here is the line up of their sold homes:

1. Randle Heights (SE) sold for $243,000 on 2/2/14 with a seller subsidy of $4,860.

2. Congress Heights (SE) sold for $265,000 on 5/29/14.

3. Old City #1 (NE) sold for $513,600 on 5/12/14.

4. North Michigan Park (NE) sold for $565,000 on 5/16/14 with a seller subsidy of $8,000.

Redfin has not listed one single family home in 2014 in Georgetown, Forest Hills, Chevy Chase, AU Park, Spring Valley, Wesley Heights, Logan, Dupont, or Kalorama.

They currently have two active listings in DC: a condo in Glover Park for $336,000 and a condo in Columbia Heights for $329,000.

The entire company has 100 active listings in the following counties:

Anne Arundel: 5
Arlington: 7
Alexandria: 2
Baltimore County: 7
Charles: 1
Carrol: 1
DC: 2
Frederick: 1
Fairfax: 20
Harford: 1
Howard: 2
Loudon: 12
Montgomery: 16
PG: 10
Prince William: 11
Spotsylvania: 1
Stafford: 1

Bottom line? They aren't taking over the real estate market anytime soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be comfortable (maybe even prefer) listing my house with Redfin if it's under $800,000. Above that I tend to still earn towards traditional, solely because that's still the dominant source of buyers and the conflicts of interest in the agent game are still so great that I think you will have so e agents (not all) that find reasons to deter their buyers from looking at or offering on Redfin listings.

I think this will change over time, or at least agents will begin accepting lower commissions, but today I believe higher end buyers still tend to use traditional agents and I'd want my listing to be appealing/supported by the largest. Umber of potential buyers possible.

I wonder if that's really true though. Buyers look for houses online and then make appointments with their agent. What is the agent going to do, say they can't see that house because it's a redfin house?

Regrettably it is true ... on past threads some agents have even admitted to steering people away. Look, it's not like agents are these svengalis that dictate every choice of their clients, but lots and lots of home buyers are emotional, nervous, and indecisive given the magnitude of the decision, and an agent absolutely can influence purchase decisions on the margin by drumming up criticisms and planting seeds of doubt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There really aren't that many Redfin listings to show. Let's look at their stats again. Of the 28 closed deals Redfin has had in DC in 2014, only 4 of them were single family homes.

Here is the line up of their sold homes:

1. Randle Heights (SE) sold for $243,000 on 2/2/14 with a seller subsidy of $4,860.

2. Congress Heights (SE) sold for $265,000 on 5/29/14.

3. Old City #1 (NE) sold for $513,600 on 5/12/14.

4. North Michigan Park (NE) sold for $565,000 on 5/16/14 with a seller subsidy of $8,000.

Redfin has not listed one single family home in 2014 in Georgetown, Forest Hills, Chevy Chase, AU Park, Spring Valley, Wesley Heights, Logan, Dupont, or Kalorama.

They currently have two active listings in DC: a condo in Glover Park for $336,000 and a condo in Columbia Heights for $329,000.

The entire company has 100 active listings in the following counties:

Anne Arundel: 5
Arlington: 7
Alexandria: 2
Baltimore County: 7
Charles: 1
Carrol: 1
DC: 2
Frederick: 1
Fairfax: 20
Harford: 1
Howard: 2
Loudon: 12
Montgomery: 16
PG: 10
Prince William: 11
Spotsylvania: 1
Stafford: 1

Bottom line? They aren't taking over the real estate market anytime soon.

Everyone knows that the real estate industry needs a shake up but it's not quick because of the size of the sale. It doesn't help that realtors try to get all personal and lie.

[Anonymous]

^^^^
The above post regarding Redfin stats is a matter of public record. You can look it up yourself on Zillow, Realtor.com, etc.

[Anonymous]

We have both used "traditional" agents and FSBO. Traditional agents really do not have your best interest in mind. They use an outdated system and just sit back and collect the money. They also are not committed to selling "your house"; they are committed to selling "a house" if yours does not work, the one down the street will. They also engage in huge and self serving "negotiations" that mainly benefit themselves. We have had to contact a buyer directly and say "if you want this house, you better tell your agent to knock it off" or the house will be sold to someone else. Usually the buyer is befuddled by their "buyers agent's" tactics, as in "you know you almost lost the house over that $100 repair you insisted on."

[Anonymous]

Blah, blah, blah agent hater. You sound like a real tough guy. Glad you didn't let that deal die over $100!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's face the facts - there are bottom feeders from the suburbs who want a discount and think they know how to decorate with their chintz and plug-ins and 2.5% coop commission will sell their down trodden, lackluster townhouse in the God-forsaken suburbs. There are educated people in the city who leave selling real estate to the professionals. Try doing it yourself at 2.5% (or less) , see what results you get and then come crying to us.

Actually, the most chintz I've seen was in Chevy Chase houses. Chintz, combovers, white blouses with gold lame bows on women, reservations to 6 pm dinner at the Prime Rib on high holidays. That sort of thing.

[Anonymous]

And they don't list with Redfin.

Given the high volume of cheerleaders that firm has on this forum, I was surprised to see the lack of market share they actually have. I have always known that they were basically a discount brokerage with part time agents (I DO know that people LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their website) but actually studying their sales performance reinforces my thoughts on their business model. It's a discount brokerage and perhaps people under the $800K mark will use them eventually in DC. The people in power in this city (Partners of top law firms, top ranking government officials, etc.) will NEVER use Refin, or go FSBO, of that I am sure. Consumers will use Redfin's website - which is not updated in real time even though it says it is, btw - and that blow hard poster who was clamoring on about how he "called a buyer's agent and saved himself a hundred bucks" - well, those types of people can go to Redfin or go FSBO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And they don't list with Redfin.

Given the high volume of cheerleaders that firm has on this forum, I was surprised to see the lack of market share they actually have. I have always known that they were basically a discount brokerage with part time agents (I DO know that people LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their website) but actually studying their sales performance reinforces my thoughts on their business model. It's a discount brokerage and perhaps people under the $800K mark will use them eventually in DC. The people in power in this city (Partners of top law firms, top ranking government officials, etc.) will NEVER use Refin, or go FSBO, of that I am sure. Consumers will use Redfin's website - which is not updated in real time even though it says it is, btw - and that blow hard poster who was clamoring on about how he "called a buyer's agent and saved himself a hundred bucks" - well, those types of people can go to Redfin or go FSBO.

It's a no brainer to use redfin for buying. It will take time for the sale part which came later in their business model.

[Anonymous]

Shop thrifty, look thrifty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought and sold with Redfin (sold this spring). We LOVE them. The commission thing is great but they are great overall. One thing that I noticed that I feel made a HUGE difference was their photography service (which is included, no extra fee). The photographers with Redfin are fantastic. They made our townhouse look gorgeous. I didn't even realize what a difference it made until I looked at a friend's listing... two similar places but ours looked so much better. And just an FYI we worked with Betty Desourdis and she is absolutely wonderful. Seriously, she will NOT be outclassed (as another pp stated).

Link to the house you sold. I smell stale socks.

http://www.redfin.com/VA/Springfield/9118-Galbreth-Ct-22153/home/9770691

What was with the $695 seller subsidy? And your $15,000 price reduction -- I bet that ate up much of your Redfin, uh, savings, eh? Looks like you lost a lot of money on that house, having owned it only a year before selling it for just $20,000 more than you paid...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And they don't list with Redfin.

Given the high volume of cheerleaders that firm has on this forum, I was surprised to see the lack of market share they actually have. I have always known that they were basically a discount brokerage with part time agents (I DO know that people LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their website) but actually studying their sales performance reinforces my thoughts on their business model. It's a discount brokerage and perhaps people under the $800K mark will use them eventually in DC. The people in power in this city (Partners of top law firms, top ranking government officials, etc.) will NEVER use Refin, or go FSBO, of that I am sure. Consumers will use Redfin's website - which is not updated in real time even though it says it is, btw - and that blow hard poster who was clamoring on about how he "called a buyer's agent and saved himself a hundred bucks" - well, those types of people can go to Redfin or go FSBO.

Seriously? Power brokers and law partners? Most of us don't care. Man some people are so full of themselves....

[Anonymous]

Agreed it won't take over the seller position. If you can't choose your agent and have to take whatever putz they assign, why would you ever list with Redfin? You're saving maybe $200 and potentially losing thousands.

For buyers the value is clearer especially in the sub-$500k range.