Redfin experience?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't be shocked if sellers resist Reffin agents (as a seller). They now post comments on their website after they view a house. Some of the comments are purely subjective but can really damage a person's listing. Things like "dated" "busy street" (but without defining what they mean by "busy street," because there are really different definitions.

I recently listed my condo in DC, and when I was signing all the contract papers, there was something my realtor asked me to sign saying that I did not agree to have internet comments associated with the listing. He said that he feels like they're unfair. I immediately thought of the Redfin comments -- I wonder if that's just a provision for people listing in DC? Or can all sellers now "opt out" of having online reviews?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I wouldn't be shocked if sellers resist Reffin agents (as a seller). They now post comments on their website after they view a house. Some of the comments are purely subjective but can really damage a person's listing. Things like "dated" "busy street" (but without defining what they mean by "busy street," because there are really different definitions.

I recently listed my condo in DC, and when I was signing all the contract papers, there was something my realtor asked me to sign saying that I did not agree to have internet comments associated with the listing. He said that he feels like they're unfair. I immediately thought of the Redfin comments -- I wonder if that's just a provision for people listing in DC? Or can all sellers now "opt out" of having online reviews?

The "opt-out" is only in relation to the MLS. Since Redfin is a private corporation, and their comments do not go into the MLS, they are not bound by the "opt-out." You must be a Redfin member to be able to see Redfin comments, since what you're looking at is the MLS listing extracted and re-formatted into the Redfin page + other stuff like map data, redfin comments, public tax data and so on.

So, the opt-out will affect every realty site on the net except Redfin, for the previously mentioned reason.

[Anonymous]

A Redfin's comments about a listing is really no different than someone on this board posting a Franklymls link and asking "so what do you think of this?"

I've done some Googling of certain properties this past year, and it's funny that sometimes I'll get a hit on a DcUrbanMom discussion about the property with it's own very, very negative set of comments.

[Anonymous]

The "opt-out" is only in relation to the MLS. Since Redfin is a private corporation, and their comments do not go into the MLS, they are not bound by the "opt-out." You must be a Redfin member to be able to see Redfin comments, since what you're looking at is the MLS listing extracted and re-formatted into the Redfin page + other stuff like map data, redfin comments, public tax data and so on.

So, the opt-out will affect every realty site on the net except Redfin, for the previously mentioned reason.

I'm the PP you're responding to -- I didn't know how that worked, so thanks for this info!

[Anonymous]

We had a great experience with redfin, after a difficult and long search, we won a multiple offer situation. They did everything right.

[Anonymous]

We sold a Fairfax home to a buyer with Redfin. Absolutely worst experience of our lives - the home inspector left our home with the garage breaker off, detailed problems that didn't exist (ha ha, missed some big problems!) and the Redfin realtor was a cajoling bully that drug out the sale and made it into a nightmare. I would chew off my foot before I bought or sold a home with a Redfin realtor in Northern VA. They think they are the sharpest, but we had to correct the offer to NOT include stuff that wasn't on the listing (Washer & Dryer???), there were lots of 'gotchas' so the buyer was happy with the realtor, it was an unethical nightmare. RUN AWAY FROM REDFIN!!!! Especially in Fairfax County!!!!

[Anonymous]

21:38, it is normal for buyers to expect the washer & dryer to convey.

You sound like a realtor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We sold a Fairfax home to a buyer with Redfin. Absolutely worst experience of our lives - the home inspector left our home with the garage breaker off, detailed problems that didn't exist (ha ha, missed some big problems!) and the Redfin realtor was a cajoling bully that drug out the sale and made it into a nightmare. I would chew off my foot before I bought or sold a home with a Redfin realtor in Northern VA. They think they are the sharpest, but we had to correct the offer to NOT include stuff that wasn't on the listing (Washer & Dryer???), there were lots of 'gotchas' so the buyer was happy with the realtor, it was an unethical nightmare. RUN AWAY FROM REDFIN!!!! Especially in Fairfax County!!!!

Just because the inspector missed some big problems, does not mean you could be liable for them later.

[Anonymous]

i don't see why a seller would refuse a redfin offer if the MONEY was there. people act like the realtors actually matter in making a contract offer stronger or weaker....

[Anonymous]

We are in the process of selling our house FSBO in a desirable neighborhood. Held a very busy open house on Sunday. Several agents called us to say tell us how excited their buyers were about the house, tell us specifically what they liked and asked if there was anything they could include in the offer (besides price) that would make their offer stand out (contingencies, settlement timeline, rentback, etc).

Received several offers on Monday with escalation clauses. Received one offer from a Redfin agent that was laughably low, with an escalation clause that topped out at BELOW list and without any attempt to try to sell us on their buyers. This agent was just so out of touch with what would be necessary to get our house for their buyers that it really soured me on Redfin. I previously thought it was a good model and would have considered using them for our purchase had we not represented ourselves. Now, I'd think twice about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the process of selling our house FSBO in a desirable neighborhood. Held a very busy open house on Sunday. Several agents called us to say tell us how excited their buyers were about the house, tell us specifically what they liked and asked if there was anything they could include in the offer (besides price) that would make their offer stand out (contingencies, settlement timeline, rentback, etc).

Received several offers on Monday with escalation clauses. Received one offer from a Redfin agent that was laughably low, with an escalation clause that topped out at BELOW list and without any attempt to try to sell us on their buyers. This agent was just so out of touch with what would be necessary to get our house for their buyers that it really soured me on Redfin. I previously thought it was a good model and would have considered using them for our purchase had we not represented ourselves. Now, I'd think twice about it.

LOL. Exactly.

Never forget that you get what you pay for, and if the Redfin people are cutting back commission money to a buyer/seller, they're making up for it somewhere else. In your case, they didn't even come close to getting their clients in the running. I have a friend using Redfin and she never gets calls back and can't get into this market with how competitive it is. On the sell side, they'll let your property go for much less just to sell it and be done.

[Anonymous]

We bought our first house (a forclosure in DC) using Redfin, and we had a great experience. It was a complicated buy, as we think it was one of the houses that Bank of America tried to "hide" so there was a lot of paperwork, and we had to extend our offer a few times. But I thought they were wonderful. Plus the discount was nice to use with our closing costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the process of selling our house FSBO in a desirable neighborhood. Held a very busy open house on Sunday. Several agents called us to say tell us how excited their buyers were about the house, tell us specifically what they liked and asked if there was anything they could include in the offer (besides price) that would make their offer stand out (contingencies, settlement timeline, rentback, etc).

Received several offers on Monday with escalation clauses. Received one offer from a Redfin agent that was laughably low, with an escalation clause that topped out at BELOW list and without any attempt to try to sell us on their buyers. This agent was just so out of touch with what would be necessary to get our house for their buyers that it really soured me on Redfin. I previously thought it was a good model and would have considered using them for our purchase had we not represented ourselves. Now, I'd think twice about it.

That's so strange since Redfin specifically states they don't do FSBO as buyers agents.

[Anonymous]

Not true exactly. We used a limited service brokerage to get our property listed on the MLS and stated that we would pay buyer's agent commission.

We actually had several calls from Redfin agents.

[Anonymous]

I'm also considering Redfin to sell my condo but so far my experience has been negative.
It's really tempting to use a discount broker because at a 450k condo we are talking 9k saving in fees for a place next to the metro that should be an easy sell.
I went to the website, picked one of the recommended agent and contacted using the website.
No replies. I went back, picked another seller agent and they assigned me a totally different agent who said they are only available two days the following week in the middle of the day. Not very convenient for me but I replied to the email saying one of the days and time will do. No replies.
So first you don't get who you picked and then communication has been very bad.
I'll see if someone actually shows up tomorrow since I already made arrangements to be home at the time.
But if this is any indication of how things are going to go I'm not sure it's a good option.
For those who had a good experience do you mind sharing the agent name and location? I'm in Falls Church