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@Darkman124

Your opinion on Redfin's IPO? I'm in real estate tech so I've been following it very closely. The industry wants a disruption so bad, but I think they are premature with Redfin...

Curious to hear your thoughts

i bought my house with them and i think their site is vastly superior to other real estate organizations' for actually tracking the market and building your own CMA.

but i cant say with certainty that their reward-on-performance system is solid; usually it means the agent isnt the one showing you houses but rather a field agent who works under them, while the agent does the negotiating and contract writing.

when i bought they gave buyers more than half their commission. i got 9000 for closing from them on top of what the seller was giving me. now it's a lot less, and doing that is an establishment thing

my agent admitted to me when i asked that they were buying 100x more than selling. buyers-side isn't really a good way to disrupt the industry.

so i dont see them as a huge disruption honestly
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You have a good grasp of the situation

They're part of a group of real estate "tech" companies (I only call Redfin "tech" because that's what they ran their IPO on...I don't buy it. They're a brokerage) racing to the bottom by trying to either cut the agent out, or downplay their value. And I find a dishonesty involved when a discount brokerage company claims to have only 1% commissions but still (as you say) have to pay the buy side the usual 3% (though even with that I'm seeing more and more 2.5% buy sides lately...I'm in the San Diego market fwiw).

The problem with real estate is its a 97/3 business (there's no 80/20 here) and tech companies are trying to fill the gap by automated the home buying / selling process. Check out a company called GoldenKey...they pretty much offer a la cart real estate services.

Wait until the lawsuits (real estate is an insanely litigious industry)...they'll be hating life. That coupled with this race to the bottom to devalue the agent means they are going to be fighting the industry as they try to grow.

they'll sell it as 'we prospered during the housing bust!'

but in reality they were mostly working the best side to work during the last 6 years, the buyer side.
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the old adage in real estate is listing is lasting

but the better redfin does in driving commissions down, the better our system is going to do so I'm rooting for them :)

also i did personally enjoy working with them quite a lot
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Darkman124 posted...

also i did personally enjoy working with them quite a lot

As do most people I've talked to who did business with them. The problem is they compete with agents.

The industry hates Zillow and Redfin...zillow because they took away their data power and redfin (and the slew of discount "tech brokers") because they are taking their commissions away.

I just don't understand a home owner who will save 2% on a commission to pay a less experienced agent to sell their home for 10% less that what a top producer charges. Problem is the role of the agent has been diminished so much no one believes this is the case anymore. They feel an agent is an agent and there's no value in hiring more experience.

Strange really....maybe this technology is giving us an arrogance that'll bite us in the ass

tbh i think a big part of it is that agents deliberately kept a LOT of information from customers for a very long time

redfin has prob done more to hurt data power than zillow, honestly. you spend a day or two comparing 'zestimates' to actual sale prices and you realize it's bullshit

but redfin lets the user see all recent sales in an easy-to-use interface, rapid-compare to similar nearby homes, measure recent trends of list vs sale price, etc.

all the stuff that realtors COULD be sharing with their customers...but don't.

because it would make them focus on getting the best deal, rather than getting their transaction done quickly.

my home purchase? took 9 months.

it was worth it. every time, redfin helped me find places that were ACTUALLY priced to sell--and got multiple offers because the price was so low despite the 2012 economy. eventually we won a round.

it's not just that sellers are starting to think their agents can't get them a better price. it's that buyers (and sellers also) are starting to think their sellers don't give a shit about them and just want fast turnover.
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You are the DC area, correct? It's a market we plan on expanding into with our program in a year or so

yes
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You may have a point with Redfin being more of a data disruptor, but Zillows instant offers program is trying to disrupt the industry.

Amazon has plans to offer agent services as well. It'll be interesting

Though there is a good Inman article about how it'll be good for agents to compete with instant offers. They just have to go into full attack mode.

Real estate is so due for a tech revolution and TONS of money is being poured into it. Real fun time

look at these dorks
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