Current Press Coverage
More Ways Than Ever to Find That Dream House
And even then, some of the data usually remain hidden from public view. Online real estate start-ups such as Redfin.com offer discounted access to complete MLS listings.
Diligence and Patience Can Land You the Home You Want
With the stress and anxiety behind them, [Redfin customer] Diana Needleman said the process worked out well in the end. "It's an amazing house," said Diana Needleman, who is now looking forward to redoing the large backyard. "We are very, very happy."
Chicago Now Redfin's Kind of Town
The real estate brokerage that other brokerages love to hate quietly set up shop in Chicago. That would be Redfin, the maverick start-up that operates mostly online and refunds two-thirds of its portion of the commission to its clients. Chicago is its eighth market.
Redfin Expands in Chicago
With the addition of the 4 million properties in Chicago and expanded search areas in Washington, California, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and other areas, Redfin now will have a total of about 16 million properties on the site.
Redfin Takes Chicago
Redfin Corp., a real estate company that offers deep discounts to real estate buyers in the form of rebates and flat-fee services for sellers, announced today that it has expanded brokerage services to the Chicago area and added property-search capabilities for about 100 counties.
New Rules of Online Home Buying
"It seems inevitable that more elements of the transaction will move online as younger, tech-savvy buyers enter the market," says Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin. "I'm not guaranteeing that Redfin will succeed, but I do feel certain that a company like Redfin will succeed."
Online Start-up Redfin Saves Home Buyers Money
Linda Flynn is among a growing number of home buyers who swear by Redfin, an online start-up in Seattle that has rocked the real estate market ... Redfin's easy-to-use website provides consumers market data on home-sales histories, school districts and other information. Then Redfin brokers and agents take home buyers on house tours and negotiate and close deals.
Let's Make a Deal
Redfin's basic advice is that homebuyers who are thinking of submitting a deeply-discounted offer need to spend a little less time thinking about the home, and a little more time thinking about the sellers and their situation.
Where Short Sales Stumble
Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin, an Internet-based brokerage, cited a number of indicators that a listing advertised as a short sale will really make it to closing. You might be a wasting your time unless you see these signs.
Prices Keep Sliding, But Shopping Now Has Pluses
Redfin agent Allie Howard said people, unhindered by competition, are finding that shopping now has pluses. Howard says she hasn't made a full-price offer recently on behalf of any of the buyers she's represented. Howard says homebuilders are more willing to cut prices. Traditionally, builders throw in extras, such as upgraded carpeting or cabinets, rather than lower the asking price.
When Is an Owner Willing to Slash the Price?
Glenn Kelman, the CEO of online brokerage firm Redfin, passed along this helpful list of "tells" that may indicate a home seller is willing to cut the price on a property. Buyers should take notice and negotiate accordingly if they spot any of these.
Realtors Agree to Share More Multiple-Listing Service Data with Online Brokers
Kelman of Seattle-based Redfin said his company "has been thirsty for MLS data for at least a decade" and had based its business model on a gamble that such a settlement was possible. With such an agreement in place, further investment in technology makes sense.
DOJ: Realtors Must Allow Online Brokers to Compete With Traditional Ones
"Internet entrepreneurs have been thirsty for this MLS data for at least a decade," said Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, another online realty firm. "For a long time, the conventional wisdom in Silicon Valley was that you didn't want to take data from the Realtors because they didn't want to share it with you."
Realtors Group Settles U.S. Case Over Internet Policy
"We are reasonably happy but not completely overjoyed," Glenn Kelman, chief executive officer of Redfin, a Seattle-based on-line brokerage, said in an interview ... the settlement will still allow realtors to bar some on-line comments and price comparisons from firms such as Seattle-based Zillow.Com and Cyberhomes.
Online Realtors Win Rights to Housing Database
The deal is especially important for disruptive online-only companies like Redfin, which rely on being able to access current home listings. Redfin aims to make the home-buying process more efficient, while saving consumers money in the process.
Online Brokers Guaranteed Access to Listings
"We can compete as aggressively as we want without worrying that a broker will decide not to share his listings with us," said Redfin chief executive Glenn Kelman in an e-mail to the Mercury News Tuesday. "There has been a huge debate in online real estate about whether we could survive working as a broker within the MLS rules, and get access to all the listings for sale. That is now a settled issue."
Online Real Estate Agents Get Equality With Traditional Brokers
The settlement is encouraging to online real estate firms such as Redfin, a Seattle-based start-up that CEO Glenn Kelman calls "the E-Trade of real estate brokers." Before the settlement, Kelman says he wasn't even sure that Redfin would continue to exist. Now, though, there's potential for growth for his firm and others, he predicts.
Settlement Reached For Online Real Estate Agents
Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin, an online real estate brokerage based in Seattle that operates in 20 large metropolitan areas, said the settlement came as a relief for executives at the company, which bills itself as a lower-cost alternative to traditional real estate agents.
Redfin Has $7 Million Home Sale
Redfin, the Seattle online real estate broker, has participated in the sale of three homes worth more than $2 million each in April, including one home that sold for $7 million.
Real Estate Lists Grow Comfortable With the Web
That [MLS] change recently allowed Redfin to introduce a neighborhood map showing all the homes for sale, regardless of whether they were listed with an M.L.S. Redfin also now posts the number of days a home has been on the market, as well as its price history &mdsash; two bits of information previously held closely by agents and brokers in the M.L.S. system.
Tales From the Housing Bust
Now Conrad, a C.P.A., checks online-discount brokerage Redfin every day for bargains.
Redfin Mingles MLS-listed Homes with FSBOs, Foreclosures
Seattle-based real estate brokerage company Redfin has integrated foreclosure properties and for-sale-by-owner properties with its map-based search, and the company identifies the various property types with different icon colors and in detailed descriptions.
Tracking Foreslosures on Redfin
It's good stuff -- it shows six bank-owned properties, and the information on each listing is pretty extensive, especially for a free, no-registration service ... Put me down as a satisfied user.
Redfin Adds Foreclosed Houses to Web Site
Homes reclaimed by banks and for sale by owner now show up next to traditional listings on the Web site of Seattle brokerage Redfin. Redfin also plans to set up a flat-fee system so buyers can use the brokerage to buy foreclosure and for-sale-by-owner homes.
The Brighter Side of Housing
This week, though, the Dudleys moved into a three-bedroom house in Anaheim that they recently bought for $390,000, down from the original listing price of $445,000 in November. Similar homes in the area were selling for as much as about $600,000 two years ago, says Erin Eckert, an agent for Redfin, an online real-estate brokerage that represented the Dudleys.
Ready For a Divorce? Your House Isn't
Kelman, the Redfin.com chief, said that once the home is on the market, it is in the homeowners' best interests to keep the reason for the sale -- their divorce -- under wraps. Knowing that a seller is divorcing may lead some to make lower offers.
What Sells Quick? Big, Old and Pricey
The single-family homes selling most quickly in the Boston area share three characteristics, according to the fine folks at Redfin: They are 7 percent larger than other recently sold homes, they sit on lots that are 13 percent larger, and they are 78 percent more expensive.
Why Lenders Are Leery of Short Sales
Redfin, an online real-estate brokerage based in Seattle, says it represented buyers on 65 short-sale offers in the first quarter but expects only two or three to result in a completed sale.
Hello, Nosy Neighbors and Looky-loos!
Still, buyers tend to be enthusiastic about open houses, because they can check out a home on a whim, rather than having to schedule an appointment with a broker. They can also organize an afternoon of looking around staggered open house times. Alex Coon, Massachusetts market manager for online real estate broker Redfin Corp., likes that open houses are held within a generally agreed upon time.
Redfin Tests Out High Service, Lower Rebate Plan
Redfin, a real estate brokerage company that offers deep rebates to buyers, is testing out a new service option in the Seattle area that allows buyers to participate in an unlimited amount of tours while reducing the company's rebate rate.
Are O.C. Homes Priced Low to Draw Higher Bids?
Redfin brokerage CEO Glenn Kelman followed up on our recent chat with some more thoughts about what his shop sees in the O.C. market.
The 8 Percent Commission
Redfin, a contrarian real estate company with Boston offices, analyzed 2007 sales in King County, Washington (which you may know as "Seattle"). It found that homes listed for commissions below 3 percent sold at 99.9 percent of list price after 89 days on the market, while homes listed for commissions above 3 percent sold for 98.5 percent of list price after 129 days on the market.
Will Paying a Higher Commission Help Sell Your Home Faster?
But a new study of 2007 home sales in King County, Wash. by online real estate brokerage Redfin says that sellers who paid exactly 3% to the buyer's agent sold their home faster than sellers who paid either more or less.
Finding Real Estate Answers Online
Kelman says Redfin did hundreds of statistical studies on topics like which day you should list your house and how important it is to stage it. He says no matter how much information Redfin offers on a property, consumers always want more. Traffic on Redfin has doubled in the last year, even as sales have dropped in half.
Computer vs. Realtor: Computer Wins. Twice.
Statistics show that Redfin buyers negotiate a much lower price than their broker competitors.
Report: Are Redfin Buyers Better Negotiators
Redfin customers in Seattle and San Francisco paid less for their homes than those who purchased homes through other brokers in those regions, according to a report released today by the Seattle online real estate company.
February 2008 King County Home Sales
Houses there that sell within the first 30 days are fetching an average of 101 percent of their listing price even now, [Kevin] Broveliet [of Redfin] says.
Redfin Rolls Out Web Metrics Tools for Sellers
Redfin Listing Metrics allows the company's seller clients to view information about other for-sale properties in the area, to study graphs that feature daily and weekly price changes, and to view online traffic to the listing at the Redfin.com site as compared to the neighborhood average, as examples.
New Redfin Features Keep it Ahead of the Pack
Redfin's real estate search tools are world class and only keep getting better.
Addictive Personalities, Beware: Redfin Launches Stats for Sellers
Oh dear homesellers, stockpile the Xanex and shore up, for you're about to experience the most vicious of all obsessive-compulsive disorders. (Just trust us here, OK?) Earlier this morning, online real estate brokerage Redfin launched a listing stat tracker of sorts.
Redfin Adds New Features
Seattle real estate brokerage Redfin has announced a new feature that allows its sellers to analyze neighborhood inventory trends and recent sales, and compare their listing's online traffic to that of other listings in the neighborhood.
Gen Xers Buy With Redfin
He [Redfin client Deyano Manco] conducted nearly all of the transaction, from initial research to negotiation – online [with Redfin]. After finding the home online, he researched what the previous owners paid for it and conducted meticulous data analysis using elaborate spreadsheets. He further scoped out the property and neighborhood using satellite images from Google Earth and made his offer through Web brokerage Redfin.
Real Estate in Cyberspace
Redfin agents will be there to assist with negotiations and to close the sale for the seller. Buyers receive an incentive, too, sharing in the company's three-percent commission. For instance, on a half-million dollar home, Redfin puts $10,000 of the $15,000 it earns back into the buyers' pockets.
DC Buyer Took Redfin's Advice
Robert White said he took Redfin's pricing advice when he listed his two-bedroom, two-bath townhouse in Fairlington. "I was going to list it at $425,000, but by knocking it down to $424,500," the house ended up in a category that would seem more affordable to more people by falling into the lower Web listing range, the first-time seller said.
Celebs Are Like Us - Their Houses Lose Value Too!
Dave Malkoff reports. [House prices] are completely trackable through sites like Redfin.com who will tell you where a home was and where it is right now.
Some Threatened by Online Realtor's Business Model
Redfin says it enjoys a good working relationship with most traditional realtors in all seven cities where it operates, but some may be threatened by Redfin's business model ... both sides agree that there is plenty of room for Redfin in the real estate industry.
Insider Q&A with Glenn Kelman
Real estate seems ready for a more electronic marketplace where sellers and shoppers can research and deal from the comfort and privacy of their home office. Redfin from Seattle, is such a high-tech experiment, offering online home shopping in seven markets, including O.C.
Redfin Adds Features
Online real estate broker Redfin Corp. is offering buyers more free home tours and more information about listings.
Redfin Adds Another Free Home Tour
Online brokerage Redfin is trying out a new approach in buyer home tours, in part to mollify criticism from real estate agents unhappy about showing their own listings.
Redfin Rolls Out A Few New Features Including Listing Data Downloads
They've just launched a new version of the website that includes more frequent MLS updates and the ability to group home sales by neighborhood and download the data. They are also providing deeper data on homes currently on the market as well as historical sales.
Redfin Continues to Shrink the Real Estate Market
They've just launched a new version of the website that includes more frequent MLS updates and the ability to group home sales by neighborhood and download the data. They are also providing deeper data on homes currently on the market as well as historical sales.
Despite Housing Slide, Real Estate Sites Sell
[Redfin's] analysts pored through sales data and found that, among other things, listings that make their debuts on Fridays draw 7.7 percent more visitors than those introduced on Thursdays. In addition, listings priced at $351,001 receive significantly less attention online than those listed at $350,000, because of how real estate search engines filter their results.
Boston Real Estate Web Sites
We also heard this week about a new Boston real estate blog being launched by online real estate brokerage Redfin.com.
Selling in a Sea of Foreclosures
Yet, "fair market value is still an option" for home sellers, [Redfin agent Dave] Billings says. "Just because a foreclosed property is down the street doesn't mean you have to take $15,000 less than your house is worth. But it does mean that any sort of shoot-the-moon option isn't available. It requires a laser focus on a true justifiable fair-market price for your home."
Redfin Real Estate Blog Moves East
The company hired nine writers to cover local real estate in the Boston and Washington, D.C., markets.
Redfin’s Refunds
Just over 1,000 people have purchased a home through Redfin, with an average refund of $10,106. Meanwhile, close to 300 people have sold homes through the service at a savings of about $3 million.
Soft Market Secrets to Selling a High-End Home
In addition, selling a home online comes with the benefit of Web analytics. For example, Redfin notes that homes debuting on a Friday get 7.7% more viewers their first week than those homes that debut on a Thursday. Online services can also track which Web sites, like Craigslist.org, are diving web traffic to your listing.
