Online real estate broker Redfin Inc. today announced the closing of its first seven Redfin Direct customers, and the results from its first customer satisfaction survey. The seven customers received an average commission refund of $11,402; five closed last week, two the week before, with many more due to close every week this month.

Of the 16 customers who responded to the survey, 100% said they would recommend that a friend use Redfin to make an offer. A gallery of customer photos and testimonials is available at http://www.redfin.com/buy-a-home/customers. To accommodate increasing demand, Redfin has recently doubled the size of its support staff.

Rather than working with a traditional agent, Redfin Direct customers find a home and draft an offer online. Redfin's experienced agents talk to the listing agent, negotiate the deal, handle the inspection and coordinate closing. Redfin Direct customers earn two-thirds of the buyer's agent commission for themselves, applied at closing. For a typical $400,000 listing, the discount is $8,000.

Fifty-six percent of Redfin's customers said Redfin's Direct service was "much better" than that of a full-priced traditional agent, 25% said it was "better," 12% said it was "the same," only 6% said it was "not as good," 0% said it was "much worse." Unlike traditional agents, Redfin agents are paid based on customer satisfaction, not on commission.

Eighteen percent of Redfin's customers are first-time home-buyers, 71% are experienced home-buyers, and 12% are investors, buying properties to generate income. The median price of a home purchased via Direct was $419,000, the average was $544,143; the Seattle-wide median for March was $409,000.

Redfin Direct customer Michael Teter, a lawyer, and his wife Anna moved into their new Capitol Hill home last weekend. "As first-time house buyers and new parents, we wanted to make sure we found the perfect home for our family," said Michael Teter. "As it turned out, finding the right home wasn't too hard, but making sure the seller accepted our offer was the key. We relied on the Redfin team to help craft an offer that not only worked for us, but that no seller would pass up."

"On our Redfin Direct agent's advice, we had a pre-inspection done so we could waive that contingency, included a competitive escalator, and provided a personal statement," Teter continued. "Our offer was so strong that, despite other offers, we got the house -- without even using the escalation clause. We were able to use our Redfin Direct savings to pay our closing costs, buy down our mortgage interest rate, and still have money left over to help furnish our new home. We truly appreciated Redfin's advice and guidance through the entire process."

Greg Lozensky, who runs a construction business, bought a Columbia City fixer-upper using Redfin Direct. "Using Redfin's nifty Web site, I was able to narrow my search and compare prices on similar properties. With Redfin's help I was even able to negotiate a lower price. With the $7000 Redfin Direct refund and the money saved from the lower price I will be able to afford to start renovating immediately."

"For customers who use the Internet to find a home, Redfin Direct is better service at a much lower price," said Marcus Smith, Redfin's Washington state broker and vice-president of real estate operations. "We carefully hire and train our agents to represent clients fiercely from negotiations to close, and survey customers to identify opportunities for improving our service every month. The result is a high-technology brokerage that is often more efficient and effective than the traditional model."

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the real estate industry's first online brokerage, combining a customer-focused team of real estate agents with online tools for making the process of buying or selling a home easy. Redfin is the only major search site to feature listings direct from broker databases as well as for-sale-by-owner and foreclosure properties from across the Internet. The company pays its agents customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions, and surveys every client, publishing each survey as well as details on the agent's negotiating performance and deal history. Redfin's service is available in the metropolitan areas of Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Washington DC, Baltimore, New York's Long Island and Westchester County as well as most of California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California and Sacramento. To keep track of our daring exploits, subscribe to blog.redfin.com or our Twitter feed @redfin.