Tag Archives: Redfin

The Real Estate Consumer Bill of Rights

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Inman News announced this morning, that the industry is being asked to consider and support the following “Real Estate Consumer Bill of Rights”.

1. Choose the services you pay for: Laws in more than a dozen states forbid brokers from refunding commissions to you, or require brokers to provide services you may not want to pay for. These laws protect the industry, not the consumer.

2. Know how your agent makes his money: In real estate, the seller pays both his own agent and the buyer’s agent a percentage of the sale; the agent earns more when his client pays more. If a house seems difficult to sell, the seller may even offer buyers’ agents an especially high percentage. Buyers’ agents should be required to explain to their clients how they are paid.

3. Know when you are committed to an agent: Often just showing a property entitles an agent to the commission for representing you, regardless of whether you intended to work with someone else or even preferred to represent yourself. The relationship between an agent and a consumer should always be explicit, so that both parties know when they’re committed to one another.

4. Know what services your agent will provide: Much of the work of a buyer’s agent begins after the buyer has agreed to buy a house. This work includes coordinating inspections, repairs, mortgages, title reviews and escrow services. But agents today are paid only to bring a buyer to a transaction. Once that happens, it is virtually impossible to fire your agent. In most cases, this is appropriate, as the agent who puts a deal together deserves the commission. But in becoming committed to an agent, you should know what services the agent will provide as part of that commitment and what recourse you have if the agent doesn’t perform those services. An open agreement between you and the agent protects the agent from being unfairly dismissed, and ensures you get the service you expect through closing.

5. Have an agent that represents only your interests: Most states allow an agent to represent the buyer and seller in one transaction, and get both sides of a commission. As a result, some sellers’ agents are on the prowl for unrepresented buyers to bring to the seller. It’s a solicitation neither side can easily refuse because the seller wants the buyer and the buyer wants the house. But an agent can’t fairly represent the interests of two parties to the same transaction. An agent should represent only one party, and take commissions for only one party.

6. Know the commission refund you can get before you buy a house: Depending on the service provided by the buyer’s agent, some sellers vary the commission offered to buyers’ agents. This flexibility is good in theory, but in practice it’s often used to thwart commission refunds: buyers expecting a refund of $10,000 or more from their agent discover on making an offer that the amount has been radically reduced in favor of the seller’s agent. Buyers should know in advance what circumstances let the seller’s agent keep more of a commission for himself. It’s fine to change the price but not at the cash register.

7. See all the houses for sale: Many of the multiple listing services set up to share listings between brokerages forbid participating websites from displaying for-sale-by-owner houses alongside broker-listed houses. As a result, home buyers usually don’t see all the houses for sale, and home sellers have to hire brokers just to get their house on mainstream sites. MLSs should not require exclusive display of listings.

8. Have an open discussion about a house for sale: On the web, you can openly discuss almost any product for sale except a house. That’s because sellers’ agents “own the listing,” controlling where and how it’s posted for their benefit. The rules of some MLSs discourage real estate websites from publishing independent reviews and preclude owners from distributing MLS marketing materials outside MLS-sanctioned websites. Once a house is for sale, everyone in the market should be able to discuss it.

9. See all the information available about a house for sale: Many MLSs make it difficult for buyers to see recent past sales data, how long a house has been for sale, or whether its price has been reduced. Once a house is for sale, you should be able to see all the information available about it on your own, without becoming anyone’s client. The only exception to this rule is information whose publication jeopardizes the seller’s safety, such as when the presence of children precludes a showing.

10. Be sure your agent will show your house to everyone: Some sellers’ agents selectively refuse to show houses to a buyer represented by an alternative brokerage, which hurts the seller and the buyer. If, as part of his service, a seller’s agent doesn’t show houses to all buyers, the seller should know it, and the buyer should be able to contact the seller directly. When agents don’t facilitate showing a house, they should at least stand aside and let buyers see the house on their own.

Greg Swann of BloodHoundBlog in Arizona, Kevin Boer of 3 Oceans in the CA Bay Area, Kris Berg and I were contacted by Glenn Kelman of Redfin prior to the Inman anouncement and asked to support The Consumer Bill of Rights on Redfin’s site. The email we received is posted in Greg’s article today.

There are portions of the Bill of Rights that appeared contradictory, and a bit self serving of Redfin, such as:

#5 which preclude’s the buyer consumer’s right to represent themself with NO agent, while still holding the listing agent somewhat accountable.

From what I’ve seen in the marketplace, there are many buyers who want the same advantage as a For Sale By Owner. They want the right to be totally commission free, and represent themselves without an agent at all. I don’t see that right highlighted adequately in this Redfin penned “Consumer Bill of Rights”. I have provided this option free of charge to buyers this year on a couple of occasions, and so know it is an option that is possible for buyer consumers. Clearly omitting this option is an error that needs to be corrected by Redfin before I would jump on this bandwagon of supposed “consumer rights”.

#4 which suggest that assisting the buyer consumer with property selection, and giving advices regarding properties with inherent market weaknesses BEFORE an offer is made, is of no never mind, since they don’t do that.

#8 seems to forget that the Seller is a “consumer” as well, and so maybe this “Consumer Bill of Rights” should say “Buyer Consumer’s Bill of Rights” and we should counter balance with a “Seller Consumer’s Bill of Rights“. I may just have to pen that one myself, showing that Seller’s have the right for the buyer to be fully and well represented, to protect the seller from after-sale consequences of the buyer being inadequately advised and represented by the buyer’s agent”.

I’m heading over to Greg and Kevin’s sites to comment on their take on this. In the meantime, enjoy the “breaking news”. I expect most of the major brokerages will simply choose to ignore it, hoping it will just “go away”.

Redfin's First Year

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In a follow up to Dustin’s post, I started to examine Redfin’s numbers in a bit more detail.

Redfin released a report today (it was yesterday, but I am on vacation… I guess you can say Maui Time :)) that opens saying, “Finds .904% Negotiating Advantage, 1.952% Average Commission Refund, 95% Customer Satisfaction; The Most Common Type of Redfin Buyer is a First-Timer

You are breaking my heart Redfin…

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I will start with a caveat. I am a owner in a real estate development company and I am not primarily shopping homes for clients, but instead buying properties to develop and build. That being said, you may think I have nothing but critiques for any other real estate company… not true! Dustin and I have been playing with mapping applications in regards to real estate for a long time. This is actually the way I was introduced to RCG.

Way back then we (LTD, not Dustin) were attempting to integrate what was not being done… Aerial parcel mapping of real estate listings. Around that time Redfin launched a pretty slick product. As a visitor of Redfin my only complaint was the size of the viewable space. There was no site out there that utilized the whole page like Microsoft’s Virtual Earth. The size and detail of the photos (at least in the PNW) were great and although not that recent at the time, much better than using what else was out there.

My biggest gripe with Redfin has been their use of space, most notably the size of their map. In my eyes you could get an idea of the neighborhood, but not a great idea without knowing the area already. Virtual Earth’s full size maps on the other hand were and are great. NWMLS made us change the name of the map because of the words MLS in the URL. MLSMAPSONLINE (image to the right) used the full size maps and parcel data much like Redfin, except we choose to use an opaque layer over a part of the map to maximize the user experience. We stopped working on that product when Zillow launched and we realized it would take too much $$$$$ to stay in the game.

Anyway as I said I am a guilty of using Redfin. When John L Scott did a great job when they launched their new site using Virtual Earth. A great job, but were still missing many of the features that made Redfin great. Redfin was much faster than the NWMLS for a simple search and easy to drag the map to increase the prospective area. I still never understood why they used such a small area for the map, but then again, they were my competition so I wasn’t that worried about the problem.

Then I heard they launched a new version using Virtual Earth. I was so excited when I caught word I quickly ran to my mouse and was ready for the thrill, but I was quickly let down when I saw they kept the same map size and page orientation.

Here is the image from Redfin

Here is the image from Shackprices

It would be great if when using Redfin you could see how the house sat on the lot, what size is the front yard, where the driveway is, in this pick the massive amount of trees in the front and rear yards, etc. I am sure the parcel box will be changed right away, but I am surprised about the map size and location of the content. There is plenty of room on the monitor, so I am confused. MLSMapsOnline used the vertical orientation, so I know it can be done.

In then end, this blog is not about a critique, but instead a nudge nudge.

Redfin – PRESS RELEASE

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Redfin Integrates Microsoft Virtual Earth Map Platform,
Continues Expansion in Greater Seattle and San Francisco Bay Areas

SEATTLE – Jan. 12, 2007 – Online real estate broker Redfin Corporation today released a new version of www.redfin.com based on the Microsoft Virtual Earth map platform, offering home-buyers powerful new ways to explore a neighborhood. With today’s announcement, Redfin also more than doubled its geographic coverage in the Greater Seattle and San Francisco Bay Areas; and added online agent chat and more listing information such as homeowner’s dues.

The first to display real estate data on an online map, Redfin originally developed its own mapping technology using government-provided imagery of Seattle and San Francisco. Now that mapping platforms have become publicly available on the Internet, Redfin replaced this technology with Virtual Earth to expand more quickly and to offer a richer user experience. A blog posting on why Redfin chose Virtual Earth over other mapping platforms is available at: http://www.redfin.com/blog/redfin/2007/01/redfin_on_virtual_earth.html

The integration available today gives Redfin users better performance, double-click zooming, and a choice between aerial imagery and the traditional map view. Redfin plans to use Virtual Earth to offer bird’s-eye views of neighborhoods, driving directions, mobile telephone integration and more neighborhood information about local attractions and retail shops.

With the new map, Redfin is expanding from San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in California to now serve Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma counties. In Washington, Redfin is expanding eastward to include all of King County as well as Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Redfin also has hired new agents in these areas to provide local support for customers using its e-commerce service to buy or sell a house. The expansion increases the number of listings available on Redfin.com by nearly 200 percent and the number of records on past sales by more than 150 percent.

The latest version also includes new features based on direct customer feedback:

  • More listing information: listings now include all available details from each multiple listing service such as homeowner’s dues, open house information and virtual tours, when available.
  • Online agent chat: start an instant message chat with a Redfin agent to get immediate answers while making an offer or starting a new listing (9 a.m. – 6 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday; noon – 6 p.m. PT, Saturday and Sunday).

“The Redfin real estate brokerage site provides precise outlines of every property directly on the Virtual Earth map, demonstrating just how flexible and powerful our platform can be,

Agents rarely "feel the love" when someone new and interesting joins the party…

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The contributors at Rain City Guide (RCG) have been falling over themselves talking about the folks at Redfin. Don’t know who they are? Not a shock. They’re a real estate firm based in the Seattle area with offices in the Bay area of San Fran which has a discount model for services. Earlier this week there was a conference in NYC that Glenn Kelman of Redfin attended and he was slammed by a REALTOR(R) representative. To me, having come from the tech industry, it was the old school getting pissed at the new school and not necessarily playing nice.

Before you think I’m a big fan of Redfin – stop! I don’t really like anyone that is my competitor. Granted, I can actually “like” the people involved but of course I’m also competitive and I’m focused on becoming a top player as well so any competition is considered friendly competition – and competition doesn’t play in my sandbox, so to speak.

I actually had a woman from my office pull me aside Tuesday and ask me to share my business plan with her. My competitive nature kicked in and my first thought was, “why would I share a plan that I carefully crafted and have been tweaking and developing for almost 4 years and which I have a 5 year plan staked out for the future, with you?” Did you mention that there’d be some form of payment for my consultation services? Did you say that perhaps there was some other motivation other than you wanting to succeed after stealing my concepts (which she’s already doing) such as a large donation to my non-profit? Of course not.

The way I know I’m making progress and getting market share, and therefore being noticed, in my field is to watch others copying me. It’s supposed to be the most sincere form of flattery and to a VERY small degree I do like it. However, for the most part we know we’ve hit a new segment when others start chasing us with the same ads, asking our vendors to stop advertising with us, steal our exclusive speakers, and more. But if you want to really get me going then show me your cards by saying something like this gal did to me. I won’t share the full details but I think you get the drift. Redfin, I feel your pain – I just don’t need to give away a chunk of my commission to feel it.

Redfin vs. Establishment

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Redfin creates Red Faces

With Redfin I think they create red faces in the market, mostly from competitors, not their very own clients. With all the debating taking place (see last few comments) about variations of service levels and discussion about saving $20,000 in commissions but losing $100,000 in price for an agent’s (implying Redfin or similar models) lack of negotiation skill —an argument I disagree with—maybe the only way for consumers to feel like they are being well served is to set their own benchmarks for the people they entrust to help sell and buy homes. Realtors have exceptional value, but as an industry have allowed foolish internal cultural policy to dim the light. Instead of setting benchmarks for delivery of value that consumers get, industry insiders have to spend copious amounts of time trying to tell each other why a model will fail. If you want meaningful debate, invite consumers on a panel telling why one model worked for them vs. another. APB to Brad Inman…. try that.

No industry benchmarks

The real issue, in my opinion, is that consumers are given no tangible and bonafide benchmarks for placing value received for commission they pay. Why should consumers pay an identical commission like the “negotiable

Glenn Kelman and Allan Dalton

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[photopress:thumb_glenn_1_2_1.jpg,thumb,alignright]I was ROTFLMAO reading Glenn’s rendition of what happened at the Inman Conference where Glenn shared the stage with Allan Dalton…and apparently Zillow was there “didling with a microphone” when Glenn was looking for moral support. LOL Read Glenn’s article, it is a HOOT!!

[photopress:dalton_allan_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]Allan Dalton is a fabulous speaker. If you’ve never had the honor, I highly recommend it. But let’s face it. Allan is as talented as David Letterman, and watching Glenn and Alan must be like watching Richard Simmons as a guest on the David Letterman show…PAINFUL!

Glenn says , “Many people afterwards congratulated me, for nothing in particular, which was very kind.” They were congratulating you for having the chutzpah to get up there in the first place and for going the whole Ten Rounds! And so do WE! But you have to ask yourself, what do you have to gain to stand in front of the a roomful of Realtors going toe to toe with their fearless leader? And as for “desk fees”, you were in NY for crissakes…they’re still paying splits out there. You’re lucky they didn’t drag you in the back and leave you for dead LOL Well, I for one am very glad they didn’t, and that you made it back in one piece.

Now I really do think it is time for Allan Dalton to have to face Zillow and Redfin in front of a crowd of Microsoft and Google employees! Come on! Let’s start selling tickets to that one. Allan’s a sport…he’s probably game. We’ll donate the proceeds to free Realtor.com Virtual Tours.

As for the Title of the Smackdown…”High Touch vs. High Tech”, ain’t too many people more “High Touch” than Glenn Kelman. Now stop going “nose to nose and toes to toes” with the wrong people! Go give a guest lecture at Microsoft. I’ll go on stage with you. They can throw tomatos at me 🙂 Little cherry ones though.

Interview with Glenn Kelman of Redfin

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[photopress:glenn_kelman.jpg,full,alignright]Since joining on Redfin almost exactly a year ago, Glenn has earned a reputation of a colorful, intelligent, and unconventional CEO. In my quest to interview the real estate bloggers who have influenced me, I am very glad that Glenn took the time to talk about his foray into corporate blogging as well as the team he has built up at Redfin, many of whom are expert bloggers in their own right.

However, before I begin the interview, I have a request… Will someone please record tomorrow’s panel discussion between Glenn and Allan Dalton at Real Estate Connect when they both answer the question: Is the Realtor becoming irrelevant in the internet age? Now back to our regularly scheduled interview…

What inspired you to start blogging?

[photopress:Noam.jpg,thumb,alignright] The person who showed me how to blog is my friend, Noam Lovinsky, a 26 year-old Israeli-American with unnaturally large, expressive hands.

He introduced me to his subscription set the way a 13 year-old shows you his comic books. He is the kind of person who, if you ask him to play checkers, gives you a list of other people to play first, and says “Beat them, then we’ll play.”

The reason I enjoy blogging is simply because I enjoy writing; I once wanted to be a novelist. I take a child-like joy in finding colorful pictures on Flickr to post alongside the writing. And I appreciate the hurly-burly of comments, which helps us figure out what to do at Redfin.

On the other hand, I worry that blogging can be self-indulgent and even a bit solipsistic, all of us bloggers talking to one another.

But mostly I like it.

Are there any special topics or issues that you enjoy covering?

The Roman playwright Terence once wrote “I am a human; nothing human is alien to me.” The best topics for a post are always people. More than the topics, what I enjoy about blogging is the tone, which itself seems more human to me than most corporate writing: you can admit mistakes, make personal observations, sometimes explain how you feel. Ventures into other topics have been precarious: every time I mud-wrestle traditional real estate agents, I lose; my posts about Redfin sound like press releases.

What have you done to personalize your blog?

Mostly, just let folks write in their own style, unedited. Our blog has improved since Matt Goyer began posting; I feel the same way about posts from Eric Heller, Rob McGarty, Cynthia Pang and Bahn Lee. Each has his or her own voice.

Do you have any favorite posts?

It was fun to testify before Congress. Any post that quotes Emily Dickinson or P. Diddy is good. I like posts about odd Redfin employees because, well, they are so odd. But for some reason this post has stayed with me the most, because I like the picture so much (a Redfin employee trying to work while flying down the freeway).
[photopress:rob.JPG,full,centered]

What are some of your favorite blogs (real estate or otherwise)?

Very partial list (excluding RCG of course):
John Cook’s blog: scrupulously fair, blazingly fast.
TechCrunch: a carnival of start-ups, oddly idealistic and cynical.
SocketSite: which tries to be rigorously analytical but often is just compulsive.
Guy Kawasaki’s blog: probably the best writer on start-up culture in the blogosphere.
Matt Goyer’s blog: which taught me to be myself.
I also like what Joel, Kevin and Greg are doing. OK, sometimes Greg drives me nuts, but in a good way.
And I love the Redfin bloggers who provide eyewitness property reviews for different Seattle neighborhoods.

What tools/websites do you find most helpful in putting together your blog?

NetVibes is a good way to read blogs. We use Six Apart’s Moveable Type to publish our blog, and Google Analytics to monitor traffic. Flickr is a good place to find colorful photos. I’m glad we’ve finally made it easy to post to del.icio.us and Digg.

How does blogging fit into the overall marketing of your business?

First off, a blog isn’t just a marketing vehicle. It’s a way to have a conversation with the market, narrowing product cycles, gathering ideas, correcting blunders.

Second, I honestly believe that if Redfin were stripped absolutely bare for all the world to see, naked and humiliated in the sunlight, more people would do business with us. A blog at its best can facilitate that kind of nakedness.

Most important, the blog expresses our personality. Most corporate websites are a sensual deprivation chamber. Sometimes it seems like everyone in business is trying to act all grown up and professional and fake, but what people are really starved for in our denuded commercial landscape is a little personality.

What plans do you have to improve your blog over this next year?

We plan to introduce neighborhood blogs to each of the markets we enter, with eyewitness property reviews. This may end up being too much work, or too expensive, but so far our efforts in Seattle have been promising.

We’re also excited about using our blog for virtual focus groups, so that we can gather feedback on new designs before coding. Matt Goyer has already started to develop a community of folks interested in the design of real estate web sites. Now we just have to decide how much we have the guts to share.

The flip side of all this is that we need to make our site, Redfin.com, open to blogs, so that as you browse neighborhoods on the map or click on listings, you can see property reviews, neighborhood alerts, local real estate advice. In six months, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ardell is popping up all over Redfin.com with noisy opinions about this neighborhood or that house.

What is the one tool or feature that you wish your site had?

The ability for users to subscribe to neighborhoods, like Bainbridge Island, South Seattle, Bellevue, Green Lake.

What do you think real estate blogging will look like 3 years from now?

Ardell will run six separate blogs. Greg Swann will be predicting Zillow’s conquest of other planets.

Enjoy this interview? There’s lots more where that come from:

Redfin's Maven of "The Mavens"

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[photopress:hoffman__s.jpg,full,alignright] What a lovely unexpected surprise! When Kevin Boer of Three Oceans called to ask if we could have coffee during his whirlwind tour of Seattle, we “group dated” with Redfin’s Marie Hagman. Redfin’s new “Maven of the Mavens” I’ve already signed up to get an auto email with every new “Sweet Digs” entry. It automatically comes up as San Francisco, so be sure to hit the drop down menu and put in Seattle.

Marie assures us that the seven bloggers selected from the 300 or so that replied to Redfin’s Craig’s List Ad, just turned out to be ALL WOMEN destined to be in the running for next year’s Top Ten! Hey, that only leaves three spots for all of the rest of us.

Redfin’s Rule stated that none of the bloggers could be real estate licensees. Sweet Digs is very cool, and very much the answer to Galen’s prayers. As non-licensees they are free from all of the weight and chains of rules, rules and more rules, and they are just blogging away to their heart’s content. And I DO mean their “heart’s content” as all were chosen, Marie included, based on their passion for anything real estate and their ability to write with that same passion.

And OH MY GOD!…the Eastside Sweet Digger is Jessi Princiotto…cool enough to have her photo taken by cell phone while in the car…I can’t wait to meet her…I can’t wait to read her…and my side of town to boot!! How lucky can I get! My East Coast fix and local real estate reading all wrapped into one!

Congratulations ladies. Marie and Jessi, we’re calling ahead to Hoffman’s for that torte…just name the day and time.

Oh, and Kevin and Kim were there too LOL. My partner Kim Harris (far right in the photo) and Kevin Boer (left of Kim). Kevin is definitely going home with some stories, and hopefully some insight, into how very different the Seattle Market is from his neck of the woods.

Kevin asked, “What do you say when a ‘Redfin Buyer’ calls and says, “I want to see your listing RIGHT NOW!!”, LOL. I answered “Same thing I say to ANY buyer who says I want to see your listing RIGHT NOW!!” Redfin Buyers don’t exactly grow horns, by definition. We had a fun chat. This is Seattle, very few times do we meet people that are ornery, nasty or unreasonable. It’s a great town with a lot of great people…even “Redfin Buyers”.

Have a safe trip back to CA, Kevin! Great meeting you and thanks for the intro to Marie.