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Let me offer a different viewpoint. Redfin absolutely serves a purpose, but in some markets, notably for my case very hot markets, it's a significant impedimen

Let me offer a different viewpoint. Redfin absolutely serves a purpose, but in some markets, notably for my case very hot markets, it's a significant impediment. I really wanted redfin to work, shopping in seattle 2 years ago. I tried for almost a year, but they would consistently be not as contactable or prompt as we wanted, and gave us very erroneous advice when it came to crafting offers on some houses we wanted. As a result we lost out on houses when we could have been competitive. Eventually we got a very solid realtor, who was aggressive in finding us houses that would slip through our normal searches (the house we ended up buying had been on the market for a long time at a higher price than they eventually relisted it for, in an area we had discounted.) When a bidding war started, he worked with us by being connected with the selling agent, gave us very accurate hints on how we'd need to push and what would work to our advantage, and landed both the deal and some back and forth that happened after. Downside, this was after 2 years of searching and losing out on houses I frankly today still regret not getting. An hour+ commute sucks, and I attribute some of my early failures to not getting an experienced/knowledgeable/active realtor earlier. YMMV but that's the caveat from my experience.

everybodyknows 9y ago
How to: Find a good Redfin agent. 1. Search local Redfin web site for agents who have done deals near your locale of interest. 2. Check internal reviews of agents on Redfin. Bad reviews don't get posted, so "chose not leave a review" on a transaction means either: a) client had unreasonable expectations, or b) agent performed badly. 3. Interview agents in person, and ask challenging questions. If you don't get responses that are either: a) correct and candid, or b) "I will get back to you tomorrow with an answer", move on to the next agent. This recipe led me to a very good Redfin agent, working inside an office run by a very bad but "senior" agent.
aetherson 9y ago
I bought a house in SF three years ago through Redfin. The realtor that Redfin gave us was prompt, aggressive, and thorough in the bidding/closing process. What he didn't do is drive us around to open houses or suggest places to us. Which we didn't want anyway. I suspect that the individual realtor you get through Redfin has a big impact on your experience with the site. It sounds like you got a bad one and were unhappy. We got a good one and were happy.
- existencebox 9y ago
  We got, unfortunately, MULTIPLE realtors through redfin; some on our own request, some when they simply would disappear from the company/stop answering our emails. There was neither quality nor consistency, and we had marginal ability to impact that choice on our own, whereas with a personal realtor we went with someone highly recommended from work peers. I absolutely agree the individual realtor impacts the experience, that's pretty much the crux of my whole issue :) My conclusion was that Redfin doesn't offer as much control/guarantee to ensure this, and in a hot market, this matters quite a bit. (To be fair, I'd say the same thing about my experience with mortgage lenders, BoA did an abysmal job and very nearly left me in the lurch, whereas a smaller local lender picked up the slack and pulled our asses out of the fire. Perhaps my overarching statement should be to wonder if we (businesses) suck at scaling customer support? (I'm pretty much saying "well duh" to myself as I write this statement, frankly))
  - zaroth 9y ago
    I've never used a buyer's agent and always written into my offers that the 3% buyers agent fee is to go back to the seller (and of course adjust the top-line offer accordingly). I've never tried to buy in SF, but this strategy has always worked for me and saved a lot of money over the years. Frankly I can't understand the purpose of a buyers agent in this era, and taking 3% off the cost of a house is very substantial. When the closing statement (HUD-1) is finally prepared, usually I can see that the seller's agent took some of the buyer's agent fee, e.g. they will end up with 4% instead of 3% in the end and the rest goes back to the seller. Since these offers usually mean more money for the seller'a agent they go to the top of the pile. It's also important to disclose that you've purchased houses before, that you have funds, and that you are ready to close immediately. You don't need a buyers agent to tell you this.
    - everybodyknows 9y ago
      Another data point confirming your 1% as in line with seller's agent additional effort in handling buyer-side paperwork, communication et al. I just sold through a discount broker, independent and therefore free to set his own rates. His fee for buyers without their own agents: 1%. This was in Mountain View, California.
adrianpike 9y ago
I had the same experience. I really wanted to use Redfin, and heavily used it for all my research and self-searches, but when the time came, I found my success with an agent.
jxi 9y ago
I don't think this is really Redfin's fault. You just got a bad agent through them. Were they an official Redfin agent or one of the affiliate ones? Also, I bought a house through Redfin in Seattle 5 years ago, and that agent was one of the most responsive people I've ever worked with. He even bought me a really nice gift basket when I closed.
totalrobe 9y ago
I had a similar experience, although I caught on very quickly that the Redfin process was not going to work for me. We were first time home buyers relocating and were looking for a house in a new area. Wife and I looked for months online and actually found a house on Redfin. Contacted them to put in an offer and I get back "well, why don't you schedule some time to come down and look at some houses". On top of that, the guy I actually spoke to was a remotely located coordinator that knew nothing about the area, and said we would be handed off to someone else local once we actually scheduled a viewing. Here I am wanting to put in an offer now and there was zero sense of urgency. In a hot market, I'm going to pay a little bit extra to be able to actually get the house we want. I called a local traditional agent and we got an offer in the same day. Another coworker that relocated had the same experience; tried Redfin, agent didn't even show, got a traditional local agent and closed quickly.
- gedy 9y ago
  Weird, totally different experience with me. Found a place on Redfin, clicked the "buy"/etc button about 11pm. By 7am agent replied back to start offer. Was fast and great
acdha 9y ago
That sounds like the Seattle manager is slacking. I had the opposite experience in DC, which makes me wonder how good a handle they have on agent quality.
slantedview 9y ago
> they would consistently be not as contactable or prompt as we wanted, and gave us very erroneous advice when it came to crafting offers YMMV indeed. I had the reverse experience buying a house through Redfin. We had used a traditional Realtor previously and it did not go well and ended up bailing on that person in favor of Redfin. The Realtor there was very sharp, knowledgable and responsive, and helped us through a tricky purchase to a positive outcome.
pjschlic 9y ago
I bought a house in Seattle 2 years ago through Redfin, and had a GREAT experience. We had started with a more traditional realtor first, but the Redfin one was way more responsive. Maybe it's realtor-specific.
- larrykubin 9y ago
  Same, bought a place in Seattle through Redfin towards the end of 2014. Went from attending a free Redfin homebuying class to getting the keys to our new place in 30 days. Loved the website and the experience and didn't feel pressured.
enlightenedfool 9y ago
Similar experience. They spend almost zero time analyzing, explaining pros and cons. Not once did they bid less than the asking price of the home. The tour agents just stand there while we tour. They answer a few questions passively. After a few attempts, they called and said they don't want to work with me anymore, because we took too many tours. About an year later, we went for a traditional buyer broker. He explained a lot of things about the home, negotiated hard, started a bid $15k below the asking price and finally got the home for about $6000 less even with 4 other bidders.
marklyon 9y ago
Strange. I just bought a condo with them in DC. We were in a competitive bidding situation and the speed at which we were able to close (compared to other offers) was the thing that sealed the deal. I added a lender I hadn't considered at their recommendation and they were wonderful (super fast response, competitive rates, willing to get appraiser to drop everything and knock things out really fast) and their use of online tools made things easy (esign and a digital document repository and deadline tracker).
kelukelugames 9y ago
Haha, I actually bought my house through Redfin while working there. My place was new construction and I felt I learned so much about real estate that I probably didn't need an agent :P Which part of Seattle did you buy in? Was it somewhere hot like cap hill or Fremon/Ballard? Were your agents well reviewed or new? I suspect they don't let loose the rookies in the more competitive areas.
pmikesell 9y ago
I had the exact same experience in SF. I really wanted to use Redfin, but it was just impossible. Every person we dealt with from Redfin was uninformed and unhelpful. Finally went to a traditional local buyers agent who did a great job, showed us houses in different neighborhoods that matched what we wanted, and we finally closed after looking for about 2 months. The other interesting thing we noticed was that the houses we were seeing with the agent wouldn't show up on Redfin until weeks after we got to see them. I learned that one thing a good local agent can do is get you in to see stuff before it's officially "on the market".

everybodyknows 9y ago

How to: Find a good Redfin agent. 1. Search local Redfin web site for agents who have done deals near your locale of interest. 2. Check internal reviews of agents on Redfin. Bad reviews don't get posted, so "chose not leave a review" on a transaction means either: a) client had unreasonable expectations, or b) agent performed badly. 3. Interview agents in person, and ask challenging questions. If you don't get responses that are either: a) correct and candid, or b) "I will get back to you tomorrow with an answer", move on to the next agent. This recipe led me to a very good Redfin agent, working inside an office run by a very bad but "senior" agent.

aetherson 9y ago

I bought a house in SF three years ago through Redfin. The realtor that Redfin gave us was prompt, aggressive, and thorough in the bidding/closing process. What he didn't do is drive us around to open houses or suggest places to us. Which we didn't want anyway. I suspect that the individual realtor you get through Redfin has a big impact on your experience with the site. It sounds like you got a bad one and were unhappy. We got a good one and were happy.

existencebox 9y ago
We got, unfortunately, MULTIPLE realtors through redfin; some on our own request, some when they simply would disappear from the company/stop answering our emails. There was neither quality nor consistency, and we had marginal ability to impact that choice on our own, whereas with a personal realtor we went with someone highly recommended from work peers. I absolutely agree the individual realtor impacts the experience, that's pretty much the crux of my whole issue :) My conclusion was that Redfin doesn't offer as much control/guarantee to ensure this, and in a hot market, this matters quite a bit. (To be fair, I'd say the same thing about my experience with mortgage lenders, BoA did an abysmal job and very nearly left me in the lurch, whereas a smaller local lender picked up the slack and pulled our asses out of the fire. Perhaps my overarching statement should be to wonder if we (businesses) suck at scaling customer support? (I'm pretty much saying "well duh" to myself as I write this statement, frankly))
- zaroth 9y ago
  I've never used a buyer's agent and always written into my offers that the 3% buyers agent fee is to go back to the seller (and of course adjust the top-line offer accordingly). I've never tried to buy in SF, but this strategy has always worked for me and saved a lot of money over the years. Frankly I can't understand the purpose of a buyers agent in this era, and taking 3% off the cost of a house is very substantial. When the closing statement (HUD-1) is finally prepared, usually I can see that the seller's agent took some of the buyer's agent fee, e.g. they will end up with 4% instead of 3% in the end and the rest goes back to the seller. Since these offers usually mean more money for the seller'a agent they go to the top of the pile. It's also important to disclose that you've purchased houses before, that you have funds, and that you are ready to close immediately. You don't need a buyers agent to tell you this.
  - everybodyknows 9y ago
    Another data point confirming your 1% as in line with seller's agent additional effort in handling buyer-side paperwork, communication et al. I just sold through a discount broker, independent and therefore free to set his own rates. His fee for buyers without their own agents: 1%. This was in Mountain View, California.

adrianpike 9y ago

I had the same experience. I really wanted to use Redfin, and heavily used it for all my research and self-searches, but when the time came, I found my success with an agent.

jxi 9y ago

I don't think this is really Redfin's fault. You just got a bad agent through them. Were they an official Redfin agent or one of the affiliate ones? Also, I bought a house through Redfin in Seattle 5 years ago, and that agent was one of the most responsive people I've ever worked with. He even bought me a really nice gift basket when I closed.

totalrobe 9y ago

I had a similar experience, although I caught on very quickly that the Redfin process was not going to work for me. We were first time home buyers relocating and were looking for a house in a new area. Wife and I looked for months online and actually found a house on Redfin. Contacted them to put in an offer and I get back "well, why don't you schedule some time to come down and look at some houses". On top of that, the guy I actually spoke to was a remotely located coordinator that knew nothing about the area, and said we would be handed off to someone else local once we actually scheduled a viewing. Here I am wanting to put in an offer now and there was zero sense of urgency. In a hot market, I'm going to pay a little bit extra to be able to actually get the house we want. I called a local traditional agent and we got an offer in the same day. Another coworker that relocated had the same experience; tried Redfin, agent didn't even show, got a traditional local agent and closed quickly.

gedy 9y ago
Weird, totally different experience with me. Found a place on Redfin, clicked the "buy"/etc button about 11pm. By 7am agent replied back to start offer. Was fast and great

acdha 9y ago

That sounds like the Seattle manager is slacking. I had the opposite experience in DC, which makes me wonder how good a handle they have on agent quality.

slantedview 9y ago

> they would consistently be not as contactable or prompt as we wanted, and gave us very erroneous advice when it came to crafting offers YMMV indeed. I had the reverse experience buying a house through Redfin. We had used a traditional Realtor previously and it did not go well and ended up bailing on that person in favor of Redfin. The Realtor there was very sharp, knowledgable and responsive, and helped us through a tricky purchase to a positive outcome.

pjschlic 9y ago

I bought a house in Seattle 2 years ago through Redfin, and had a GREAT experience. We had started with a more traditional realtor first, but the Redfin one was way more responsive. Maybe it's realtor-specific.

larrykubin 9y ago
Same, bought a place in Seattle through Redfin towards the end of 2014. Went from attending a free Redfin homebuying class to getting the keys to our new place in 30 days. Loved the website and the experience and didn't feel pressured.

enlightenedfool 9y ago

Similar experience. They spend almost zero time analyzing, explaining pros and cons. Not once did they bid less than the asking price of the home. The tour agents just stand there while we tour. They answer a few questions passively. After a few attempts, they called and said they don't want to work with me anymore, because we took too many tours. About an year later, we went for a traditional buyer broker. He explained a lot of things about the home, negotiated hard, started a bid $15k below the asking price and finally got the home for about $6000 less even with 4 other bidders.

marklyon 9y ago

Strange. I just bought a condo with them in DC. We were in a competitive bidding situation and the speed at which we were able to close (compared to other offers) was the thing that sealed the deal. I added a lender I hadn't considered at their recommendation and they were wonderful (super fast response, competitive rates, willing to get appraiser to drop everything and knock things out really fast) and their use of online tools made things easy (esign and a digital document repository and deadline tracker).

kelukelugames 9y ago

Haha, I actually bought my house through Redfin while working there. My place was new construction and I felt I learned so much about real estate that I probably didn't need an agent :P Which part of Seattle did you buy in? Was it somewhere hot like cap hill or Fremon/Ballard? Were your agents well reviewed or new? I suspect they don't let loose the rookies in the more competitive areas.

pmikesell 9y ago

I had the exact same experience in SF. I really wanted to use Redfin, but it was just impossible. Every person we dealt with from Redfin was uninformed and unhelpful. Finally went to a traditional local buyers agent who did a great job, showed us houses in different neighborhoods that matched what we wanted, and we finally closed after looking for about 2 months. The other interesting thing we noticed was that the houses we were seeing with the agent wouldn't show up on Redfin until weeks after we got to see them. I learned that one thing a good local agent can do is get you in to see stuff before it's officially "on the market".