I bought a TIC in SF using Redfin as my agent. They rebate around half of their commission back to you (with a minimum for the amount they keep). It's not quite

I bought a TIC in SF using Redfin as my agent. They rebate around half of their commission back to you (with a minimum for the amount they keep). It's not quite disrupting the industry, but maybe it's a start. Part of the way they keep their costs down is letting you do all the searching and scheduling of visits on their web site, so all the agent has to do is manage the process once you're ready to make an offer. Not that that's so easy: I had a few complications with mine, and I've heard much worse stories. My agent had just moved from the east coast, and I've lived in SF for several years, so I was more familiar with local market conditions than he was and I didn't get any value from that. But it was my first real estate purchase and I didn't know much about how the general process worked, so that was very useful to me.