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I hear you. My comment below: "Zillow/Trulia are media companies trying to connect buyers with brokers who pay them money for advertising. Redfin is a brokerag

by gatsby 12y ago

I hear you. My comment below: "Zillow/Trulia are media companies trying to connect buyers with brokers who pay them money for advertising. Redfin is a brokerage trying to connect buyers with their own brokers." I agree that it would be nice if Redfin could be more open as a brokerage, but it makes sense to obscure the "we're a brokerage!" message from consumers, because most consumers hate brokers (other than their own broker - who is great!). So I agree that consumers mistakenly think of Redfin like another online portal, but I don't think that the distinction one way or another matters that much. Both Zillow and Redfin put consumers in touch with brokers. (edit: not sure why you're being downvoted - it wasn't me. I'm enjoying our conversation!)

gohrt 12y ago
> it would be nice if Redfin could be more open as a brokerage https://www.redfin.com/ https://www.redfin.com/ "WHY USE A REDFIN AGENT?" "When your agent and your website work together you..." "We’re full-service, local agents." > Both Zillow and Redfin put consumers in touch with brokers. That's a weird way of looking at it. Would you say that BestBuy is just like Google Shopping Search -- it puts you in touch with electonics sellers. But BestBuy tries to connect you with its own internal sellers? Anyway, Zillow has no incentive to provide high quality data / shopping experience -- they do better advertising busines when users get interested but then confused and need an agent's help. Redfin uses the website to automate as much of the agent's work as possible, freeing up the agents for the necessarily high-touch work. The better Redfin's website is, the more profit they make on a sale (lower cost to close a deal)
- gatsby 12y ago
  > https://www.redfin.com/ https://www.redfin.com/ "WHY USE A REDFIN AGENT?" "When your agent and your website work together you..." "We’re full-service, local agents." Yes, but Zillow and Trulia use the word "our agent" all over as well. > Would you say that BestBuy is just like Google Shopping Search -- it puts you in touch with electonics sellers. But BestBuy tries to connect you with its own internal sellers? Sure. You can buy a TV from bestbuy.com or amazon, or whatever comparison you want to make and from GSS. Two ways to the same means. > Anyway, Zillow has no incentive to provide high quality data / shopping experience I don't completely disagree, but it's incorrect that they have NO incentive. There are plenty of reasons to provide accurate data. There's a reason we spent 10s of millions at Zillow each year trying to get better data. It certainly matters.
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    > There's a reason we spent 10s of millions at Zillow each year trying to get better data. It certainly matters. If Zillow cared about getting quality data, they would've become/integrated a brokerage, as its the only way to get the most up-to-date real estate data. Redfin's data is much better because of this, and it shows.

by gatsby 12y ago

gohrt 12y ago

> it would be nice if Redfin could be more open as a brokerage https://www.redfin.com/ https://www.redfin.com/ "WHY USE A REDFIN AGENT?" "When your agent and your website work together you..." "We’re full-service, local agents." > Both Zillow and Redfin put consumers in touch with brokers. That's a weird way of looking at it. Would you say that BestBuy is just like Google Shopping Search -- it puts you in touch with electonics sellers. But BestBuy tries to connect you with its own internal sellers? Anyway, Zillow has no incentive to provide high quality data / shopping experience -- they do better advertising busines when users get interested but then confused and need an agent's help. Redfin uses the website to automate as much of the agent's work as possible, freeing up the agents for the necessarily high-touch work. The better Redfin's website is, the more profit they make on a sale (lower cost to close a deal)

gatsby 12y ago
> https://www.redfin.com/ https://www.redfin.com/ "WHY USE A REDFIN AGENT?" "When your agent and your website work together you..." "We’re full-service, local agents." Yes, but Zillow and Trulia use the word "our agent" all over as well. > Would you say that BestBuy is just like Google Shopping Search -- it puts you in touch with electonics sellers. But BestBuy tries to connect you with its own internal sellers? Sure. You can buy a TV from bestbuy.com or amazon, or whatever comparison you want to make and from GSS. Two ways to the same means. > Anyway, Zillow has no incentive to provide high quality data / shopping experience I don't completely disagree, but it's incorrect that they have NO incentive. There are plenty of reasons to provide accurate data. There's a reason we spent 10s of millions at Zillow each year trying to get better data. It certainly matters.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  > There's a reason we spent 10s of millions at Zillow each year trying to get better data. It certainly matters. If Zillow cared about getting quality data, they would've become/integrated a brokerage, as its the only way to get the most up-to-date real estate data. Redfin's data is much better because of this, and it shows.