{"id":2553,"date":"2008-01-30T22:01:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-31T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2553"},"modified":"2008-01-31T11:23:34","modified_gmt":"2008-01-31T18:23:34","slug":"big-news-ignore-all-that-fine-print-tear-through-all-that-red-tape-redfincom-supports-safari-at-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2553\/big-news-ignore-all-that-fine-print-tear-through-all-that-red-tape-redfincom-supports-safari-at-last\/","title":{"rendered":"Big News: Ignore all that fine print, tear through all that red tape — Redfin.com supports Safari at last!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh, wait, that’s not the big news from Redfin.com<\/a>. In fact, I reported the really big news last night<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Redfin will either make money or it won’t, and, in the long run, if it endures into a long run, it will become more like traditional real estate even as traditional real estate becomes more like Redfin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So here’s what’s changed, as of 12:01 am EST: Redfin agents are going to squire buyers around for free four times as much as they have in the past. No news on who’s buying lunch.<\/p>\n

Online real estate broker Redfin Corporation today rolled out a 75-day trial of a new home-tours policy that allows visitors to its site to arrange four Redfin-hosted home tours without paying any money up-front or making any commitment to Redfin. The first two tours would be free, and the third and fourth tours would cost $250 at closing, with any subsequent tours costing $250 in advance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? My experience is that home-buyers are not the most assiduous readers of fine print.<\/p>\n

There’s more:<\/p>\n

The new tours last two hours, and require the buyer to provide a mortgage pre-approval letter documenting her ability to buy the homes she is scheduled to visit. Redfin deducts the $250 charges for the third and fourth tours from the commission refund, which has averaged roughly $10,000 at closing. Customers who do not complete a purchase with Redfin do not pay for their third and fourth tours. Previously, Redfin only provided one free three-hour home tour, charging $250 in advance for each additional tour.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m thinking there can be too much red tape even for the INTx gnomes who find Redfin appealing. What is clear is that pay-as-you-go has a less-than-ideal gnome appeal.<\/p>\n

I can do four houses an hour with normal buyers. I normally do 12 houses in three hours, then make the buyers stop. After 12 houses, their eyes glaze over. If we limited ourselves to two hours, that would be eight houses. Four two-hour tours would be 32 houses. This is nothing at all like the original Redfin game plan — shoving the expense of showing homes onto <\/a>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, wait, that’s not the big news from Redfin.com. In fact, I reported the really big news last night: Redfin will either make money or it won’t, and, in the long run, if it endures into a long run, it will become more like traditional real estate even as traditional real estate becomes more like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,5,27,19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-disintermediation","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-real-estate","9":"category-redfincom","10":"category-technology","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2917,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2917\/redfincom-wakes-up-smells-coffee-staples-galoshes-to-forehead-now-redfin-buyers-will-be-able-to-see-homes-in-an-almost-normal-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":2553,"position":0},"title":"Redfin.com wakes up, smells coffee, staples galoshes to forehead: Now Redfin buyers will be able to see homes in an almost-normal way","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The uncontested brilliance of the free market is that it is self-correcting. People like me have been bitching all along that Redfin.com's approach to buyer representation was misguided if not outright evil. Conceding some huge chunk of the buyer's agent's commission to the buyer was certainly consumer-friendly, but pushing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2701,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2701\/redfincom-builds-new-listing-oversight-tools-for-sellers\/","url_meta":{"origin":2553,"position":1},"title":"Redfin.com builds new listing oversight tools for sellers","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's the news, snipped to the quick:Online real estate broker Redfin Corporation today released Redfin Listing Metrics, a dashboard for Redfin's listing customers to analyze neighborhood inventory trends and recent sales, and to compare their listing's online traffic to that of other listings in the neighborhood.That sounds slick, doesn't it?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5446,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5446\/offering-more-service-to-buyers-for-a-bigger-slice-of-the-buyers-agents-commission-redfin-moves-closer-to-traditional-real-estate\/","url_meta":{"origin":2553,"position":2},"title":"Offering more service to buyers for a bigger slice of the buyer’s agent’s commission, Redfin moves closer to traditional real estate","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"When I represent buyers, I see my biggest responsibility as taking the fear away. Yes, I need to find and show houses. Yes, I need to write contracts and supervise inspections. Yes, I need to husband everything through the lender and the title company. But the job of jobs is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1671,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1671\/redfin-cops-another-12-million-raising-investors-stake-in-the-discount-realtybot-to-40000-per-closed-transaction\/","url_meta":{"origin":2553,"position":3},"title":"Redfin cops another $12 million, raising investors’ stake in the discount realty.bot to $40,000 per closed transaction","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The indefatigable John Cook:Redfin has raised an additional $12 million in venture funding, money that the Seattle discount real estate broker will use to enhance its Web site and expand into new markets. First up for Redfin are the Washington D.C and Baltimore areas, which are being unveiled today. Next\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12308,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12308\/should-redfin-be-renamed-right-fin\/","url_meta":{"origin":2553,"position":4},"title":"Should Redfin Be Renamed Right-Fin ?","author":"Brian Brady","date":"June 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A La Jolla real estate broker noticed an article on Gawker.com, about a listing Redfin published, offering a currently occupied home (that isn't for sale).\u00a0 From Coastal Real Estate Stars: A new listing appeared on Redfin this weekend\u2026.1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! Now, in fairness to the Redfin folks, garbage in= garbage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1007,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1007\/glenn-kelman-on-redfincoms-move-into-southern-california-ive-never-had-to-think-so-hard-in-an-interview-in-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":2553,"position":5},"title":"Glenn Kelman on Redfin.com’s move into Southern California: “I’ve never had to think so hard in an interview in my life”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's the newspaper news, and we'll come back to it in due course: Redfin.com today opens three new offices in Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. The company has expanded its web site to include listings from nine Southern California MLS systems. Here's the real news, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}