{"id":2832,"date":"2008-03-25T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-25T07:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2832"},"modified":"2008-03-25T10:02:12","modified_gmt":"2008-03-25T17:02:12","slug":"redfincom-beats-the-field-again-this-time-in-both-seattle-and-san-francisco-buyers-pay-less-and-reap-commission-rebates-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2832\/redfincom-beats-the-field-again-this-time-in-both-seattle-and-san-francisco-buyers-pay-less-and-reap-commission-rebates-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Redfin.com beats the field again, this time in both Seattle and San Francisco: Buyers pay less and reap commission rebates, too"},"content":{"rendered":"

Redfin.com has news this midnight, but it’s the sort of thing I would normally ignore: It’s basically the kind of rah-rah-for-us stuff I leave for the vendor cheerleaders and the mainstream media. But: I gave Redfin a lot of grief last year when they made a similar announcement<\/a>, so today I’ll give them a bit of their own back:<\/p>\n

Online real estate broker Redfin Corporation today published an analysis of the last 12 months’ public real estate records in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area that shows its buyers and their Redfin agents negotiated a better price than buyers who used other brokerages. Redfin’s average negotiating advantage was $5,048. The company also reported a 95 percent customer satisfaction rate for users of its home-buying service, and an average commission refund of $10,520.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the actual news, which you will not find in any news source: Redfin beat the field for the second year in a row. Is it plausible that particular agents beat Redfin? Not just plausible, highly probable. I don’t know of any teams of buyer’s agents like the kind of team Russell Shaw runs for listing agents, but a team like that would be much more useful for comparison purposes than the entire field of Realtors in three MLS systems. But give Redfin its due: The company deploys the kind of task specialization common to every sort of business except<\/i> residential real estate brokerage. It’s very hard to resist the idea that specialist negotiators, more often than not, could out-dicker ordinary jack-of-all-trades Realtors.<\/p>\n

And all<\/i> of that is caviling, and wasted caviling at that. Stand in awe as Redfin.com CEO Glenn Kelman illustrates the high art of PR triangulation:<\/p>\n

“Why do Redfin customers consistently tend to negotiate a better price, in different markets and different market conditions?” said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. “Last year, we concluded it was because of our agents, whom we pay bonuses based on customer satisfaction rather than commissions. Others argued that it was because of our deal-savvy customers, who benefit from Redfin’s transparency to take a more active role in the deal. Today, we think it’s Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Redfin.com has news this midnight, but it’s the sort of thing I would normally ignore: It’s basically the kind of rah-rah-for-us stuff I leave for the vendor cheerleaders and the mainstream media. But: I gave Redfin a lot of grief last year when they made a similar announcement, so today I’ll give them a bit […]<\/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-2832","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":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":2832,"position":0},"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":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":2832,"position":1},"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":[]},{"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":2832,"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":2701,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2701\/redfincom-builds-new-listing-oversight-tools-for-sellers\/","url_meta":{"origin":2832,"position":3},"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":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":2832,"position":4},"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":2553,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2553\/big-news-ignore-all-that-fine-print-tear-through-all-that-red-tape-redfincom-supports-safari-at-last\/","url_meta":{"origin":2832,"position":5},"title":"Big News: Ignore all that fine print, tear through all that red tape — Redfin.com supports Safari at last!","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2019t, and, in the long run, if it endures into a long run, it will become more like traditional real estate even as traditional real\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\/2832","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=2832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}