Comments on: Redfin hiring again?

By: Robert Narly

Robert Narly — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:38:48 +0000

I find that Redfin, ZipRealty, Help-u-sale, assist you sale, etc all failed models. Our market landed up in this mess by a few things: A) President Clinton deregulating Mortgages, B) Banks being slow to react as it grow out of control and as it spun out of control, C) limited experienced real estate agents who were not making enough money per file to care. I want to focus on C: it costs XYZ to stay afloat, and when you have to give money away to do business are taking away from your ability to service the client. I feel these companies create unethical places to do business. I am not suggesting anything about commissions or fixing them, etc. I am just saying when it costs so much to do business, and you are never really getting past that level as a realtor you will not focus on the client 1st.

By: David Lorti

David Lorti — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:10:12 +0000

I recall seeing the 60 Minutes episode on Redfin some time ago and recalling that it seemed a very interesting business model though the story wasn’t completely informative at the time. Your perspective is very interesting in that they may have better technology and capabilities that would well differentiate them while charging higher commissions. We don’t have Redfin in the Phoenix area. The closest I can think of would be ZipRealty which is an interesting business model as well. However, Zip doesn’t pay its actual realtors very well which means they are always going to be faced with having realtors keeping their eye on the next brokerage to go to once their business is up and running.

By: James Sanson

James Sanson — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:44:32 +0000

Where they are going wrong is the fees or cost structure. It simply cost money to move products. Yes, people want all of the discounting and free stuff they can get, but at the end of the day they hardly sale or buy real estate, so they want the expert(s) helping them. Hence, we slide back to the traditional model. The smart companies are supporting realtors and figuring out how to put as much control into the realtors hands. Why the realtors? Well, I hope because they are the experts. I live in AZ and when I traveled to Oregon I met Ruth Khiel (Tradmark is cows) I hope I spelled her name right, but she was my realtor I used. Yes, I am a local super star in AZ, so I should be able to do business on my onw in OR, right? I guess if I was stupid I could try. They have their customs, traditions, etc, which are different than AZ real estate. Hence, I hired me a realtor in OR who knew the makret. I did not even ask for a referral, because that was her money for her work.