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Welcome!

My name is John A Keith. I am a real estate broker in Boston. Along with my team of agents, I help buyers and sellers of homes throughout Boston, including the South End, Back Bay, and Beacon Hill neighborhoods.

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Redfin hits Boston; real estate company offers refunds to buyers of real estate

Redfin’s Boston website is up and live.

I’d be interested to hear what people think about it.

The company’s official press release, below.

Redfin Launches Real Estate E-Commerce Service for the Boston Area

Boston Market Inaugurates Redfin’s Expansion to East Coast

BOSTON, April 26, 2007: Online real estate broker Redfin Corporation today launched its real estate e-commerce service in Boston. Separately, Redfin also today launched a new version of its website with a new color scheme and logo, better performance and simpler navigation.

Redfin is the first major online real estate brokerage to open for business in Boston, with coverage across Essex, Norfolk, Middlesex and Suffolk counties, which includes Cambridge, Concord, Lowell, Newton, Marlborough and Stoughton. Boston is the first East Coast market Redfin has opened as part of a national expansion effort that began with its February launch in Southern California.

For customers who can find a home to buy on their own, the premise of the Redfin service is to use technology to offer better service from offer to close than a traditional agent, and to refund most of the commission. Boston-area consumers now can buy or sell MLS-listed properties online, using the Web to gather basic information and then work with a local, experienced Redfin agent on pricing, negotiations and escrow.

Massachusetts buyers who work with Redfin get two-thirds of the commission refunded at closing; for a $500,000 house offering a typical three percent commission to the buyer’s agent, the refund would be $10,000. For a $1 million house, the refund would be $20,000. Redfin also offers each home-buyer a free afternoon of home tours, scheduled via its website.

Sellers pay a flat fee of $3,000, saving $12,000 over a typical seller’s agent commission of three percent on a $500,000 house. Unlike any other brokerage, Redfin pays its agents bonuses based on customer satisfaction, not commissions, and offers a 100-percent-customer-satisfaction guarantee, refunding all commissions and fees if the customer is dissatisfied.

Redfin’s Boston expansion increases the number of listings available on Redfin’s site by more than 20,000.

“Boston is chock full of the kinds of consumers likely to use our service: under 45, highly educated, technology-savvy,â€? said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. “The other reason we were eager to launch this market in the spring is that the lead engineer for our expansion is a die-hard Red Sox fan who becomes useless as the season heats up.â€?

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the real estate industry’s first online brokerage, currently available in Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, Greater Seattle and Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire and San Diego. By combining maps, listings, tax records, analytics and eyewitness property reviews, Redfin has become one of the most popular brokerage sites. Customers who use Redfin.com to buy or sell properties earn a refund of most of the commission traditionally due their broker, and get full support in paperwork, offer presentation, negotiations and closing. Redfin has one of the highest customer satisfaction rates in the industry, and is the only brokerage with a 100 percent customer satisfaction guarantee. To give the Redfin service a try, visit www.redfin.com, or keep track of our daring exploits via our blog, at blog.redfin.com.

Read other posts about: the real estate industry

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27 Responses to “Redfin hits Boston; real estate company offers refunds to buyers of real estate” »»

  1. Comment by Marla Mullen | 04/26/07 at 10:01 am

    Exciting BUT when you look them up on the MA MLS they have only

    one agent of record who is actually the VP of Real Estate Operations (will he be handling real

    estate deals too?) with a Seattle based contact phone number and address. They charge per showing,

    so I am assuming the $250 (for three hours) will go towards his round trip flight?

    I am an

    advocate for all things that equal change in the world of real estate so I welcome Redfin. My

    company, Territory Real Estate, is also tech driven so I am excited to see other real estate

    companies getting on the fast train called the 21st century. That said, they haven’t changed too

    much of the archaic representation structure so it will be interesting to watch where they go with

    this. They pitch “pro-consumer” (taking a stab at traditional agencies) but they still take a

    percentage of the real estate transaction to pay themselves … Basically, if they flub a deal and

    their buy-side client pays more for a property redfin gets a bigger pay check. Another interesting

    point to note is they recently added representation of the sell-side to their repertoire of

    services so now they have put themselves in an even bigger anti-consumer role as they will have to

    promote their own listings before any others (and if they say otherwise publicly their sellers will

    likely fire them since they are paying redfin to market their properties).

    More on this

    later …

  2. Comment by John A Keith | 04/26/07 at 10:14 am

    Great comments Marla.

    Two

    things: First, Redfin is taking a percentage, so you could say higher sales prices benefit them,

    but I don’t think this is that big a deal. The incremental income is negligible. Making a deal

    is more important, not making a deal for more money. I know they considered a “flat fee”

    structure, but the feedback from buyers was that a percentage rebate was fine with the majority of

    them.

    Second, they do have a local agent, it’s not in MLS, though. If you look through the

    Redfin site, you can see that Alex Coon is their local agent. As far as I know, he is heading up

    their local office, until they get established. Alex was at Paragon Properties for awhile, I

    guess. If you search MLS, he’s done 23 deals over the past several years; most were less than

    $400,000. He went out on his own awhile ago. I would’ve recommended that Redfin hire someone

    with more uppper-end experience, but maybe they will.

  3. Comment by david | 04/26/07 at 10:34 am

    i

    love love love the user interface for searching for homes to buy. it’s the best i’ve seen, b/c i

    can exclude 95% of the houses in a city based on neighborhood and a few photos (i’m picky about

    the architecture). but the user interface is so good that i don’t need redfin to find a house;

    you can easily find the house using the map and the photos, so there’s no point in me signing in

    to find the street address. other sites force me to open up a mapquest page to see where it’s

    located, and that’s slow.

    i would use redfin if i weren’t comfortable negotiating, but

    i’m not sure what their value add is other than that. i’ms keptical they have sufficient

    expertise to help me find a house. one of their realtor bios said basically “he’s really

    knowledgeable about the boston metro area” which is too big an area to know anything beyond “i hear

    winchester’s real nice.”

    i’m confused by their “branding.” i guess they’re a discount

    broker? they seem to offer the same services that any other realtor offers, only cheaper, so

    what’s the catch? i guess they help you find a place thru their awesome online tool rather than

    carting you around to appointments.

    also, i’m skeptical about their pricing claims. for

    each house price, they tell me how much i’m “saving,” which seems to be 2%. so i would assume

    they’re being paid 1% by the seller, and the “savings” is based on a 3% commission. isn’t a 2%

    buyer’s agent commission more common? which would be a 50% rather than 2/3s reduction.

  4. Comment by Marla Mullen | 04/26/07 at 10:52 am

    John,

    The agent might not flub a negotiation but they might be

    tempted to have their buyer buy a more expensive house since their pay check increases with the

    increase of the buyers budget (or they might be tempted to care more about the million dollar buyer

    than the $200,000 buyer). Whether the strength of their personal ethics prevail the mis-aligned

    structure is still there: they get paid based on the value of the real estate not the work being

    done. This is not pro consumer. Example, redfin client 1 buys $500,00 home and pays a $4,166

    commission; redfin client 2 buys a $1 million home and pays a $8,333 commission; and lastly redfin

    client 3 buys a $2 million home and pays a $16,666 commission. I wonder how Glenn justifies

    charging client #3 4x the amount simply because he/she adds a zero to the offer to purchase

    contract ($12,000 for a key stroke, ouch!).

    My overall point, redfin has done nothing truly

    unique to change the face of real estate except higher some fantastic web developers to create a

    pro-consumer site. Whether that pro-consumer tactic has trickled down to their overall business

    model I have yet to be convinced. They take stabs at traditional agencies but they themselves are

    using the same exact payment structure. They are a reduced service traditional brokerage.

  5. Comment by anon | 04/26/07 at 2:51 pm

    “This is not pro consumer.”

    Agreed, but it’s more pro-consumer than

    traditional agencies because the consumer saves some money (via “rebate”, or whatever redfin calls

    it). This alone makes them look pretty good…

  6. Comment by Marla Mullen | 04/26/07 at 2:59 pm

    Absolutely! A rebate is nice no matter how you slice it (we give them!) but

    it just means as a consumer, keep doing your homework because what they charge - not what they give

    back - is still no different than a traditional agency. The % topic has historically caused a huge

    rift in the the agent/client relationship.

  7. Comment by Alex Mather | 04/26/07 at 3:00 pm

    Marla, they’re pro-consumer because they’re giving 2/3 of their

    commission back! Before anyone says they might not be able to negotiate as well as a traditional

    brokerage, I say “GIVE THEM TIME!” They seem to be hiring young, energetic agents who I think will

    be as good or better than most traditional agents. These agents, since they are paid mostly salary,

    can focus on doing a WONDERFUL job rather than getting desperate for their next commission like

    many agents who make money only on commissions.

    Also, their site is light years better than

    almost every real estate site out there which makes us consumers even happier!

    For young

    people like me, they make total sense. My question is what do the bottom 98% of traditional agents

    have to offer me to compete with Redfin?

  8. Comment by John A Keith | 04/26/07 at 5:31 pm

    Right. Marla, about that, Redfin pays its agents a salary, plus bonuses. Doesn’t that negate

    your charge that their agents will only be working for the biggest paycheck?

  9. Comment by Terry Sanford | 04/26/07 at 6:22 pm

    Ok I am in.

    Redfin is pro

    consumer because they charge less? BUT THEY OFFER A REDUCED SERVICE!!! of course they charge less,

    what buyer would tolerate it any other way?

    And to answer Alex’s question “what do the

    bottom 98% of traditional agents have to offer me to compete with Redfin?” Nada, zip, zero.

    That’s why Redfin makes such a big splash with such a little stone. The old boys network is so

    mixed up that Redfin has everyone all fired up for offering less service at a lower price. Whoah

    revolutionary, NOT!

  10. Comment by Rich Rosa | 04/26/07 at 7:31 pm

    It’s not a question of whether they’ll negotiate aggressively on behalf of their buyers, but a

    question of whether they’ll have the time.

    The only way a business model like Redfin’s

    works is with a large volume of transactions. If you don’t do your homework, how do you really

    know what a place is worth. Experience? I don’t think so.

    Absolutely nothing replaces

    taking the time needed to research the comparable sales.

    Does anyone really think Redfin is

    going to take the time to research the comps for every transaction they’re involved in when

    they’re receiving only a third of the buyer-side commission?

    Only time will tell.

  11. Comment by Alex Mather | 04/26/07 at 9:06 pm

    @Rich,

    i’m not a REALTOR or anything but does researching comps really take that long?

    Zillow.com has them immediately on their site as well as a few other sites like

    Homethinking.com.

    In addition with all of the sales data that Redfin already has I’d

    imagine they have an internal system where an agent pushes a button and gets all the comps they

    need for a particular address.

    the area where I see vulnerability is when a transaction goes

    wrong. Do Redfin agents have the time to deal with the complex issues that often arise…we shall

    see!

  12. Comment by John A Keith | 04/26/07 at 9:18 pm

    Doing comps is pretty darn easy, if you use our

    local MLS, MLSPIN. They have it all set up - it would take maybe forty-five minutes to do it

    right. Actually, I’m not sure if Redfin even offers to do that for you.

    You are right,

    though - how much can you count on them if things go wrong? You’re Redfin agent is basically

    someone on the other end of a phone line. And, how many times have you tried to resolve a problem

    on the phone (like with your cable company or phone company)?

    Right now, I don’t think

    you’d have any problem getting a lot of attention from them, if you had a problem - there’s not

    enough business to keep them busy. But, what happens when they’re in all 50 states, with hundreds

    of transactions going on in each state? Suddenly each agent has a stack of folders on his or her

    desk, each one a potential catastrophe. They’re all about volume. Does customer service

    suffer?

  13. Comment by Alex Mather | 04/26/07 at 9:30 pm

    @John,

    without knowing anything about their strategy I’d imagine their growth strategy to be that of a

    niche customer service department of a large company. (not comparing their agents with customer

    service reps - they’re obviously more skilled.)

    i see a tier I and tier II level of agent

    there where 90% of the transactions are handled by the tier Is and the transactions with issues get

    handled by a roving set of better-paid “experts.”

  14. Comment by Boston Real Estate | 04/27/07 at 12:33 pm

    Ohh… I like all the action here. End of

    day….its all a great thing! More choice for consumers is what this very ‘traditional’ town

    needs!

  15. Comment by Anonymous | 04/27/07 at 12:59 pm

    Agree 100%! Change is desperately needed in every town so they are welcomed

    with open arms! That said, there is still a pitfal in their business model that doesn’t make them

    necassarily ground breaking. My posts and business model reflect that feeling.

    I am glad we

    had this debate :) It’s always nice to hear from forward thinkers.

  16. Comment by Alex Coon | 04/27/07 at 4:24 pm

    Hello! I am Alex Coon the

    local Redfin agent and I would love to try to address some of the unanswered points.

    My job is to assist clients in getting the best deal. Redfin gives consumers all the tools

    and information they need to search for homes, a lot of this information traditionally was reserved

    for agents only. I take over after a client makes an offer. I perform the exact same duties as a

    traditional broker, except for one key thing – I work hard to get the best price for my client,

    instead of worrying about making a few extra bucks. I assist on everything from offer to close,

    including creating CMAs for price negotiation, home inspection, and the purchase and sale

    agreement. This is the same in every Redfin market, not just Boston.

    As Alex

    pointed out, I get paid on customer satisfaction, not commission, so I have no reason to be tempted

    to push a higher-priced home on a client. If I don’t think my client is getting a good deal, I

    will tell him to walk. Customer satisfaction is evaluated through an online survey sent to EVERYONE

    I have worked with, not just deals I close, but deals I lose or anybody else who deals with me.

    Overall, Redfin’s customer satisfaction was 97 percent last quarter. Also, Redfin has a

    100-percent-customer-satisfaction guarantee. If, for any reason, my clients are not satisfied with

    my performance they will receive the entire commission. That’s what we call the “Nordstrom�

    model and it is a very real part of our commitment to the customer.

    Marla asked

    about promoting our listings. We started offering listing services in September 2006 and because we

    don’t market our properties like a traditional agent, we aren’t promoting them above others.

    Our model is simple. It combines e-commerce with the support of a local agent. We list the property

    in the MLS, give a yard-sign and a lockbox, and then handle all the negotiations and paperwork, all

    for $3,000.

    There were a couple Qs about experience, and being able to handle a lot

    of deals at once, especially when you have to handle a complex transaction. In our other markets,

    agents handle more deals in one week than the average agent does in a year, which means that the

    average Redfin agent has more experience than a traditional agent. We are hiring more agents and

    support in Boston. It takes a new market about six months to really take off, so we’re in the

    process of hiring agents as well as field agents to handle home tours and inspections, and

    transaction coordinators for scheduling, documents and other deal details. This way our agents can

    focus on their primary jobs of negotiating and client interaction, including complex,

    time-consuming deals. Seattle agents right now typically close 20 deals a month and, as I said

    above, our customer satisfaction level in this market is 97 percent, which is really quite amazing

    considering how much work those numbers represent. The reason for this is the highly qualified

    support staff and the type of people we attract to work at Redfin. We are truly a team and the

    level of support I receive from my company is really amazing. I hope I have addressed some of your

    questions and concerns and feel free to email me anytime alex.coon@redfin.com.

  17. Comment by Rich Rosa | 04/29/07 at 9:05 am

    Alex, you want people to use Zillow to get comps? Frankly, that’s a bit scary. Zillow even admits

    that its “Zestimates” are typically not even accurate within 10%.

  18. Comment by Reuben Moore | 05/06/07 at 8:15 am

    Hi Boston -

    I can see Redfin

    has made a mostly positive impression on you. This is not surprising given the PR prowess of Glenn

    Kelman and the Redfin machine. And, given Boston home pricing, I certainly understand the appeal

    of a rebate. It does have a Robin Hood quality to it, right?

    But let me ask you: Where

    does this money come from? Wait, wait - I hear you - most real estate agents ARE overpaid. I

    agree. And, if the Redfin marketing strategy is to rebate, I think that is great. But is this

    rebate really a product of a more efficient process? I mean, they do have a great website and an

    even better search engine, but is that really worth, what? $10,000. This can only be true if that

    is as far as it goes.

    But, I submit to you all, before you make an offer on a $500,000-ish

    property, you just might want to see one or two….right? And, not just on the computer and not

    just from the street. You might just want to poke around inside and check out the basement. And,

    in fact, you might want to see (inside and out) quite a few properties before you plop down that

    kind of money.

    So, back to the original question: Where does the rebate come from? The

    answer is two-fold. One, it certainly partly stems from Redfin’s lack of service. Second, it

    comes from the sellers via the listing agent. Now before you say, well they are overpaid shysters

    anyway - let me remind you all, that you are only one transaction away from being a seller

    yourself. And, here is the most important point: Doesn’t the seller deserve the same type of

    competitive pricing that you receive as the buyer. On the buy-side, you get a rebate. On the

    sell-side, the seller receives a lower commission rate.

    Oh please tell me: Where does this

    “rebate” come from???

  19. Comment by John A Keith | 05/06/07 at 10:55 am

    Reuben Moore: Hi. Thanks for the

    comment. I don’t understand what you’re saying, though. Also, I think you might be a little bit

    confused about the Redfin business model.

    First, let me say, I don’t run a limited-service

    business - I collect the full commission on a sale and I keep it! This is because 1) I provide

    full-service, from initial contact, through showings, through offers and until closing; and, 2) no

    client has ever asked me for a rebate.

    I only know about Redfin from the research I’ve done

    and from personally meeting three of the company’s principals, a couple months back. I am not

    aware of any “PR prowess” on their part - I don’t think 90% of Massachusetts residents have any

    idea AT ALL that Redfin even exists!!!

    Redfin seems to be pretty clear on where their

    “rebate” comes from, meaning why it makes sense. And, they’re pretty clear that their business

    model will only work for certain buyers (leave sellers out of this, for now).

    Not every

    buyer wants to look at every property available. Perhaps the buyer wants a property within a

    certain new development. Therefore, there is no need to go out to see every property in town.

    And/or many buyers will see properties at open houses, to acclimate themselves to the market. If

    and when the buyers see a property they like, they’re educated enough at that point to decide

    whether or not it’s the “right” property for them. That’s when they involve

    Redfin.

    Redfin takes less money because they are doing less work. For buyers who are

    comfortable with that arrangement, it seems like a smart idea.

    I’m totally confused by what

    you say about the rebate.

    On the typical residential sale in Massachusetts, a seller will

    pay a 4-5% sales commission.

    The contract between the seller and the listing agent usually

    states that the listing agent will pay any buyer’s agent 1/2 of the commission.

    So, on a

    $500,000 sale, the commission might be $25,000. Half, $12,500, goes to the listing agent. Half,

    $12,500, goes to the buyer’s agent who brings in a client that buys the property.

    The

    listing agent, whether a buyer uses Redfin or John A Keith Real Estate, gets $12,500, if a sale is

    made.

    The buyer’s agent, whether a buyer uses Redfin or John A Keith Real Estate, gets

    $12,500, if a sale is made.

    What Redfin does then is give the buyer 2/3’s of that

    commission. On a deal of this size, it would mean that the buyer gets a check for $8,333. Redfin

    ends up with 1/3 of the commission, or $4,167.

    The arrangement between Redfin (or any

    buyer’s agent) and the buyer is of no concern to the seller and makes no difference to the net

    amount the seller ends up with upon closing.

    Are you suggesting that the seller deserves

    more of the net proceeds? I don’t think that’s what you’re saying, but maybe it is.

    But, again, the seller is ending up with the same net amount from the sale, regardless of

    which buyer’s agent is used, so I’m not sure I understand how the seller is harmed.

    It’s not any of the seller’s business what type of deal is made between the buyer’s

    agent and the buyer.

    I’m confused by your last point. Are you maybe unclear on how

    commissions are paid?

    To answer your question, the rebate comes from the pocket of the

    buyer’s agent.

    Or, if you follow that back, it comes from the seller, as does any

    commission paid on the sale.

    If you are saying that the buyer’s agent deserves less a

    commission because he or she is doing less, and that therefore the seller should be able to keep

    more of the sales proceeds, that is an interesting point (I don’t think you’re saying that,

    because I don’t think you understand how the commissions work).

    I think that is being too

    specific. You can make the argument that the buyer’s agent is doing less work, so the seller

    shouldn’t have to pay as much commission.

    Sometimes deals are done that way - large

    developments usually pay less of a commission, because they know there is less work on the part of

    buyers’ agents - say 2% vs. 2.5%, or even a flat fee. But, again, the developments pay this to

    ALL agents, they don’t get to decide which agents deserve the full amount and which ones only

    deserve a piece of it. That seems unworkable.

    There’s no way to know ahead of time how

    long it’s going to take to find a client a property.

    There doesn’t seem to be any logical

    way to structure deals so that the seller ends up with more proceeds, based on the type of agent a

    buyer uses.

    Put another way, sometimes I work with a client for a day and find a property.

    Sometimes it takes six months. Sometimes a client never buys! The commission I expect to make is

    the same no matter which type of client I have. Are you suggesting that I make less money for the

    client I spend one day with vs. the one I spend six months with? And, that the commission I make

    be reduced, and the seller keep more, if I only spend a day with my client?

    If you are, then

    your issue has to do more with the entire way real estate is bought and sold, and not with a single

    company offering its clients a limited-service plan for less money.

    No one else seems to be

    complaining about this. What’s your interest in how it is done?

  20. Comment by Reuben Moore | 05/06/07 at 12:03 pm

    Hi John -

    Wow, that is a very detailed response, thank you very much.

    I agree with you to this extent - whatever arrangement Redfin makes with their buyer clients is none of my concern as the listing agent. Right.

    Let me promise you, I am intimately aware of how commissions work. But, I would like to draw your attention to services rendered and services paid for….

    Let me give you a few examples:

    $500,000 propety.

    Traditional Real Estate Firm takes listing at 6% (with 50% buy-side payout). Redfin receives $15,000 and “rebates” $10,000 to buyer. Buyer requests (demands) showing from listing agent. Listing agent says to himself, well since I am making $15,000 on this deal, myself, I’d be happy to show it to you.

    You, with me John? That’s easy.

    Next, moderately Traditional Real Estate Firm takes listing at 5% (with 50% buy-side payout). Redfin receives $12,500 and “rebates” $8,333 to buyer. Buyer requests (demands) showing from listing agent. Listing agent says to himself, well since I am making $12,500 on this deal, myself, I’d be happy to show it to you.

    Hang in there John….

    Next, we have a Competitive Listing Firm, which takes the listing at 4% (total). Now, here it could go two ways.

    They might offer a 50% buy-side payout and run the risk of buyers agents not showing it. But, for demonstration purposes here, let’s take the more interesting route. Let’s assume the listing agent still offers a 3.0% buy-side payout and retains 1.0% for his services. Is this a foreign concept to you John?

    You see, listing agents are out there competing for business just like….well, Redfin. And this savvy listing agent might just say to their client, the seller, look, I will take your listing for 4.0%, but most of the commission goes to the buyer’s agent - and well, they are going to have to earn it.

    Now, here comes the Redfin buyer, expecting the listing agent to show the property. And I - I mean he - just laughs. And so, Redfin gets the seller on the phone. Hey, your listing agent is not doing their job, so would you mind terribly showing our client, the buyer the property? And, the seller says, Hey, I am in Tucson, and besides I am paying you, 3% to act as the buyers agent.

    And, John - Here, I think the seller should quote you:

    “The arrangement between Redfin (or any buyer’s agent) and the buyer is of no concern to the seller…” Well said!
    Finally, I don’t know about you good folks up in Boston, but down here in my neck of the woods, we have these terrible, terrible discount listing firms, who will actually take a listing for something along the lines of $500 flat fee plus the buy-side payout (2-3%).

    So, where does the “rebate” come from. In all cases, it co mes fromthe buy-side payout. Services contracted for and paid for - just not delivered.

    Maybe the better question for Redfin and all you Redfin apologists is: What are you going to do with listing agents who compete for business and the savvy sellers who hire them???

  21. Comment by John A Keith | 05/06/07 at 3:03 pm

    Hi.

    Actually, I’m not with you on this one. I can’t comprehend

    what you’re saying. Somehow, it seems as though using your examples, the seller’s agent is

    somehow hurt. I don’t know how or why.

    I’m glad you have had the opportunity to explain

    your point of view.

    I don’t fear Redfin nor do I encourage them or wish them to succeed.

    They are not a threat to my own business model.

    Plenty of people have opinions on them and

    their competitors for reduced-fee commissions. It’s good that we have a way to express these

    opinions.

  22. Comment by Alex Mather | 05/07/07 at 10:52 am

    i ‘think’ I get what Reuben is saying. He’s saying that when the listing

    agent is making enough (2% +?) money on the deal then they will gladly do the buyer’s agent’s

    work by showing the property to the potential buyer. they do this because they have financial

    incentive to. He then says that there are some “terrible” discount listing firms that don’t do any

    work (like showing the unit) to their clients - the sellers. So we have a discount situation on

    both sides and there isnt an agent on either side willing to show the unit to the potential buyer.

    So the buyer is in a pickle says Reuben. The only problem is that Redfin WILL accompany the buyer

    whenever the buyer wants - for a fee. So the buyer has recourse - they can pay for a Redfin agent

    to show the property each time a listing agent wont. My guess is that they’ll still save tons of

    money.

    Am I close?

  23. Comment by John A Keith | 05/07/07 at 1:19 pm

    Alex: perhaps. He’ll have to say more about it for me to understand his point.

    Maybe you

    can clarify something, as well. What do you mean it’s the buyer’s agent’s job to show the

    property to the buyer??? Isn’t that the seller’s agent’s job? The seller’s agent is the one

    with the listing!

    I know in some cities the buyer’s agent and client go unaccompanied to

    showings. In Boston, however, both buyer’s agent and seller’s agent attend each showing.

    I think a seller should require his or her agent to show the listing, every time. How else

    can you make sure the buyer knows everything about the property? The buyer’s agent may have never

    seen the inside of the property before. How will the buyer’s agent know enough to make the

    property attractive to a buyer?

  24. Comment by Alex Mather | 05/07/07 at 1:25 pm

    John: yes, in my experience I have gone to see properties with the listing

    agent but in my research for my new venture we came across a lot of buyer agents who take their

    clients to homes that other agents listed without the listing agent present. They often show up a

    few minutes early and tour the place alone to get the feel of the place. Serious buyers often come

    back with the listing agent present to answer and questions / concerns.

    I agree that a

    seller should demand that the listing agent be there for each appointment - otherwise its probably

    a waste of time since the buyer agent giving the tour doesn’t know enough to be of much value.

    Unfortunately it doesn’t always happen that way here in Philly.

  25. Comment by Jim Gatos | 05/19/07 at 12:46 pm

    Hello,

    Just a correction for a post I saw by …

    Comment by John A Keith
    |

    04/26/07 at 10:14 am

    “Alex Coon is their local agent. As far as I know, he is heading up

    their local office, until they get established. Alex was at Paragon Properties for awhile, I guess.

    If you search MLS, he’s done 23 deals over the past several years; most were less than $400,000.

    He went out on his own awhile ago. I would’ve recommended that Redfin hire someone with more

    uppper-end experience, but maybe they will.”

    I agree but I checked MLS and I only see 12

    closed trasnactions, and ALL on the buying end. Nothing on the listing side. I see he listed some

    and his listings either expired or cancelled. I have no problem with someone going through the

    numbers I saw in MLS.. If what I saw is true then I think real estate agents REALLY have nothing to

    worry about LOL.. Not that they had anything to worry about anyway.. LOL

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