Listing homes with Redfin

the.irvine

Active member
Any feedback on Redfin's services to sell your house. They charge 1% commission, which is less than typical 2.5% you have to pay your listing agent. Thoughts?
 
I think you get what you pay for.  I always thought the job of a listing agent was simple, and paying them 2.5-3% seemed like a ridiculous windfall.  I'm getting ready to list my current place and interviewed a few agents and checked references.  Ended up going with the guy that helped me buy the place.  So far I'm very happy with the decision.  The amount of work he has done for me has been above and beyond what I expected.  Examples:

1)  He bought and paid for a home warranty on my house to cover anything that might happen while the property is listed
2)  He brought in an inspector (on his dime) to go through my property and do a pre-listing inspection.  This turned up a few items (thankfully nothing major) that we'll work through prior to listing so would be purchases can see the report and what repairs have been made. 
3)  We went on vacation last week.  While we were gone he brought in a stager to look at the place and write up a full report on what we should do to every room to get it ready for staging.  He boxed up clutter and books on shelves per stager's recommendation.  He then took it upon himself to begin fixing the items listed in #2 above (changing light bulbs, scrubbing out scuff marks, cleaning carpets and couches, touching up furniture and wall scuff marks)
4)  He's scheduled an HVAC guy to come do a diagnostic on the air conditioner (inspector's report said it could be nearing it's useful life). The cost of this is covered by the home warranty
5)  He's scheduled a painter to do touch ups to walls, ceilings and patios that were identified by stager.  This will be on his dime
6)  He's scheduled a plumber to fix re-grout areas identified by inspector.  This will be on his dime
7)  He's purchasing towels and flowers for bathrooms and bedrooms per stager's recommendation

This is my first sale, so I'm not sure if all this stuff is pretty standard.  It feels like it's a differentiated service to me, and something I probably wouldn't get from Redfin at 1%.  That said, the commission is higher and maybe all the above isn't necessary and the house would still sell at a similar price.  Guess we'll see the results soon enough.
 
ChiKid24 said:
I think you get what you pay for.  I always thought the job of a listing agent was simple, and paying them 2.5-3% seemed like a ridiculous windfall.  I'm getting ready to list my current place and interviewed a few agents and checked references.  Ended up going with the guy that helped me buy the place.  So far I'm very happy with the decision.  The amount of work he has done for me has been above and beyond what I expected.  Examples:

1)  He bought and paid for a home warranty on my house to cover anything that might happen while the property is listed
2)  He brought in an inspector (on his dime) to go through my property and do a pre-listing inspection.  This turned up a few items (thankfully nothing major) that we'll work through prior to listing so would be purchases can see the report and what repairs have been made. 
3)  We went on vacation last week.  While we were gone he brought in a stager to look at the place and write up a full report on what we should do to every room to get it ready for staging.  He boxed up clutter and books on shelves per stager's recommendation.  He then took it upon himself to begin fixing the items listed in #2 above (changing light bulbs, scrubbing out scuff marks, cleaning carpets and couches, touching up furniture and wall scuff marks)
4)  He's scheduled an HVAC guy to come do a diagnostic on the air conditioner (inspector's report said it could be nearing it's useful life). The cost of this is covered by the home warranty
5)  He's scheduled a painter to do touch ups to walls, ceilings and patios that were identified by stager.  This will be on his dime
6)  He's scheduled a plumber to fix re-grout areas identified by inspector.  This will be on his dime
7)  He's purchasing towels and flowers for bathrooms and bedrooms per stager's recommendation

This is my first sale, so I'm not sure if all this stuff is pretty standard.  It feels like it's a differentiated service to me, and something I probably wouldn't get from Redfin at 1%.  That said, the commission is higher and maybe all the above isn't necessary and the house would still sell at a similar price.  Guess we'll see the results soon enough.


You brought up several points that I would never thought about. Good to know. Man USCcpa is talented. Worth the commission fees for sure.
 
Redfin will give you a professional photographer, 3D tour videographer, staging consultant, and open house agent/associate. They will not do repairs or staging, and YMMV on how much the actual listing agent will know about your precise community, or connections to prospective buyers, or custom sales strategy to sell your specific home.

Also perhaps most interesting is that they have backed away from recommending a list price... perhaps their agents are constrained by the (buggy) Redfin algorithm home value estimates. So IMHO you have to have your own pricing strategy in mind if using them. $0.02
 
ChiKid24 said:
I think you get what you pay for.  I always thought the job of a listing agent was simple, and paying them 2.5-3% seemed like a ridiculous windfall.  I'm getting ready to list my current place and interviewed a few agents and checked references.  Ended up going with the guy that helped me buy the place.  So far I'm very happy with the decision.  The amount of work he has done for me has been above and beyond what I expected.  Examples:

1)  He bought and paid for a home warranty on my house to cover anything that might happen while the property is listed
2)  He brought in an inspector (on his dime) to go through my property and do a pre-listing inspection.  This turned up a few items (thankfully nothing major) that we'll work through prior to listing so would be purchases can see the report and what repairs have been made. 
3)  We went on vacation last week.  While we were gone he brought in a stager to look at the place and write up a full report on what we should do to every room to get it ready for staging.  He boxed up clutter and books on shelves per stager's recommendation.  He then took it upon himself to begin fixing the items listed in #2 above (changing light bulbs, scrubbing out scuff marks, cleaning carpets and couches, touching up furniture and wall scuff marks)
4)  He's scheduled an HVAC guy to come do a diagnostic on the air conditioner (inspector's report said it could be nearing it's useful life). The cost of this is covered by the home warranty
5)  He's scheduled a painter to do touch ups to walls, ceilings and patios that were identified by stager.  This will be on his dime
6)  He's scheduled a plumber to fix re-grout areas identified by inspector.  This will be on his dime
7)  He's purchasing towels and flowers for bathrooms and bedrooms per stager's recommendation

This is my first sale, so I'm not sure if all this stuff is pretty standard.  It feels like it's a differentiated service to me, and something I probably wouldn't get from Redfin at 1%.  That said, the commission is higher and maybe all the above isn't necessary and the house would still sell at a similar price.  Guess we'll see the results soon enough.

This sounds like a real full service type of selling agent.  However, nothing is free in life and you need to break down the "value" of what your agent did.  The hard cost to the agent is probably < $1500 and a few hours of his time.  If he is charging you 2.5% on say a 800k property, that's $20k commission.  There are plenty of sales agents that will charge 1%-1.5% and help you schedule the services you mentioned, but you would pay out of pocket to the contractor.  So you are still down $6500-$10500 by using your agent.
 
Your house may be listed on top if a person uses Redfin to search for houses. (I don?t know how that works, but you want to ask them about that.)

What do you have to lose? Save money, put that extra money in your pocket.
 
I also swear that Redfin listed homes use higher resolution images (on Redfin site and app) than other homes.

For instance look at the quality of the images here:https://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/176-Fieldwood-92618/home/51684911

Much clearer IMO than the others not listed by Redfin.  If you look closely you will see it.  Even if you don?t look closely I think subconsciously you can tell that?s probably what they?re hoping for.
 
aquabliss said:
I also swear that Redfin listed homes use higher resolution images (on Redfin site and app) than other homes.

For instance look at the quality of the images here:https://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/176-Fieldwood-92618/home/51684911

Much clearer IMO than the others not listed by Redfin.  If you look closely you will see it.  Even if you don?t look closely I think subconsciously you can tell that?s probably what they?re hoping for.

nice catch. if you download the first picture for this property on zillow and inspect the details, the resolution is 1024 x 678 and 152 kb, while the same picture (picture #16 on redfin) is 2160 x 1440 and 1.23 mb

i would suspect this has to do with the pictures being directly hosted by redfin's servers when you list with redfin, while zillow is pulling from the mls and i'm guessing the mls downgrades the size/resolution to reduce server requirements
 
Kings said:
aquabliss said:
I also swear that Redfin listed homes use higher resolution images (on Redfin site and app) than other homes.

For instance look at the quality of the images here:https://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/176-Fieldwood-92618/home/51684911

Much clearer IMO than the others not listed by Redfin.  If you look closely you will see it.  Even if you don?t look closely I think subconsciously you can tell that?s probably what they?re hoping for.

nice catch. if you download the first picture for this property on zillow and inspect the details, the resolution is 1024 x 678 and 152 kb, while the same picture (picture #16 on redfin) is 2160 x 1440 and 1.23 mb

i would suspect this has to do with the pictures being directly hosted by redfin's servers when you list with redfin, while zillow is pulling from the mls and i'm guessing the mls downgrades the size/resolution to reduce server requirements

This is true, the professional pictures that I upload to my MLS listings are 1mb to 1.5mb.
 
My next door neighbor just sold his house using Redfin. He sold for above listing price and did beat the previous sold comp by almost 2%. (Comp was same floor plan from 4 months ago)
I went to one of his open houses and the agent seemed competent. I would say it's worth it to save yourself some serious $$$.
 
Kenkoko said:
My next door neighbor just sold his house using Redfin. He sold for above listing price and did beat the previous sold comp by almost 2%. (Comp was same floor plan from 4 months ago)
I went to one of his open houses and the agent seemed competent. I would say it's worth it to save yourself some serious $$$.

It was the agent that did a good job, not Redfin.  So in these cases, you need to seek out that agent who happens to work for Redfin.  This is analogous to getting a haircut.  I could care less which shop/brand I go to.  It's the actual barber that matters.
 
woodburyowner said:
Kenkoko said:
My next door neighbor just sold his house using Redfin. He sold for above listing price and did beat the previous sold comp by almost 2%. (Comp was same floor plan from 4 months ago)
I went to one of his open houses and the agent seemed competent. I would say it's worth it to save yourself some serious $$$.

It was the agent that did a good job, not Redfin.  So in these cases, you need to seek out that agent who happens to work for Redfin.  This is analogous to getting a haircut.  I could care less which shop/brand I go to.  It's the actual barber that matters.

Can you say it?s both?
 
eyephone said:
woodburyowner said:
Kenkoko said:
My next door neighbor just sold his house using Redfin. He sold for above listing price and did beat the previous sold comp by almost 2%. (Comp was same floor plan from 4 months ago)
I went to one of his open houses and the agent seemed competent. I would say it's worth it to save yourself some serious $$$.

It was the agent that did a good job, not Redfin.  So in these cases, you need to seek out that agent who happens to work for Redfin.  This is analogous to getting a haircut.  I could care less which shop/brand I go to.  It's the actual barber that matters.

Can you say it?s both?

USCTrojanfin
 
My experience with Redfin agents have been good and they are very professional.

Keep in mind: I haven?t been looking for a while
 
woodburyowner said:
It was the agent that did a good job, not Redfin.  So in these cases, you need to seek out that agent who happens to work for Redfin.  This is analogous to getting a haircut.  I could care less which shop/brand I go to.  It's the actual barber that matters.

The agent at the open house is actually different than the Redfin listing agent. I am not sure why Redfin setups this way but he did seem to know the area and the specific development well enough to explain to another group touring the house. I have been home shopping with my parents in south OC for the past 5 months and this is consistent with what we've seen at 10+ Redfin open houses. At these Redfin open houses, we never saw a super awesome agent who could wow us and be able to convince us to buy a house we didn't want. But every Redfin open house we went to did have a competent agent.

In my opinion, if you are selling a cookie cutter newer home/condo that has good sold comps, you can save serious $$$ by using a Redfin agent. Redfin provides competent agents, professional photos, extra online exposure at 1% commission. Very little downside to this.

If you have an unique home with little or no comps, then perhaps you need a super awesome agent who can wow buyers for you.
 
If you have an unique home with little or no comps, then perhaps you need a super awesome agent who can wow buyers for you.
[/quote] USC
 
I believe the senior Redfin agents are the ones who actually make the initial house calls and close the deals. Given the Redfin no-frills model, I imagine they are busy buying and selling in bulk, so they only focus on most critical duties. The successful ones anyway. Then the open house duty is delegated to less experienced agents.


Kenkoko said:
woodburyowner said:
It was the agent that did a good job, not Redfin.  So in these cases, you need to seek out that agent who happens to work for Redfin.  This is analogous to getting a haircut.  I could care less which shop/brand I go to.  It's the actual barber that matters.

The agent at the open house is actually different than the Redfin listing agent. I am not sure why Redfin setups this way but he did seem to know the area and the specific development well enough to explain to another group touring the house. I have been home shopping with my parents in south OC for the past 5 months and this is consistent with what we've seen at 10+ Redfin open houses. At these Redfin open houses, we never saw a super awesome agent who could wow us and be able to convince us to buy a house we didn't want. But every Redfin open house we went to did have a competent agent.

In my opinion, if you are selling a cookie cutter newer home/condo that has good sold comps, you can save serious $$$ by using a Redfin agent. Redfin provides competent agents, professional photos, extra online exposure at 1% commission. Very little downside to this.

If you have an unique home with little or no comps, then perhaps you need a super awesome agent who can wow buyers for you.
 
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