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March 28, 2008

Redfin Real Estate - Whatever Happened to Them

Report: Are Redfin buyers better negotiators?

According to a new study, "Redfin customers in Seattle and San
Francisco paid less for their homes than those who purchased homes
through other brokers in those regions, according to a report released
today by the Seattle online real estate company."

For those of you who don't remember, when Redfin Real Estate arrived
in town there was a lot of talk, and a lot of worrying about how it
would change the face of real estate in San Francisco... The company arrived

with a brilliant track record from its home town of Seattle, and a
lot of cash on hand. San Francisco was described as the perfect place
for Redfin to set up shop with a highly educated and tech-savvy population
and a red hot real estate market where it seemed anyone could sell a home and a tech
savvy populous.

In the words of Redfin, "Redfin is an online real estate brokerage
that puts you in charge of buying or selling your home... We combine
listings direct from every broker with data on past sales &
days on market... Our local agents guide you on a price and negotiate
the best deal... Our online tools make the paperwork easy."

The study is an interesting read, but one highlight of the Redfin paid
for report... Redfin only sold 31 homes in San Francisco between
February 2007 and February 2008. Not a huge test sample.

Posted by Jeff Brooks on March 28, 2008 12:10 AM | Permalink

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Hi there, it's me Glenn, Redfin's CEO. Thanks for the insightful post about Redfin. We called out the SF segment size in the report, and thought you might notice it. And we agree, we have a long ways to go in building marketshare in San Francisco, where we haven't done as well as in the Valley. We also hurt ourselves by understaffing the office in the early days, which forced us to stop taking in new business in the middle of last summer's high season. But the San Francisco customers who have used our service since have been among the happiest we have ever served, with one of the largest negotiating advantages. Maybe we shouldn't have been so initially excitable in discussing the fit between our service and the folks in San Francisco, and perhaps it is even crazier to be optimistic now, but we do think that over time our business will continue to build share. From December to February, our Bay Area traffic has grown more than 100%. Wish us luck! Regards, Glenn

Posted by: Glenn Kelman | March 29, 2008 02:25 PM

Thanks for checking in, Glenn! Comments from those mentioned in our blog are always welcome.

Posted by: Bill Quick | March 30, 2008 03:53 PM

March 28, 2008

Redfin Real Estate - Whatever Happened to Them

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