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Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

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Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#151

Post by lukevdp »

IshKebab wrote: post #131
aetherson wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a house in SF three years ago through Redfin. The realtor that Redfin gave us was prompt, aggressive, and thorough in the bidding/closing process. What he didn't do is drive us around to open houses or suggest places to us. Which we didn't want anyway. I suspect that the individual realtor you get through Redfin has a big impact on your experience with the site. It sounds like you got a bad one and were unha…

This is really confusing. I just bought a house in the UK, and the process is as follows: 1. Look for house on Rightmove or Zoopla. 2. Call the estate agent or private seller to arrange a viewing. 3. Show up at the appropriate time. Look at house. 4. Make an offer. Offer gets accepted/rejected/they want more. Repeat until you get it or get outbid or give up. 5. Offer agreed (hopefully). Now do all the actual buying t…

USA has a different system than in the U.K. Or Australia.

In the US, buyers go and get a buyers agent to help them buy the house. Buyers agents get 3% and sellers agents get 3%. (Actual amounts varies wildly)

In UK and Australia, 99% of people do not use buyers agents. The agent showing buyers through the house and answering all the questions works for the seller. There is only one agent so only one commission.

Selling privately is popular in the U.K., but much less popular in Australia however the segment is growing). USA less so again.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#152

Post by fizixer »

bkjelden wrote: post #12

I hope this company sees nothing but success. I bought my house through Redfin last year, and not only did I save ~$5k in commissions compared to a conventional realtor, I also felt the process was much smoother and more pleasant than other times I've interacted with a conventional realtor. It's simply absurd that in an era where any buyer can view photos of a house for sale online real estate agents still expect to…

Let me guess, that ~$5k is less than 1% of what you would pay in total.

No offense (and sorry for being off-topic) but I never get how people obsess over the under 1 or 2% cost savings while completely ignoring the overvalued principal. Two other examples,

- People go over to buy a $50-$70k car and later boast how "they made" the salesman give them a $500 or $1k discount. (well what about a fully-functioning $20k car, or the same car but 2-3 years old but costing $8-12k?)

- People buying stupid stuff off amazon etc, and worse, travelling to random places, just because they have credit-card cashback and travel rewards, and looking at you funny when you tell them you only have one credit-card and you make sure you don't overspend but never paid attention to how many points you accumulate.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#153

Post by bdamm »

notadoc wrote: post #57
bdamm wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having gone through four home-buying episodes, where my wife (an ex-realtor) spent massive amounts of time trolling Trulia, RedFin, calling police departments, gathering reports from the local City Hall, I can tell you there is still a service to be provided by agents. And anyone who has bought a house knows that the collection of contracts that represents "buying a house" is not a small collection, and errors can be…

> A good agent is worth 10x their commission. You actually think a 'good' realtor deserves a 60% commission? I can tell you're married to a realtor.

My bad, we're actually pretty good at shrinking the realtor commission, we never pay 6%.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#154

Post by valas »

fizixer wrote: post #152
bkjelden wrote: post #12

I hope this company sees nothing but success. I bought my house through Redfin last year, and not only did I save ~$5k in commissions compared to a conventional realtor, I also felt the process was much smoother and more pleasant than other times I've interacted with a conventional realtor. It's simply absurd that in an era where any buyer can view photos of a house for sale online real estate agents still expect to…

Let me guess, that ~$5k is less than 1% of what you would pay in total. No offense (and sorry for being off-topic) but I never get how people obsess over the under 1 or 2% cost savings while completely ignoring the overvalued principal. Two other examples, - People go over to buy a $50-$70k car and later boast how "they made" the salesman give them a $500 or $1k discount. (well what about a fully-functioning $20k car…

Bigger picture is that agents conventionally get 6%, which is obnoxious in the Internet age. Sure 1% maybe is not much, but anything that helps to squeeze that industry is great. No?

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#155

Post by balls187 »

existencebox wrote: post #149
IshKebab wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really confusing. I just bought a house in the UK, and the process is as follows: 1. Look for house on Rightmove or Zoopla. 2. Call the estate agent or private seller to arrange a viewing. 3. Show up at the appropriate time. Look at house. 4. Make an offer. Offer gets accepted/rejected/they want more. Repeat until you get it or get outbid or give up. 5. Offer agreed (hopefully). Now do all the actual buying t…

I can only speak of hot markets in America, which are VERY different than many others, but at least within that: A "reasonable" house goes on the market. ("reasonable" defined by A real estate agent helped me in multiple steps of the above. - Having an offer ready ahead of time with lots of contingencies/tradeoffs well understood so we could tune it quickly and get it out and under the wire. - Knowing how and where t…

Did you look at areas that haven't been gentrified?

Plenty within 1 hour of Seattle that are affordable.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#156

Post by dforrestwilson »

valas wrote: post #154
fizixer wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me guess, that ~$5k is less than 1% of what you would pay in total. No offense (and sorry for being off-topic) but I never get how people obsess over the under 1 or 2% cost savings while completely ignoring the overvalued principal. Two other examples, - People go over to buy a $50-$70k car and later boast how "they made" the salesman give them a $500 or $1k discount. (well what about a fully-functioning $20k car…

Bigger picture is that agents conventionally get 6%, which is obnoxious in the Internet age. Sure 1% maybe is not much, but anything that helps to squeeze that industry is great. No?

Yes. Is there even another real estate market in the world where intermediaries capture so much of the gain on sale?

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#157

Post by [deleted] »

fizixer wrote: post #152
bkjelden wrote: post #12

I hope this company sees nothing but success. I bought my house through Redfin last year, and not only did I save ~$5k in commissions compared to a conventional realtor, I also felt the process was much smoother and more pleasant than other times I've interacted with a conventional realtor. It's simply absurd that in an era where any buyer can view photos of a house for sale online real estate agents still expect to…

Let me guess, that ~$5k is less than 1% of what you would pay in total. No offense (and sorry for being off-topic) but I never get how people obsess over the under 1 or 2% cost savings while completely ignoring the overvalued principal. Two other examples, - People go over to buy a $50-$70k car and later boast how "they made" the salesman give them a $500 or $1k discount. (well what about a fully-functioning $20k car…

[deleted]

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#158

Post by fizixer »

valas wrote: post #154
fizixer wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me guess, that ~$5k is less than 1% of what you would pay in total. No offense (and sorry for being off-topic) but I never get how people obsess over the under 1 or 2% cost savings while completely ignoring the overvalued principal. Two other examples, - People go over to buy a $50-$70k car and later boast how "they made" the salesman give them a $500 or $1k discount. (well what about a fully-functioning $20k car…

Bigger picture is that agents conventionally get 6%, which is obnoxious in the Internet age. Sure 1% maybe is not much, but anything that helps to squeeze that industry is great. No?

Maybe. Though I haven't gotten over the obnoxious housing prices in the first place, so I guess I'm not seeing what you're seeing.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#159

Post by scottLobster »

fizixer wrote: post #152
bkjelden wrote: post #12

I hope this company sees nothing but success. I bought my house through Redfin last year, and not only did I save ~$5k in commissions compared to a conventional realtor, I also felt the process was much smoother and more pleasant than other times I've interacted with a conventional realtor. It's simply absurd that in an era where any buyer can view photos of a house for sale online real estate agents still expect to…

Let me guess, that ~$5k is less than 1% of what you would pay in total. No offense (and sorry for being off-topic) but I never get how people obsess over the under 1 or 2% cost savings while completely ignoring the overvalued principal. Two other examples, - People go over to buy a $50-$70k car and later boast how "they made" the salesman give them a $500 or $1k discount. (well what about a fully-functioning $20k car…

Just speaking for myself, 5k is a lot of money. So is 1k, so is $500. I can do a lot with that money. Percentages are arbitrary.

I agree however that people buying luxury items and then boasting is kinda dumb. If you're willing pay premiums for luxuries, getting a slight discount on said premiums is hardly a victory. It's like people who buy stuff they don't need and won't use because it's "on sale" and then brag about how they "saved money".

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#160

Post by abakker »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #44
paulgb wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that basically what SaaS is? Companies that would have had to hire engineers to do bespoke work can contract out to a SaaS vendor and get what they need for a fixed fee. SaaS doesn't make sense every case, just like Redfin doesn't, but it's still valid.

Those SaaS vendors are still paying developers; if a cookie cutter self-service model works for your needs as a customer, more power to you. Rarely has that appeared to be the case in the dozens of real estate transactions I've been through, and it might explain why Redfin can't grow faster; people want to have their hand held through the largest transaction of their life, and those who can charge more for those serv…

Meh, at some point, it always becomes a matter of perspective. If the same work is getting done, then you just shift around who does it or how it's paid for.

Rarer, but more valuable, is discovering new work to do, or old work that doesn't need to be done, and then either inserting it or taking it out of an existing market/process/role/job/company, while still managing to get paid for your own contributions.

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