Real estate site Redfin files for IPO • Hacker News Board

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#171

Post by bhandziuk » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:20 PM UTC

gist wrote: post #97

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…

> where any buyer can view photos of a house for sale online real estate agents still expect to receive 6% It's not the same as buying a car as you have to gain access to the property to look at it which involves another agent and much work even after an offer has been accepted or negotiated. The only thing that is 'absurd' is that the commission generally stays the same whether the house is 1.5 million or 150,000. A…

That commission is huge. I just bought a 280k house which means the agent gets ~7,800 $. Sure they maybe keep some fraction of that but that is such a crazy big dollar amount. That's several month salary for me and they did it in a few hours of work.

Plus, because this is paid through what eventually becomes my mortgage I'm paying that inflated price for decades.

With those kinds of numbers I see why it is such a guarded industry.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#172

Post by paulddraper » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:25 PM UTC

PenguinCoder wrote: post #132

paulddraper wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently bought from someone selling through Homie. https://www.homie.com About $1000. Initial couple hundred to take pictures, put up a nice sign, and list your house. The balance is paid when you close. Scheduling viewings and offer submission is done through their site. They also offer legal advice. The only really nice feature they lack is HelloSign/similar integration for the paperwork.

I was looking for a company like this to sell my house, instead of through traditional realtor. I see their about page says "On average, we save Utahns over $8,000 per transaction." Is the service only available in Utah?

Probably...I thought that might be case but didn't see it on their website when I looked.

I live in Utah.

I'm sure Homie or similar will be very common within 5 years in most places.

---

There are also "flat-fee listing services" that have been around for a long time. They usually only satisfy any legal requirements and get you onto the offical listing sites, but you may want to search for that.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#173

Post by slantedview » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:28 PM UTC

existencebox wrote: post #92

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 offer a different viewpoint. Redfin absolutely serves a purpose, but in some markets, notably for my case very hot markets, it's a significant impediment. I really wanted redfin to work, shopping in seattle 2 years ago. I tried for almost a year, but they would consistently be not as contactable or prompt as we wanted, and gave us very erroneous advice when it came to crafting offers on some houses we wanted.…

> they would consistently be not as contactable or prompt as we wanted, and gave us very erroneous advice when it came to crafting offers

YMMV indeed. I had the reverse experience buying a house through Redfin. We had used a traditional Realtor previously and it did not go well and ended up bailing on that person in favor of Redfin. The Realtor there was very sharp, knowledgable and responsive, and helped us through a tricky purchase to a positive outcome.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#174

Post by pjschlic » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:29 PM UTC

existencebox wrote: post #92

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 offer a different viewpoint. Redfin absolutely serves a purpose, but in some markets, notably for my case very hot markets, it's a significant impediment. I really wanted redfin to work, shopping in seattle 2 years ago. I tried for almost a year, but they would consistently be not as contactable or prompt as we wanted, and gave us very erroneous advice when it came to crafting offers on some houses we wanted.…

I bought a house in Seattle 2 years ago through Redfin, and had a GREAT experience. We had started with a more traditional realtor first, but the Redfin one was way more responsive. Maybe it's realtor-specific.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#175

Post by bhandziuk » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:29 PM UTC

jjppott wrote: post #147

toomuchtodo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'm still waiting for someone to completely eliminate the need for a software engineer and charge a reasonable flat fee to bolt together some libraries and handle all the related details. Why do we even need software engineers at this point? Everyone can find the libraries and open source tools they need online nowadays. Why does anyone need to pay a whopper paycheck to some middle-man?" You're paying for someone's…

I generally have a different opinion. I am somewhat in the industry (construction side) and I feel that generally most realtors dont really have much knowledge of what they are selling. Furthermore, it is relatively easy to get a real estate license (at least where I live) and the handful of acquaintances that have gotten their license really dont know more than the average person. I actually find the lack of knowled…

This is so true. Not only do they typically not know anything more about nay given home that you, the buyer, do. If they are on the selling side they will also outright lie about home features. I experienced this so many times on houses I visited and even on the house I ultimately purchased.

You just have you shrug your shoulders and fix whatever they misrepresented.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#176

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:31 PM UTC

existencebox wrote: post #103

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…

We got, unfortunately, MULTIPLE realtors through redfin; some on our own request, some when they simply would disappear from the company/stop answering our emails. There was neither quality nor consistency, and we had marginal ability to impact that choice on our own, whereas with a personal realtor we went with someone highly recommended from work peers. I absolutely agree the individual realtor impacts the experien…

[deleted]

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#177

Post by gist » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:32 PM UTC

bhandziuk wrote: post #171

gist wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> where any buyer can view photos of a house for sale online real estate agents still expect to receive 6% It's not the same as buying a car as you have to gain access to the property to look at it which involves another agent and much work even after an offer has been accepted or negotiated. The only thing that is 'absurd' is that the commission generally stays the same whether the house is 1.5 million or 150,000. A…

That commission is huge. I just bought a 280k house which means the agent gets ~7,800 $. Sure they maybe keep some fraction of that but that is such a crazy big dollar amount. That's several month salary for me and they did it in a few hours of work. Plus, because this is paid through what eventually becomes my mortgage I'm paying that inflated price for decades. With those kinds of numbers I see why it is such a gua…

You are comparing a case where it only took them 'a few hours' for your particular transaction with all the time they had to spend either showing that house and getting nothing or showing other houses and getting nothing.

Do you honesty believe the majority of transactions they do are so quick and easy?

What do you think they are doing a transaction like that per week? There is an overhead cost to dealing with people and with sales. I would take a wild guess that in a year of work the agent that you dealt with (or a typical agent that sells $280k houses) is making less than $100k per year. That's not a crazy amount of money, even in a lower cost community.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#178

Post by zaroth » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:35 PM UTC

te wrote: post #144

zaroth wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never used a buyer's agent and always written into my offers that the 3% buyers agent fee is to go back to the seller (and of course adjust the top-line offer accordingly). I've never tried to buy in SF, but this strategy has always worked for me and saved a lot of money over the years. Frankly I can't understand the purpose of a buyers agent in this era, and taking 3% off the cost of a house is very substantial…

So you reduce the top-line offer by 3%? Or, if your written offer specifies 3% back to you, how does the seller's agent manage to take 4% in contradiction to the offer? Not sure what jurisdiction you're operating in, but I wasn't aware that offers could dictate chagnes to the terms of a pre-existing listing agreement between the seller and their agent. Would love more details on how to effect something like this.

Yes, reduce the top-line offer by 3%, or slightly less than 3% -- so everyone is actually coming out ahead.

You're absolutely right, I can't dictate the agreement between the seller and their agent. But when I put in writing, "hereby relinquish any and all claim to the 3% buyer's agent fee ($XX,XXX)" it gets the point across. Then it's between the seller and their agent, usually the agent will get a small bump (from 3% to 4%) and the seller keeps the rest.

It's important to try to convince the seller at the same time, that the sale will be easier without the buyer's agent, not harder. Also important to refuse to sign any kind of "dual agency" agreement with the seller's agent.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#179

Post by larrykubin » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:38 PM UTC

pjschlic wrote: post #174

existencebox wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me offer a different viewpoint. Redfin absolutely serves a purpose, but in some markets, notably for my case very hot markets, it's a significant impediment. I really wanted redfin to work, shopping in seattle 2 years ago. I tried for almost a year, but they would consistently be not as contactable or prompt as we wanted, and gave us very erroneous advice when it came to crafting offers on some houses we wanted.…

I bought a house in Seattle 2 years ago through Redfin, and had a GREAT experience. We had started with a more traditional realtor first, but the Redfin one was way more responsive. Maybe it's realtor-specific.

Same, bought a place in Seattle through Redfin towards the end of 2014. Went from attending a free Redfin homebuying class to getting the keys to our new place in 30 days. Loved the website and the experience and didn't feel pressured.

Re: Real estate site Redfin files for IPO

#180

Post by hijinks » Fri, Jul 07, 2017, 9:38 PM UTC

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…

I wanted redfin to work when we solf our house in the SF Bay area a few months ago.

Redfin's issue is the selling agent was located 45 minutes away and just ran random comps and said our house was 120k lower then market. She said it would never sell for what I thought it was worth. So we ended up going with a local agent who put it on market for more then we thought and it sold for 1% over asking.