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LAST UPDATED: March 11th, 2020

Redfin is a customer-first real estate brokerage that represents people buying and selling homes. Except unlike many other brokerage companies, Redfin decided to infuse its brokerage services with the most up-to-date technology. In fact, Redfin firmly believes that its use of technology has made the entire buying/selling process faster, easier, and worry-free. 

Redfin also boasts employing a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are customer advocates and not salespeople.

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The Good

  • Technology Powered Real-Estate Brokerage
  • Data Center
  • Redfin Now and Redfin Direct
  • Real Estate Agents
  • State Coverage
  • Social Media Presence

Technology Powered Real-Estate Brokerage

Redfin uses technology to help buyers find agents and homes for sale. The Redfin app lets buyers peruse thousands of homes for sale, get detailed information on each, and even schedule a home tour directly from the app. From the app, users can search for homes for sale in a specific city, zip code, neighborhood, or school attendance zone.

Users can narrow their search by property type (e.g., house or condo), price, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, and other key features. 

Since Redfin is a real estate brokerage, it gets information directly from local multiple listing services, which means the app has 20 percent more homes for sale than other non-brokerage real estate applications, and it is updated more frequently. Once users have created a search, they can save that search and sign up to receive mobile or email notifications any time a home comes on the market that meets the search criteria.

When customers find a home they like, they can add it to their favorites by selecting the heart button. The house will be saved to their profile so they can easily find it again, and they'll receive notifications any time something changes, like when it goes under contract or drops in price.
 
For home sellers, Redfin real estate agents are out touring homes every day, and their insights about those homes are shared on Redfin.com and the Redfin app. These "tour insights" are information that consumers can't find anywhere else — if the home is on a busy street, when it appears to have been remodeled last, or if it has a great view, for example. 

Additionally, Redfin posts a review of each of its agents online. After selecting an agent, the agent will help homeowners properly price their home as well as guide homeowners through the selling process (i.e., marketing a home through targeted email campaigns and professionally designed print brochures and open houses).

Redfin agents may also create a Redfin 3D Walkthrough of the home so potential buyers can tour it right from the Redfin website.

Data Center

As a real estate brokerage company, Redfin has direct access to data from multiple local listing services (as well as insight from their real estate agents). Because of this, Redfin can provide its customers with the earliest and most reliable data on the state of the housing market. 

Through Redfin, consumers can download the housing market data for any metropolitan area, city, neighborhood, and zip code. The data includes things such as median sale price, average sale-to-list difference, percentage of homes that sold above list price, percentage of homes that had a price drop, number of homes on the market, new listings, median days on the market, and more. 

Redfin Now and Redfin Direct

Redfin offers a service that helps make home-selling simple: RedfinNow. RedfinNow allows home sellers to skip repairs, showings, and the uncertainty of a traditional home sale, and sell directly to RedfinNow for an all-cash offer. Sellers can choose to move on their own timeline with a flexible close date from 7 to 60 days, for a flat fee of 7 percent (instead of agent commissions). Additionally, sellers can compare their RedfinNow offer to what they could make listing with a Redfin agent and choose the best option for them. 

Redfin Direct is for homebuyers who want to purchase a home online without an agent. After finding a Redfin listing, buyers can tour it virtually or book an in-person tour. If it's the perfect home, buyers can use Redfin's step-by-step online tool to write an offer (this tool helps simplify the process by featuring the latest data on what other successful buyers offered for similar homes). If the offer is accepted, a Redfin listing agent will follow up and keep the deal on track. 

Real Estate Agents

According to the Redfin website, "Redfin has the highest percentage of top-performing agents," and agents earn a salary and benefits, but bonuses are based on customer satisfaction. 

State Coverage

In the United States, Redfin offers its services to 45 of the 50 states. This is on the higher end of the real estate market

Additionally, Redfin is available to Canadian residents. 

Social Media Presence

As one might expect with Redfin being so technology-based, the company is fairly active across all its social media platforms. Redfin is regularly posting articles, videos, and helpful hints about the housing/real estate industry and provides an excellent resource for buyers, sellers, and anyone interested in learning more about real estate. 

Consumers can access these resources on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or Youtube.

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The Bad

  • Consumer Complaints
  • Limited State Coverage

Consumer Complaints

While Redfin claims that its use of technology allows its agents to provide better, more reliable customer service, several reviews on BestCompany.com refute those claims. 

Unfortunately, several Redfin customers were unhappy with their agent. One customer stated that they felt their agent did not communicate with them and wouldn't answer or return phone calls, emails, or texts, which contradicts Redfin's claim that its agents are in constant communication with clients. 

Another reviewer was frustrated with his Redfin representative as he felt they had "no knowledge or control" over Redfin's computer algorithm (the algorithm determines a home's value). 

Limited State Coverage

While Redfin does service more states than several other real estate agencies, there are five states that the company does not service:

  • Alaska
  • North Dakota
  • Montana
  • South Dakota
  • Wyoming
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The Bottom Line

Redfin is unique in its ability to incorporate technology into every aspect of the home buying and selling process. The company's use of technology particularly appeals to the younger generations, as they can virtually tour homes, put in an offer online, and more. Consumers can easily check for new listings via the mobile app or search for their dream home by utilizing the apps search feature. Consumers can also follow the company on its various social media channels to keep up with the latest industry-related news. However, we do recommend that consumers call and ask about the company's terms, conditions, and fees.

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Jessica Charleston, SC

Mike D was my agent, and we stopped using RedFin all together because of our experience with him. He simply refused to return our calls/texts/emails. RedFin asked us to fill out a survey, which I did, and the reply we received from him was: "I regret that there was a communication breakdown leading to this buyer being unhappy with the service I provided." The communication breakdown was simply that Mike REFUSED to reply, via call, email, or text. I’d say that it definitely a communication breakdown. Great way to blame the buyer. Oh, and I am living in said house now that I went through another agency.

4 years ago

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Stephanie T Murfreesboro, TN

Redfin is a horrible option. Our agent in Nashville could not sell our house then we got a buyer who she didn’t even check out to see if they could afford the house.....less than a month before the closing date the bank come back saying he can buy the house. Our agent didn’t do anything to market our house and took four months to get one offer. After all of this we decided to let go of this agent and go with another company and agent, who was able to get THREE offers in TWO DAYS during a snow storm in the middle of January. To say that Redfin was a waste of time is a complete understatement. DO NOT USE THEM!

4 years ago

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Robert Citrus Heights, CA

Redfin has some very good agents and some very poor agents. Read reviews before you choose an agent. My beef with Redfin is their online computer generated value for my home I have for sale is over 10% lower than comparable sales around my home. I have called in to customer support and they say "nothing we can do because the computer algorithm determines home prices" When I tried to do an 'Owner's Evaluation' of value the comparable sales prices are all adjusted downward by about 10%. I called in about that and was told the sale prices are adjusted for different locations and square footages. I then told them my home had the EXACT same square footage, more upgrades, and in a BETTER location - their response "Huh, interesting". Nothing has been done to rectify the situation or research the problem. A person came to my open house and said my home price is too high and when I asked why they said that their reply was 'I looked up your home on Redfin and it says your almost $80,000 too high!" The whole point of this is 1) there is no way to contact upper management or corporate, 2) the front line people have no knowledge or control over how the computer evaluates home values, 3) if you DO list your home with Redfin, I have read that they block your house from showing on Zillow, Trulia, etc., 4) they say they care but the person I talked to in customer support got very snippy and when I reminded her that all calls are recorded she hung up on me! This really has been a sore subject for me as I do like the Redfin agents I have met and have several rental properties I will be selling in addition to the one I currently am now selling myself. Because of the technical issues with their website, I will not be taking my business to Redfin. In addition, everyone that comes in contact with us has something negative to say about Redfin. Oddly enough it is with the management rather than particular agents. Go Figure. Anyway, they have a great sales idea but they lack follow through with real customer service. I do NOT recommend Redfin.

5 years ago

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M. Mancini Perkasie, PA

They claim their accuracy ratings regarding property value and information is rated to be one of the best Heres one for you, my personal home was on the market and is not sold yet they show it being Sold and the dollar amount shown per square foot of what they show sold for is not even close. Not only is their information wrong they cannot even do math. apparently my home has been Sold and i as the OWNER does not even know about it. I wish people could ban together and go after these sites legally as it is of my opinion all they do is HURT the market place of the SELLER BUYER AND REALTOR

4 years ago