Comments on: Redfin Spins 60 Minutes

By: aaron

aaron — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:52:29 +0000

They arrived just a bit too late. The days of the discounter were over when the market tanked. Nowadays you need access to a network that only an agent can provide. Otherwise you’re just getting people goofing off on the internet. Real Estate Finance

By: Roberta Murphy

Roberta Murphy — Mon, 21 May 2007 02:11:32 +0000

Dave: I cannot imagine a seller or buyer of real estate being represented by someone who had no errors and omissions insurance. The E&O premiums may be expensive, but provide enormous protection for our real estate clients.

Tony: Your analogies aren’t far removed! But if someone wants WalMart representation for real estate, that is a personal choice. It’s the investors in Redfin that may end up losing the most, though. A very recent example would be i-Pay One, who just closed their doors. Redfin presence in San Diego in miniscule. Only one sale so far and their single agent appears to be working out of his home.

By: Tony May

Tony May — Mon, 21 May 2007 01:50:17 +0000

Unfortunately, these individuals feel that they can take a “Wal-Mart approach” to handling the single biggest investment a person has in their financial portfolio. Glad to see the swift response by some of the industries most respected players.

Next thing you know they’ll have the audacity to suggest self-check-in at Capella (West Paces Hotels) or Ritz-Carlton and interview someone with Holiday Inn to support the idea!

By: Dave Lopez

Dave Lopez — Sun, 20 May 2007 18:36:23 +0000

On the Better Homes model where it states that “you the seller don’t have to pay the other agent, you can negotiate directly with a buyer” Well, I say, “Buyer Beware”. Where is the seller getting all the right disclosures and unless you’ve done this a dozen or so times, the buyer might be at a disadvantage. The question I always think about is what happens if something goes wrong? It’s not uncommon. I remember once at at title company function a discount broker talking about how the consumer was getting hoses by the full service broker. The subject came up about errors and omission insurance. He said and I quote “I don’t have any” Good luck if something goes wrong and the lawyers are waiting.

By: Roberta Murphy

Roberta Murphy — Fri, 18 May 2007 04:57:52 +0000

ARW: What you say is true. We operate on a different business model that agents on either side of our office–and we are all with the same company.

Richard: You help to prove the point about competing models.

Linda: Uh oh….

By: Linda

Linda — Wed, 16 May 2007 17:42:32 +0000

Where’s the attachment?

By: Richard Greenwood

Richard Greenwood — Wed, 16 May 2007 05:03:09 +0000

There are many alternative real estate services that use technology to cut costs and share those savings with their clients. You’ll find many at http://BetterHomeBuying.com & http://BetterHomeSelling.com

By: Austin Realtor's Wife

Austin Realtor's Wife — Wed, 16 May 2007 01:54:15 +0000

Roberta, thanks for posting Windermere’s response- it is a great representation of the real argument that there is more than one Real Estate model, in fact with 1.3 million Realtors nationwide, (and as TREG asserts on Realtor Wives yesterday)there are ONE POINT THREE MILLION business models. Even within a single brokerage, Realtors (aka independent contractors) execute their personal marketing differently from the moment they shake hands with a new person to the day they attend that person’s housewarming party.

The business theme that most RE bloggers follow is that of full service and I agree that it is the best model for consumers- who wants a call center to “handle” the biggest asset in their portfolio?