by Roberta Murphy
The Northwest Multiple Listing Service in Seattle has fired a major volley at Redfin.
John Cook and the Seattle PI report that Redfin has been fined $50,000 and been ordered to halt home reviews on its Sweet Digs blog, which has over 3000 subscribers. The posts are wriiten by 15 hired hands who have posted around 1000 home reviews in the Seattle and San Francisco markets.
According to CEO Glenn Kelman, they (Redfin) will have no choice but to abide by the ruling; otherwise, the NWMSL would cut off Redfin’s daily IDX feed for listings. The NWMLS ruling was based on the frequently-enforced Rule 190 which prohibits brokers from advertising others’ listings without their permission. NWMLS said it is important for the listing agent to have control over how a property is marketed, to avoid inaccurate listing information being disseminated.
And according to a reported Wall Street Journal story, Redfin was also asked by the NWMLS to cease publishing the number of days a home remains on the market.
Redfin is appealing the fine…and the story is still develping.
There are cigar-chomping good ‘ol boys in every industry. Redfin clearly alienated the big real estate boys.
You know, generally speaking, violating Rule 190 would be over-looked by people in this business as it just gets the listing more exposure (for both the listing and the agent). But, if you tick off the big boys, they’ll call you out on 190 violation if it is the only thing they can technically get you on. Remember, Al Capone didn’t get busted for being a gangster or for murder charges – it was tax evasion.
Anger the big boys and girls and they’ll get you with whatever they can – including minor violations. I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy gets pulled over by a cop whose wife is a real estate agent and the cop not only gives him a speeding ticket but looks for every other possible violation! 🙂
Tony: Hmmm….looks like lots of real estate agents will be buying cigars. LOL!
I Roberta,
I hope you will post an update on the appeal… I’m interested to see how this pans out.
Last I heard redfin had 9 million in venture capital funding. I think they are the big boy.
As I recall, Redfin’s CEO said something to the effect that Redfin makes money on each sale, but doesn’t do enough sales to make any money.
The loaded question is: How many sales will they have to do to break even? $9 milliion won’t go very far with Redfin’s planned expansions. In San Diego, they don’t even have an office listed– and their lone agent has closed one sale in the last few months.
You have an outstanding good and well structured site. I enjoyed browsing through it.b
Idetrorce:
You don’t agree with Redfin’s fine–or my reporting of the event?
Please explain.