Glenn Kelman of Redfin has been deceiving the public since the day they started the company, and he gets away with it because we don’t have a watchdog department or any enforcement of truth-in-advertising.  We live in a society where anybody can say anything and never be accountable to the truth.

I’ve had enough, and I’m not going to take it any more.

Here are examples:

• He says Redfin agents sell houses for $3,000 more than traditional agents.  But you can only measure that if we sold the same house on the same day!  He is using averages of different sets of homes, which is apples and oranges – yet it was one of their featured statements on their website for a long time.
• He says that his sellers save $9,000 over traditional agents.  You can say you charge a lower rate, but you can’t calculate the actual savings until you have the sales price.  Agents don’t sell houses for the same price – houses sell for different prices depending on the agent’s method and expertise.  If I sell the house for $10,000 more than you, then the sellers would MAKE an extra $1,000.  It is deceitful for him to make such claims.
• He says you will ‘close without a hitch’. A Redfin agent told me yesterday that 100% of his deals have a hitch.
• He says they are full service.  But then you send out the $50 girl with the least experience of anyone on your team to show buyers around?  If you are ‘full service’, then you should have your BEST agents showing homes.
• His home-flipping device, Redfin Now, is the biggest conflict-of-interest in the history of real estate.  With Zillow’s Instant Offers, at least they send their staff people to give you a quote to purchase your home, and then direct an independent agent to give you a second quote.  But Redfin offers the whole package together.  But you can’t have it both ways – either you advertise that you are a full service realtor, and thus have a fiduciary duty to get the best deal possible for the seller, OR you are a cash buyer.  But they run their flipping platform off their same website.

They know it’s a conflict too, and have a disclaimer at the bottom of the page:

Can you read print that small?  Me neither, so I got out my magnifying glass.

This is what it says:

Redfin Now is a separate company owned by Redfin.  Agents representing Redfin Now represent Redfin Now only and do not represent sellers in the sale of your home.  If you decide to sell to Redfin Now, neither Redfin nor Redfin Now will represent your interests regarding the sale of your home. For this reason, it is recommended that you seek independent representation in the sale of your home.  You may be able to sell your home on the open market for more money than Redfin Now’s offer price.

People who are drawn to a ‘full-service realtor’ website should get a fiduciary consultation only – that is what’s in their best interest.  If you are running a separate company that buys homes, then it should be on a separate website.

• The latest is Glenn saying that portals should include links that direct the consumer back to the listing agent.  He says that it will encourage listing agents to stop ‘pocketing’ their listings, and sell them on the open market instead.  But Redfin does the ‘Sold Before Processing’ to their sellers too, so you can’t help but think Glenn has an ulterior motive.

He has lost millions of dollars every quarter since they started 13 years ago – it seems like he will say anything to try to catch up.

Consumer beware!

Jim the Realtor

Jim is a long-time local realtor who comments daily here on his blog, bubbleinfo.com which began in September, 2005. Stick around!

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