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Redfin

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This article is about real estate website. For Redfin perch, see European perch. For South African redfin barbs, see Pseudobarbus and Barbus.
Redfin Corporation
Company typePublic
IndustryReal estate
Founded2004; 20 years ago (2004)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
FoundersDavid Eraker
Michael Dougherty
David Selinger
Headquarters
Seattle, Washington
,
U.S.
Area served
95 markets in the United States and Canada[1]
Key people
Glenn Kelman (CEO)
Bridget Frey (CTO)
Chris Nielsen (CFO)
ServicesReal estate agent
Broker
RevenueIncrease US$1.92 billion (2021)[1]
Decrease US$−110 million (2021)[1]
Decrease US$−110 million (2021)[1]
Total assetsIncrease US$2.02 billion (2021)[1]
Total equityDecrease US$310 million (2021)[1]
Number of employees
6,485 (December 2021)
SubsidiariesRentPath
Bay Equity Home Loans
Websitewww.redfin.com
Footnotes / references
[1]
Redfin headquarters are in the Hill7 Building, in South Lake Union, Seattle

Redfin Corporation, based in Seattle, operates a residential real estate brokerage in 95 markets in the United States and Canada and in other markets via partner/referral agents. Its business model includes charging home sellers below-average fees of 4.0% of the sales price of a property (including 1.5% to the selling agent and 2.5% to the buyer's agent), and provides commission rebates to purchasers of homes that use the service. In 2021, the company had a 1.17% market share in the United States by value.[1] The company name is an anagram of the words "finder" and "friend".[2]

History

Redfin was founded in 2004 by David Eraker, Michael Dougherty, and David Selinger. Eraker had dropped out of medical school at the University of Washington for a career in software design and Dougherty received degrees in electrical engineering and international studies from Yale University.[3][4] David Selinger, an alumnus of Stanford University who had previously led the research and development arm of Amazon's data mining and personalization team, joined Redfin as the third founder and CTO. Selinger helped build Redfin's mapping and real estate data analytics engine.[5]

Redfin's website showed available homes on a map, which was a new concept at the time.[6]

In January 2006, Redfin raised a $1.25 million Series A round from Madrona Venture Group and named Glenn Kelman as CEO.[7]

In May 2006, Redfin raised $8 million in Series B funding from Vulcan Inc., the investment arm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.[8]

In May 2007, Redfin was fined $50,000 by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, and was forced to shut down reviews of homes on the market on its website, prohibited under multiple listing service rules.[9]

In July 2007, Redfin raised $12 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson.[10]

In November 2009, Redfin raised $10 million from Greylock Partners.[11]

In May 2010, Redfin won the Seattle 2.0 award for "Best Startup".[12]

Redfin began an automatic agent rating system in 2012; after it drew criticism for using inaccurate data, the system was discontinued.[13]

In November 2013, Redfin raised $50 million in a mezzanine round led by T. Rowe Price and Tiger Management, bringing its total venture funding to slightly over $96 million.[14]

In October 2014, Redfin acquired Walk Score.[15][16]

In December 2014, Redfin raised $70.9 million from Wellington Management, Glynn Capital Management, Brothers Brook, Annox Capital Management, and previous investors Tiger Global Management and T. Rowe Price.[17]

In June 2017, the company began buying and selling houses directly under the brand Redfin Now.[18]

On July 28, 2017, Redfin became a public company via an initial public offering, raising $138 million.[19][20]

In June 2019, Redfin began offering buyers the opportunity to submit offers on homes listed by Redfin's selling agents without using a buyer's agent, saving sellers commissions and possibly making their offers more attractive.[21]

In July 2019, Redfin partnered with Opendoor, an online real estate company, whereby visitors to the Redfin website can request an offer to buy their houses from Opendoor.[22][23]

In November 2020, a class-action lawsuit by several fair housing organizations accused Redfin of violating the Fair Housing Act by offering fewer services to homebuyers and sellers in minority communities and not offering to sell lower-priced homes because of the lower profits on such sales.[24][25][26] In 2022, the company paid $4 million to settle the lawsuit, changed its policies, and implemented a new internal monitoring system.[27][28]

On April 9, 2021, Redfin acquired RentPath, which owns Apartment Guide, Rent.com, Lovely, and Rentals.com, for $608 million.[29]

In December 2021, Redfin announced it would no longer include neighborhood crime data in search results due to "inaccuracy" in Federal Bureau of Investigation crime data, and because Bureau of Justice Statistics data was "troubling" because "people reporting crimes were more likely to describe their offender as young, male, and Black".[30]

In January 2022, Redfin acquired Bay Equity Home Loans, a mortgage lending operation based in California with operations in 42 states, for $137.8 million.[31][32]

In June 2022, the company announced layoffs of 8% of its staff amid a downturn in the housing market.[33]

Awards

In July 2006, Inman News awarded Redfin the Innovator Award for the Most Innovative Business Model.[34]

In October 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider.[35]

In July 2013, Inman News awarded Redfin an award for "Most Innovative Brokerage or Franchise".[36]

In June 2014, Seattle Business magazine recognized Redfin as the best company to work for in Seattle in the Large Companies category.[37]

Redfin was named the one of the top tech companies to work for in Seattle by Hired.com.[38]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Redfin Corporation 2021 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". SEC.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 17 February 2022.
  2. ^ COLVIN, GEOFF (February 10, 2022). "Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman predicts the future of real estate—from 3D scans to agents making $700,000". Fortune.
  3. ^ Rhodes, Elizabeth (September 26, 2004). "A sit-down, flyby real-estate overview". The Seattle Times.
  4. ^ Stone, Brad (March 7, 2013). "Why Redfin, Zillow and Trulia Haven't Killed Off Real Estate Brokers". Bloomberg News.
  5. ^ "David Selinger". Entrepreneur.
  6. ^ Lee, Timothy B. (August 10, 2015). "Redfin set out to change real estate. Then real estate changed Redfin". Vox Media.
  7. ^ "Redfin raises $1.25M, names new CEO". American City Business Journals. January 9, 2006.
  8. ^ Engleman, Eric (May 31, 2006). "Vulcan Capital leads $8M investment in Redfin". American City Business Journals.
  9. ^ Cook, John (May 17, 2007). "Redfin fined $50,000, shuts down home reviews". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  10. ^ Arrington, Michael (July 17, 2007). "Redfin Takes $12 Million Series C Financing Amid Realtor War". TechCrunch.
  11. ^ Arrington, Michael (November 12, 2009). "Already Profitable Redfin Raises Another $10 Million". TechCrunch.
  12. ^ Huang, Gregory T. (May 20, 2010). "Redfin, Bonanzle, TisBest Win Seattle 2.0 Awards". Xconomy.
  13. ^ Carrns, Ann (May 1, 2012). "New Battle on Providing Real Estate Agent Performance Data". The New York Times.
  14. ^ McBride, Sarah (November 13, 2013). "Redfin raises $50 million from Tiger Global, T. Rowe Price". Reuters.
  15. ^ "Redfin Acquires Walk Score" (Press release). Business Wire. October 22, 2014.
  16. ^ COOK, JOHN (October 22, 2014). "Redfin buys Walk Score, marking first acquisition in company history". GeekWire.
  17. ^ Gage, Deborah (December 18, 2014). "Redfin Hooks $70.9 Million for Software-Powered Home Sales". The Wall Street Journal.
  18. ^ SOPER, TAYLOR (June 30, 2017). "Redfin testing 'Redfin Now' service that lets it buy and resell homes directly with customers". GeekWire.
  19. ^ Olick, Diana; Balakrishnan, Anita (July 28, 2017). "Real estate start-up Redfin surges over 44% in IPO: 'We are the Apple of real estate,' CEO says". CNBC.
  20. ^ Roof, Katie (July 28, 2017). "Redfin soars 45% after IPO; CEO calls it 'Amazon of real estate'". TechCrunch.
  21. ^ Zafar, Nina (June 4, 2019). "Redfin's newest online tool cuts out the buyer's agent". The Washington Post.
  22. ^ "Opendoor and Redfin Partner to Provide More Options to Home Sellers" (Press release). PR Newswire. July 11, 2019.
  23. ^ Clark, Patrick (July 11, 2019). "Opendoor Partners With Redfin to Expand Home-Flipping Reach". Bloomberg News.
  24. ^ Johnson, Gene (October 31, 2020). "Fair housing groups sue Redfin with allegations of 'redlining' minority communities". USA Today. Associated Press.
  25. ^ Lerner, Michele (November 2, 2020). "Housing groups sue Redfin, alleging federal discrimination violations". The Washington Post.
  26. ^ "A Progressive Real Estate Firm Faces Accusations of Discrimination". Bloomberg News. January 18, 2022.
  27. ^ BISHOP, TODD (May 2, 2022). "Redfin will implement internal fair housing monitoring system in $4M legal settlement". GeekWire.
  28. ^ "Redfin settles lawsuit alleging housing discrimination". Daily Record. Associated Press. April 29, 2022.
  29. ^ "Redfin Completes Acquisition of RentPath for $608 Million" (Press release). PR Newswire. April 5, 2021.
  30. ^ Sabes, Adam (December 18, 2021). "Real estate websites don't include crime data from property listings due to 'racial bias'". Fox Business.
  31. ^ "Redfin Completes Acquisition of Bay Equity Home Loans for $137.8 Million" (Press release). PR Newswire. April 4, 2022.
  32. ^ Escobar, Sabrina (January 12, 2022). "Redfin's Purchase of Bay Equity Home Loans Is 'Positive Step'". Barron's.
  33. ^ Saric, Ivana (June 14, 2022). "Redfin laying off 8% of its staff". Axios.
  34. ^ "Redfin Wins Innovator of the Year Award From Inman News at Real Estate Connect" (Press release). PR Web. July 30, 2006.
  35. ^ Shontell, Alyson (October 3, 2012). "The 2012 Digital 100: The Complete List 1-100". Business Insider.
  36. ^ "Announcing: 2013 Innovator Awards winners". Bradley Inman. July 12, 2013.
  37. ^ Horton, Nick (July 2014). "100 Best Companies to Work For 2014: Large Companies". Seattle Business Magazine.
  38. ^ Pratini, Napala (December 13, 2019). "5 Top Employers in Seattle According to Tech Workers". Hired.com.
  • Official website
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