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Redfin

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For the Redfin Perch, see European Perch. For the South African redfin barbs, see Pseudobarbus and Barbus.
Redfin
IndustryReal Estate
FoundedSeattle, Washington, US (2004 (2004))
Headquarters
Seattle, Washington
,
U.S.
Area served
Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco Bay, Seattle, and Washington, D.C
Key people
Glenn Kelman (CEO)
Sasha Aickin (CTO)
Chris Nielsen (CFO)
Scott Nagel (PREO)
Number of employees
214 as of April 2011
Websitewww.redfin.com

Redfin is a technology powered real estate brokerage that offers a leading website and mobile app for real estate search and employs real estate agents that help home buyers and home sellers. The firm was a pioneer of map-based real estate search[1] for consumers, who use the site to find homes for sale, while the company's local agents host tours, attend inspections, and handle property access, legal paperwork and negotiations. When working with home buyers, Redfin refunds a portion of their commission, thus offering a rebate and saving commission fees for home buyers. In Missouri, Oregon, and Tennessee, state law prevents them from offering a refund to homebuyers. A blend of technology and service also enables Redfin to charge a 1.5 percent listing fee for home sellers, which is less than the traditional 3 percent fee.The firm is led by Glenn Kelman.

Business model

Unlike the other major real estate web portals (including Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com), which source the majority of their earnings from advertising and lead generation, Redfin operates as a brokerage and makes money when users buy or sell homes with its real estate agents. To align interests between agents and clients, the firm employs its agents directly and pays them a salary - departing from the commission-based compensation structure of traditional realtors - and ties bonuses to customer satisfaction.[2] The company's agents are reviewed after every transaction, successful or failed, with all reviews posted on the site. The operating efficiencies created by the site's online tools for consumers and agents enables Redfin to rebate a portion of their commission back to its buyers and charge half the standard listing fee for sellers

Funding

After receiving $1 million in initial financing from Madrona Venture Group, Redfin raised $8 million in Series B funding from Vulcan Inc., the investment arm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in May 2006. Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman accepted a third round of funding for $12 million from Greylock and Draper Fisher Jurvetson in July 2007.[citation needed] The firm has participated in several subsequent funding rounds, most recently raising $50 million in a mezzanine round led by T. Rowe Price and Tiger Global, bringing its total venture funding to slightly over $96 million. In December 2014, Redfin raised another $70.9 million to help expand its software-powered real-estate business across the U.S. The round was led by Wellington Management Co. and Glynn Capital Management, among others, and includes Brothers Brook, Annox Capital Management and previous investors Tiger Global Management and T. Rowe Price.[3]

Competition and controversy

In 2006, CNN reported that Redfin had received threats from competitors seeking to "break their kneecaps.".[4] In May 2007, just a few days after being featured on 60 Minutes, Redfin was fined for $50,000 by The Northwest Multiple Listing Service and was forced to shut down its "Sweet Digs" blog,[5] which used to contain reviews of the homes on the market. Northwest MLS pointed out that such reviews are not allowed under MLS rules.[6] Sweet Digs was relaunched in June 2007[7] with an analytical format, and covers all the markets Redfin serves.

Redfin, which offered an automatic agent rating system in 2012, drew criticism for using inaccurate data and pulled its tool from the market.[8]

During September 2014, Redfin changed their site's search interface to remove the full-featured table of results below the map. The change drew criticism from users, who found the loss of the table limited the site's usability. On October 8, 2014, Redfin employee Karl Garske responded saying they were in the process of designing a new combined map and table view, but as of 2015 no updates have been made.[9]

Recognition

In July 2006, Redfin was the recipient of the Innovator of the Year award by Inman News, a leading online news source for the real estate industry.[10] In May 2010, Redfin won the Seattle 2.0 award for “Best Startup.”.[11] In October 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider.[12]

In July 2013, Inman News again named Redfin as the recipient of the Innovator of the Year award.[13] In June 2014, Seattle Business Magazine recognized Redfin as the best company to work for in 2014 in the Large Companies category and Redfin was placed no 1 out of 21 large Seattle based companies.[14]

See also

Sources

  1. ^ Stone, Brad (March 7, 2013). "Why Redfin, Zillow and Trulia Haven't Killed Off Real Estate Brokers". Businessweek. Bloomberg.
  2. ^ Redfin. "What If You Could Reinvent Real Estate?". Redfin. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  3. ^ "Redfin Hooks $70.9 Million for Software-Powered Home Sales". Wall Street Journal. blogs.wsj.com. 2014-12-18. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
  4. ^ Christie, Les (2006-04-11). "A fresh attack on the 6% commission". CNN.com. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  5. ^ "Redfin Stops 'Sweet Digs' Property Reviews" (Press release). Seattle: Redfin. 18 May 2007.
  6. ^ Cook, John (17 May 2007). "Redfin fined $50,000, shuts down home reviews". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Hearst Seattle Media, LLC. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  7. ^ "Redfin's Sweet Digs Returns With New Analytical Format" (Press release). Seattle: Redfin.com. 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  8. ^ Carrns, Ann (1 May 2012). "New Battle on Providing Real Estate Agent Performance Data". Bucks blog. The New York Times. Retrieved January 11, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  9. ^ "New Search Design". Redfin. Retrieved 2014-09-17.
  10. ^ Redfin (2006-07-30). "Redfin Wins Innovator of the Year Award From Inman News at Real Estate Connect". Redfin.com. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  11. ^ "Redfin, Bonanzle, TisBest Win Seattle 2.0 Awards". Xconomy.com. 2010-05-20. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  12. ^ Shontell, Alyson (2012-10-03). "The 2012 Digital 100: The Complete List 1-100". Business Insider. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
  13. ^ News, Inman (2011-08-12). "Redfin Wins Innovator of the Year Award From Inman News at Real Estate Connect". Inman.com. Retrieved 2014-04-13. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  14. ^ Horton, Nick (July 2014). "100 Best Companies to Work For 2014: Large Companies". Seattle Business Magazine. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
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