Redfin Review: What You Need to Know

 Author: Goey Rano

Finding the right real estate platform to buy and sell homes is essential to avoid making a stressful process even more stressful.

After searching online, you’ve probably seen Redfin, and you are wondering if it’s the right platform for you.

In this article, we will look at what Redfin offers buyers and sellers and the platform’s pros and cons. So keep reading to find out.

What is Redfin, and How Does it Work?

Redfin is a full-service real estate platform for buyers and sellers who prefer working with realtors rather than doing business alone.

What Redfin Offers Buyers and Sellers

Redfin primary aim is to “redefine real estate to favor customers” and the company tries to achieve this with a technological approach. 

Redfin speaks a lot about how they are improving the buying and selling experience in the real estate market. But here is a summary of what they offer buyers and sellers:

For Buyers

• Redfin uses technology to deliver a superior home buying experience compared to some of its competitors. Buyers can easily browse for the most suitable homes, and Redfin’s software includes multiple filters to improve the experience.
• With Redfin’s Refund program, home buyers will receive a share of Redfin’s seller commission (the refund amount is based on the asking price).

For Sellers

• Redfin offers home listing fees as low as 1-1.5%, which is among the lowest in the market. 
• Their RedfinNow program offers a full-cash purchase for eligible homes. RedfinNow can save sellers the weeks or months it may take to sell a home.

Pros and Cons of Redfin

Pros 

• Full-Service: Redfin is an all-in-one brokerage platform that caters to most of its customer’s needs by offering a wide range of real estate services.
• User-friendly technology: Redfin has one of the best real estate search engines on the market as they seek to revolutionize the real estate market and make it easier to buy and sell a home with technology. Redfin provides many innovative features like home listings on the map and 360 video tours to improve buyers’ experience.

• Save with Redfin Refund: Redfin also offers to refund buyers a portion of the commission received from sellers.

Cons

• Realtor Issues: Redfin has plenty of competent realtors, but some of their customers often complain of delays due to working with numerous agents at once. Also, some users say that Redfin realtors have no direct incentive to pursue higher prices for their homes since these realtors don’t receive a commission for the sale.

• No Rent Listing: While some people are interested in listing their homes for rent, Redfin doesn’t provide this option. 

Top Alternatives to Redfin

Here are some of Redfin’s major competitors:

• Zillow: Zillow is a marketplace, unlike Redfin (which is a discount brokerage service). This allows Zillow to offer more flexibility in choosing agents. In addition, Zillow agents get better incentives for sales. 
• Clever Real Estate: Clever is another full-service real estate brokerage and one of the best alternatives to Redfin. Clever has low listing fees of 1% for houses under $350,000, and they offer other discounted rates with many traditional realtors across the US.

• UpNest: UpNest boasts of working with only the top agents in the market. UpNest allows users to compare various agents and see their reviews, commission rates, previous sales, etc.