The best you can suggest is that the potential buyer consult the city/village/district police department for information about crime, talk to the neighbors about the neighborhood likes and dislikes. I’d think that if you are telling your buyers that the neighborhood is ‘going bad’, you may be in violation of your licensing laws.

And I’m not an employee of Redfin nor am I compensated in any way by them for anything.

The article actually sounded like it was written by an employee of Redfin because every time a negative was mentioned it was quickly offset by the commission reimbursement.

The problem is the risk the buyer assumes by not using an ethical experienced traditional agent is unacceptable by my standard. The showing is a crucial informative time where the experience of the agent is invaluable. Foreseeable problems in the neighborhood, certain styles of homes have typical problems due to the construction of that particular architecture, leaks, mold or mildew or conditions that may lead to it or larger issues at a later time. The roof may have 5 layers but the top one is new or maybe the city is considering rezoning the area or one of the schools may be closing. Issues like this must not be dismissed and may not even be on the “salaried” agents radar. It certainly should not be placed on the home inspection company either.

Generally, the type of agent that moves to that type of salaried position is one that has difficulty with consistent success in real estate. It might be there not good in one of our disciplines like prospecting for clients, consistent monthly sales or lacking sales skills. Not to say they are bad but rather to point out the wide variety of skills and drive it takes to be successful in real estate. I know there are good people at Redfin I am not implying there isn’t there has to be or they would be out of business.

It is very demanding but those types of people are the ones I want working for me in any industry I need service. They take pride in their work, constantly educate themselves and are aware of the current issues that affect our property rights and home values and litigation. That’s why they get referrals and consistently sell properties every month.

The national median salary for real estate agents is $35,715. Which means they all don’t sell every month and they all do not have high quality skills. There are many agents that do not know the purchase contracts and all other forms very well. It’s unbelievable but true. It’s not uncommon to receive improperly filled out contracts and that don’t understand the process and procedures. So you do need to be diligent about the agent you choose to work with. Most people will ask friends or family or they will recommend someone they trust and have worked with thus the referral based on reputation and experience.

FYI I am a male 51 not married with a beautiful daughter of 22 years but if I had a family I would not be in this business because it is too demanding for a family, that’s just my opinion.

Homes are usualy the largest investments of peoples lives and it may not be the time to save money and sacrifice the benefits of knowledge. Knowledge is the most important resource of all industries. If you are single and understand the risks you are assuming that’s one thing but to put your wife and family at risk is not an option. The same thing with a variable rate loan, don’t do it if you have a wife or family it’s too much risk, period.

I appreciate Redfin’s business model and understand it but it has not grown as fast as projected. The reason is that such a small percentage of the home buying market use their service so they need to be located in heavily populated areas. If it was so great and popular there would be one in every city just as there is traditional real estate offices.

The target market for Redfin as described in article “At this point my friend revealed that there was a heavy sense that Redfin was for the do-it-yourself crowd who don’t like the For Sale By Owner arena but knew enough that traditional real estate hand-holding was unnecessary.” I know may professionals that are very educated and experienced in real estate transactions that would never considering not us an agent.

Lastly, the closing is so so crucial and needs extra detailed attention to make sure your the title to your home is clear that there are no liens or limitations or past C.C.&R.’s and conditions that negatively affect your ownership. Not many of you reading this even know what that means. Your loan docs need to be verified and your prorations of taxes and other costs are correct and the final figures are correct. Ya Ya escrow and title company are supposed to do that but the agents always need to manage and supervise everybody’s work and verify the accuracy and at the same time provide emotional support to the buyer to get through this stressful process of buying a home.

OK that’s my two cents and hope to hear from any of you and don’t forget there is a place and time for everything and I respect everyone’s choice and I wish success to all agents and offices because there is enough business for all of us. I only hope that everyone has the opportunity to conduct many transactions because that is where the fun and thrill of this business is. It is very rewarding and I love it.

Just the excerpts from the article below is enough to make me reject this option of real estate:
1. “because the agents aren’t necessarily very knowledgeable about the homes, your needs, and how the two can meet. Remember, their job is to show you the house you want to see, they aren’t picking houses they think you want to see based on your preferences. It’s a less personal experience but you benefit on the back end by saving on the commission.” WRONG IT’S THEIR KNOWLEDGE THAT NEED A CHILD CAN OPEN THE DOOR FOR YOU
2.”At this point my friend revealed that there was a heavy sense that Redfin was for the do-it-yourself crowd who don’t like the For Sale By Owner arena but knew enough that traditional real estate hand-holding was unnecessary. The trade-off here is that you don’t get “coddled” in the process but you also get a huge commission refund on the back end.” THAT’S NOT HOW I DESCRIBE KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE AND PROVIDING EMOTIONAL SUPPORT AND FRIENDSHIP
3.”All the title insurance, lending, etc. is all done at this phase and while Redfin does send someone to the close itself, my friends said the person was pretty much clueless about the process. Again, this was expected so it didn’t bother him one bit.” THIS IS THE AREA BUYERS HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE AND YOU WANT TO RELY ON A CLUELESS AGENT OF STAFF TO ENSURE YOUR PROPER TITLE ON A PURCHASE IN THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS NOT ME OR ANY OF MY FAMILY OR FRIENDS AND EVEN IF SOMEONE I DIDN’T CARE TOO MUCH FOR ASKED FOR MY ADVICE I WOULD SAY THE SAME

In the end, I feel that whatever money I end up paying him, he will have more than earned it and probably saved me quite a bit more than 50% of his commission in the bargain. Sorry, Refin. But I like your site!

Also, you do need to do a lot yourself, but they will do the comparative market analysis for you if you ask and help you out on pricing.

They mention something about there being a minimum sales price that they engage in in order to prevent this, but I think this only works with the 3% commission.

Not saying that this is a bad deal (seems like a great one, actually!), just, as always, be careful and read the fine print. Make sure that you know exactly what your benefit here is.

Our agent was really supportive and knowledgable. We were really serious about our purchase and put in fair offers for the houses we liked and only closed on the third house we put in an offer on. The first one had problems with the roof and leaks onto the siding so we walked away and the second one was a little bizzare demand from the seller’s agent. And our agent was understanding and supportive of our decisions all the way. Our house now is great and I am really glad that we walked away from problem homes and unreasonable seller demands. Try Redin, it’s really good if you don’t need others to do your research for you.

Out of all the real estate aggregation sites, it’s got the most listings and easily the best interface.