Did anyone see 60 minutes last night

[seosusan]

Did anyone see the segment on 60 minutes about the real estate discount company, Redfin? They went on and on about how the company refunds commissions to buyers and they only charge a flat fee of $3,000 to sell your home. I know there are plenty of companies like this and I also know from experience that they do half the world they are supposed to, in most cases. I thought the agent they chose to support the realtor side was not the best choice. She was left speechless when they asked her what she thought about the company refunding over 3 million in commission so far. Any thoughts?

[HHI Golf Guy]

I didn't see the segment, but I do know this - you have to take everything that 60 Minutes reports with a grain of salt. They rarely try and look at all sides of the issue.

Case in point - some years ago they came to Hilton Head Island to report how all of the hotels were exploiting the local workers down here. As an example, they stated that hotels offered little or no health coverage and that hotel workers were just about forced to choose food and shelter or medical care. (This report was back in the late early 90's before todays current health care concerns).

Anyway, the hotels they chose to profile were small franchised hotels or a few independant hotels. What they did not state in their segment that the large hotel employers (over 80% of all hotel workers in the area) were then covering 100% of the insurance costs. Employees only had to pay the deductible.

I have been in other markets where they have done hatchet jobs as well. Their main purpose is to support their own view of any current issue.

[tarheit]

You get what you pay for. If you only want a listing in MLS, (realtor.com, etc.), signs, lockbox, negotiating and executing the contract (all things you couldn't get access to or would need a lawyer for otherwise), then it could be good. But don't expect them to advise you on price, pay for newspaper ads (our biggest single expense), or other marketing, or show your home. It's basically a FSBO. Nothing wrong with that. Just understand what you are getting, and what you won't get.

And the catch? You pay for it up front, even if your property doesn't sell. (Yes, the have a satisfaction guarentee, but I think they mean satisfaction of service only. They have a big out by not giving pricing advise (a big reason why a property may not sell), and leave the presentation up to you. It would be hard to mess up entering the information you provide into the MLS, or handing you a keybox and sign that badly). Or you can pay a higher fee at closing.

As far as what Realtors are 'expected' to do.... I'm sure sure we've all had those clients that expect their agent to walk on water. Then there are the neighbors who call complaining that the owner hasn't mowed the lawn and expect the agent to do it. Honestly, when we told the neighbor it was the owners responsibility she said she had 'never heard of such a thing'. When did we offer home maintenance as part of the contract? We didn't want to tell her she would likely be living with the eyesore for some time to come as the property will likely go to foreclosure and will probably sit vacant at least all summer. (A bit off topic, but I found it a bit funny if not for the neighbors insisting she was right.)

-Tim

[Chief Tutor]

I have been following redfin since they launched over 2 years ago. As soon as I saw the beta site, I contacted them because they were ahead of the curve in regard to home search software. I wanted their search and I was hoping they were going to be a b to b service and not a b to c service.

I think that they will carve out a niche in serving the discount segment of the market, but there is plenty of room in the market for different companies serving different parts of the market.

The traditional real estate market is not now or ever going to go the way of the travel business in my opinion. The market will become segmented and those companies and agents who focus on becoming specialized in a particular aspect of the market will continue to succeed.

Just my two cents.