Author Topic: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?  (Read 3305 times)

Aggie1999

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Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« on: June 21, 2017, 07:14:07 AM »
Anyone here have thoughts on using a Redfin agent to sell a house? Any downsides with using Redfin that the agent doesn't tell you about? Any worthwhile upsides over a normal agent?

I am trying to get my home on the market ASAP (Houston area). I interviewed three different agents over the last couple days. One from a big Keller Williams office, one independent that had his own agency with his wife and then the Redfin agent. All three seemed about equal. Commission is not a huge factor as my house is a $200k house so the 1.5% sellers commission Redfin advertised doesn't apply as it would be to low. Redfin seller commission is supposedly a flat $4500. Also, all agents had supposedly been a realtor full time for 9 or more years. The Redfin guy did say of his 9 years only the last year was with Redfin.

On the price point that the agents suggested the independent was the highest at around $230k, the Keller Williams was in the middle around $220 and the Redfin was the lowest at around $215k. I'm thinking regardless of the agent I will go with $220k as the initial asking price.

One interesting thing about Redfin is the guy said he was strictly a seller's agent. Said that's how Redfin works. One can be a buyer's agent or a seller's agent but not both. Not sure if that is good or bad.

Thanks.

Cwadda

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Re: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2017, 08:55:57 AM »
This doesn't exactly answer your question, but have you considered doing FSBO? Do you have a good, trustworthy lawyer who could handle the transaction?

Aggie1999

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Re: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2017, 10:22:06 AM »
This doesn't exactly answer your question, but have you considered doing FSBO? Do you have a good, trustworthy lawyer who could handle the transaction?

I did think about doing a for sale by owner. I would like to have the house sold before school starts so that window is closing quickly. Probably the main reason I am going with a realtor.

Also, already own the house I'm moving to so sooner this one is sold means less taxes, etc. If I had more time I'd probably test the FSBO market.

Cwadda

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Re: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2017, 01:05:14 PM »
I had a follow up question after re-reading your post. Is the Redfin realtor local? I would go with an agent who is in your same area. He/she will have better market knowledge for faster sales.

Aggie1999

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Re: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2017, 02:08:27 PM »
I had a follow up question after re-reading your post. Is the Redfin realtor local? I would go with an agent who is in your same area. He/she will have better market knowledge for faster sales.

Yep, the Redfin agent came to my house last night. Said he worked in the West Houston, Texas area. Said he had sold ~14 listings in the last 6 months (I forget the exact number). His Redfin reviews look good although those are on the Redfin site so must be taken with a grain of salt:

https://www.redfin.com/real-estate-agents/timothy-royster?show=reviews&star=all

I do like the tech aspects of Redfin. On the other hand my house will be pretty empty with just some basic furniture in one living area and one bedroom so not sure how that would show with the 3D walkthrough.

Aggie1999

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Re: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2017, 10:06:45 AM »
Update to this thread. I ended up going with a Keller Williams agent. While I liked the Redfun guy pretty much just as well as the other two agents, the KW agent seemed to specialize more in my specific area. Hopefully that is worth the extra ~$2k commission...

the_fella

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Re: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2017, 12:05:54 PM »
Are you trying to hire an agent because you don't want to do the work yourself? It may well end up being cheaper just to pay a fee to get the house on the MLS (make sure it lists it on local and national) and pay a real estate photographer to take quality pics. But it's ultimately up to you, whatever you want to do.

Aggie1999

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Re: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2017, 08:51:39 AM »
Are you trying to hire an agent because you don't want to do the work yourself? It may well end up being cheaper just to pay a fee to get the house on the MLS (make sure it lists it on local and national) and pay a real estate photographer to take quality pics. But it's ultimately up to you, whatever you want to do.

I did think about selling it myself. I actually did that successfully with my previous house. Couple things made me go with a realtor. I already have the house I am moving into so the longer this one sits on the market it's just double costs to me. Also, hoping to get it sold before school starts so time is getting tight.

I do admit the ~$13k commission is a tough pill to swallow. Of course I suppose it would be likely I'd have to pay half of that to a buyer's agent if I had listed the house myself.

Cwadda

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Re: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2017, 09:56:47 AM »
Are you trying to hire an agent because you don't want to do the work yourself? It may well end up being cheaper just to pay a fee to get the house on the MLS (make sure it lists it on local and national) and pay a real estate photographer to take quality pics. But it's ultimately up to you, whatever you want to do.

I did think about selling it myself. I actually did that successfully with my previous house. Couple things made me go with a realtor. I already have the house I am moving into so the longer this one sits on the market it's just double costs to me. Also, hoping to get it sold before school starts so time is getting tight.

I do admit the ~$13k commission is a tough pill to swallow. Of course I suppose it would be likely I'd have to pay half of that to a buyer's agent if I had listed the house myself.

You're technically not responsible for the buyer's agent commission. The buyer is. You have zero obligation to pay any commissions out if you do FSBO.

nickybecky1

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Re: Thoughts on using Redfin agent to sell house?
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2017, 10:01:50 AM »
We've both bought and sold a house with redfin and had great experiences in both cases. In our case, the lower list price was designed to drive more traffic and we ended up selling for over list (though it's also a hot market). In our case, the sellers' fee also included beautiful professional photography and the matador 3D tour thing. The redfin sellers' agent knew just what he was doing and has a team supporting the whole sale. If you liked the redfin agent, I'd definitely recommend going that route!