Redfin vs. traditional broker

[scaredyclassic]

my mom’s buddy in brooklyn sold her house to a guy down the street for cash. a lot of cash. syrian guy. apparently, they buy houses on the same block for specific grandchildren, in expectation that when they grow up they will live there.

maybe she couldve got more with an agent, but the deal was lightning fast. like buying a big mac fast.

i dont know what racket that syrian guy’s in, but i should be in it.

[svelte]

[quote=EconProf]Svelte, you bring up good points. There are good and bad Technology has disrupted a lot of businesses and occupations, and the traditional commission model may be under siege.
[/quote]
True. I don’t believe that the commission model will go away. It will still be around in many industries as there will always be consumers who need and want that model. But for those who don’t, there are now more options.

[quote=EconProf]
Off topic somewhat, I think colleges and universities are about shrink considerably in number for a variety of reasons, not just COVID-19. So many other RE markets are facing severe downsizing, and many commercial buildings will go dark and fall in value, especially in certain parts of certain cities. This was the trend for shopping malls well before Coronovirus.[/quote]

I’m a little worried about colleges. I’ve always told my kids that half of going to school isn’t the textbook knowledge you gain, half of it is learning social interactions. Those are needed as much now as 100 years ago. Are we going to be raising generations of hermits?

Same thing goes in my specific situation. Every week that passes I get a little more used to not spending my Fri and Sat eves on the town. And if things don’t open soon, the restaurants will fold and that option will be gone anyway.

We went to Dockside a couple of weeks ago for dinner…since it is outside, it has remained open. While standing in line, things sounded wildly loud, almost making me uncomfortable. I leaned over to my wife, “does it seem loud here to you?”. She shook her head. You’ve just adjusted to our quiet house 24 hours a day, she said.

[barnaby33]

Don’t forget, Rich is also really handsome. I mean he has dreamy hand gestures!
Josh

[svelte]

One more trip down house-buying lane.

When we negotiated a lower price for the house with aluminum wiring, I knew it had it because of one line in the home inspection report: “house has aluminum wiring”.

So I rushed out and made a few phone calls to find a ballpark number for getting that replaced. While it was high, once the purchase was complete and we called to get official bids, the price was higher yet. I thought I had really screwed myself over, all the while thinking I had done the smart thing by covering the costs up front.

The fourth electrician that came out looked around the house for awhile, then came over to where I was and said “why do you want all of the wiring replaced?”. “To get rid of the aluminum wiring”. “You only have aluminum wiring in the kitchen.”

What? I didn’t believe him, so we walked around the house taking off faceplates, inspecting the fuse panel and sure enough, only the wires to the kitchen were aluminum. His bid came in way lower than the discount I negotiated and, since we were remodeling the kitch anyway, the extra wall patching necessary was minimal. And he did a great job. And none of the other electricians had bothered to point out to me the limited scope of the aluminum.

Purchases have more twists and turns than I could imagine up front.

[sdrealtor]

Svelte
Your thinking of polybutylene also referred to as Quest plumbing. It was commonly used in the mid 80’s and something I warn clients about anytime we view homes of those vintages. A lot of realtors are unethical but just as many are new and dont know the history of various issues.A good test is to look at their license number. Mine starts with 013XXXX which means I was licensed in the early 2000’s. Im not sure what newly issued numbers are but if the license starts around 018XXX or higher your dealing with a newer agent.

EP
The answer to your question is maybe. There can be big differences between homes in the $1.5M range even with lots of comps. Lot size, view, upgrades, location within the tract etc all weigh heavily. If you have a premium product by those measures but base price upon average or below average homes in the tract you can leave money on the table. If the opposite is true you can overprice.

With that said there is room for incremental improvements and they have been occuring over the years via technology. However, homes will always be a heterogenous product and the transfer of them filled with legalities and liability. Some are comfortable with that others arent. Some will suceed going it a lone others wont. We all make our own choices and live with the outcome

[sdrealtor]

gzz,
Having exchanged some thoughts offline I know you have a background that gives you expereince to do things your way and goes beyond simply being a do-it-yourselfer at heart.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=sdrealtor]gzz,
Having exchanged some thoughts offline I know you have a background that gives you expereince to do things your way and goes beyond simply being a do-it-yourselfer at heart.[/quote]

what’s the opposite of dunning kruger?

if you think youre not so smart, you are definitely smarter.

[sdrealtor]

[quote=svelte][quote=EconProf]Svelte, you bring up good points. There are good and bad Technology has disrupted a lot of businesses and occupations, and the traditional commission model may be under siege.
[/quote]
True. I don’t believe that the commission model will go away. It will still be around in many industries as there will always be consumers who need and want that model. But for those who don’t, there are now more options.

[quote=EconProf]
Off topic somewhat, I think colleges and universities are about shrink considerably in number for a variety of reasons, not just COVID-19. So many other RE markets are facing severe downsizing, and many commercial buildings will go dark and fall in value, especially in certain parts of certain cities. This was the trend for shopping malls well before Coronovirus.[/quote]

I’m a little worried about colleges. I’ve always told my kids that half of going to school isn’t the textbook knowledge you gain, half of it is learning social interactions. Those are needed as much now as 100 years ago. Are we going to be raising generations of hermits?

Same thing goes in my specific situation. Every week that passes I get a little more used to not spending my Fri and Sat eves on the town. And if things don’t open soon, the restaurants will fold and that option will be gone anyway.

We went to Dockside a couple of weeks ago for dinner…since it is outside, it has remained open. While standing in line, things sounded wildly loud, almost making me uncomfortable. I leaned over to my wife, “does it seem loud here to you?”. She shook her head. You’ve just adjusted to our quiet house 24 hours a day, she said.[/quote]

Agree with so much of this. For myself and many I learned much more in college living on my own and dealing with my peers than from my classes. And its not just college its high school also. Right now Im listening to my daughter and 3 friends attending classes in a 15′ x 10′ tent classroom I built for them. Its big enough that they can stay safely distanced from each other. I couldnt bear to watch them go through their senior year classes sitting in bed in pajamas all day. From the periodic fits of singing I know they are having a much better experience.

Once they go back to physical classes perhaps I’ll convert it into a wine bar:)

And yes, purchases often have more twists and turns then you could ever anticipate. Every real estate transaction is different. We arent selling books, vacations or cars. Thats one of the things I enjoy most about it

[sdrealtor]

OK two Redfin experiences in last 24 hours with the same redfin agent. I’ll call them RA -redfin agent. RA is one of the top listing agents in SD if not the top one.

Approx 20 offers on listing and RA sent out multiple counter offer to everyone with deadline of noon today. My client responded with an offer well beyond what it could appraise for waiving loan and appraisal contingencies. We sent the offer over late last night. Woke up this morning and it was marked pending well before the noon deadline. When I asked RA said another offer was accepted last night. Through RA’s response it seemed pretty apparent ours was a better offer but RA was in rush to get this off their plate. When I questined RA their response was “Sellers choose before deadlines all the time”. Having done this for close to 20 years across hundreds of transactions mine never have and this seller likely left thousands on the table.

On another listing another client submitted an offer on a property in need of a lot of work due to decades of deferred maintenance. My client has remodelled many homes and we took a good long look at it before writing the offer. It was previously listed with another agent a couple months ago. Our offer was well above (more than 5%) that price but 5% below asking. Our offer was as-is with a 14 day close. The buyer not only waived the right to do an inspection but sent a signed contingency release for the physical inspection with the offer. We got back a counter at asking price with a 10 day inspection contingency (we already gave up more than that in the offer) and a 17 day loan contingency (we would be closing in 14 days). Its pretty obvious that RA didnt even bother to read the offer closely.

Thats what you get with one of if not their top agent

[scaredyclassic]

Might be better with no agent than a shitty agent

[sdrealtor]

These are just examples of what you get with an assembly line agent like that. Svelte may have a friend he thinks highly of and his son may have had a good experience but what those of us active in the market see can be very different

[svelte]

[quote=sdrealtor]Thats what you get with one of if not their top agent[/quote]

There are bad realtors both in and out of Redfin.

I’ve given examples of poor agents that were not Redfin agents also. One here in North County brought me an offer that was illegal and the realtor knew it. My realtor didn’t highlight the illegality to me…if I hadn’t been a piggington reader and known it was not proper, I may have been placed in very bad situation.

Another realtor failed to present an offer we made to the seller. At all. Seller never got it.

Neither of these were Redfin agents.

[sdrealtor]

Definitely bad apples out there. Just to be clear Im not saying RA is a bad realtor but rather working in a system that is not conducive to delivering top notch and appropriate service. Too much on their plates causes them to rush things they should not. Again it is the Redfin system not the particular agent

[gzz]

[quote=sdrealtor]gzz,
Having exchanged some thoughts offline I know you have a background that gives you expereince to do things your way and goes beyond simply being a do-it-yourselfer at heart.[/quote]

Yes I am attorney who has done a lot of real estate litigation. That doesn’t have a ton in common with real estate transactions practice though, but I’m not a total noob.

All lawyers take Property in law school, and it is also on every state’s bar exam. So almost all attorneys other than maybe 100% criminal specialists kinda think they know real estate.

Property law is the most archaic of law school classes. You learn a lot about Anglo-Norman noblemen and their inheritance rules, plus things like “livery of seisin” (handing over a twig and dirt when you sell real property) and “the widow’s election” (a widow may take her automatic share of an estate or accept what the will gives her, but may not do both). You do not learn anything about actual real estate buying and selling however.

[sdrealtor]

Well you nailed that one. Every lawyer Ive ever been in a transaction with kinda think they know real estate and rarely actually know the nuts and bolts of actual buying and selling. Most realtors would rather do business with just about anyone other than a lawyer as they are notoriously a big time PITA to deal with and try to re-write standard contracts, re-negotiate things that have been settled upon and more. Congrats for pulling a few off in the face of that adversity;)

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