You apparently have never heard of exclusive buyer agency. These agents never take listings, and their primary objective is to negotiate the lowest price possible for their buyers. On the other hand, Redfin also takes listings, so if a Redfin buyer wants to buy a property that is listed with them, then Redfin (the company, aka. “designated broker”) becomes the Dual Agent–which is a conflict of interest–because a seller expects their agent to get the highest price possible for their property, and a buyer expects their agent to get the lowest price possible. When one company has two agents working on opposite sides of the same transaction, these commitments are conflicting.

This is why Dual Agents are required by law in most states to remain neutral to both parties, meaning, neither side receives the level of service they originally expected. Neither side is well-served. Although Redfin claims that they don’t allow dual representation, if a Redfin buyer purchases a property from a Redfin seller, this is dual agency–no matter how you try to dress it. They are not being completely honest with the public.

Redfin would like the public to believe that all agents (outside of theirs) are evil and that they always want buyers to pay the highest price for properties. This is simply untrue propaganda.

We support consumer choice. So if you did well with Redfin excellent. No sour grapes on our end, unless we’re making wine.

No one, including an agent, can make you do anything– as you prove—you just go somewhere else.

The system you talk about is the traditional 6% or so system. It works in some cases but maybe not all. In lower priced homes the agent doesn’t make that much. There are other models, like redfin, that will succeed if they work to the consumer’s benefit.

see this link
http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/?p=1944

But fundamentally, we agree with you that buyers have the right to chose. That’s the democratic way. We just want to give them more info so they chose wisely. Thanks for the thoughtful comment Simon. Would you be interested in taking the mike and contributing a post?

I am not that concern with sharing info because most sites reserve that right, and I use my Safeway cards to get my $.50 discount NO one is going to buy a home without seeing it. Buyers can see the home during open house, which listing agents hold every weekend in this market. Also all the listings are on MLS/Realtor.com so denying access to Redfin is useless.

Using an agent or Redfin, the risk of getting hit by a truck is the same.

Also, congratulations on your wedding.

The only reason we even added a term limit is that we can’t recognize revenue on a deal until the guarantee expires. If a customer were unhappy for a valid reason months afterwards, we would probably make an exception to our policy and refund his or her money regardless, but we still need a reasonable policy.

As for the privacy of our data, that is simply a problem in our legal boilerplate, a holdover from the days when Redfin was just starting. We don’t sell names to anyone without the consumer’s permission; sometimes though when a consumer seems like a better fit for a traditional agent, we’ll ask the consumer about working with someone like that and then, with permission, pass his or her details on. Your concern is nonetheless valid. We’ll change the boilerplate to give customers’ more comfort on this issue.

Thanks for the thoughtful review of our service!