Redfin

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For the Redfin Perch, see European Perch. For the South African redfin barbs, see Pseudobarbus and Barbus.
Redfin
Industry Real Estate
Founded Seattle, WA, U.S. (2002 (2002))
Headquarters Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Area served Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco Bay, Seattle, and Washington, D.C
Key people Glenn Kelman (CEO)
Sasha Aickin (CTO)
Scott Nagel (VPREO)
Employees 214 as of April 2011
Website www.redfin.com

Redfin is an online real estate brokerage with agents in several regions throughout the United States. The company was founded by David Eraker in his small apartment in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. Among many options for the company's name, he settled on "redfin," an anagram of the word "finder." Redfin combines a real estate search site with real estate agents. Redfin.com’s map search displays homes for sale and information about those homes. Customers use the site to search broker databases, past sales records and third-party appraisals, while the company's local agents handle property access, legal paperwork and negotiations.

Redfin offers buyers up to a 50% rebate (except in Oregon where real-estate laws prohibit it) on the commission paid to the buyer's agent.

Funding

After nearly $1 million in initial financing, Redfin received $8 million second-round funding from Vulcan Inc., the investment arm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in May 2006. Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman accepted a third round of funding for $12 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson in July 2007.[citation needed]

Competition and Controversy

In 2006, CNN reported that Redfin had received threats from competitors seeking to "break their kneecaps."[1]

In May 2007, just a few days after being featured on 60 Minutes, Redfin was fined for $50,000 by The Northwest Multiple Listing Service and was forced to shut down its "Sweet Digs" blog, which used to contain reviews of the homes on the market. Northwest MLS pointed out that such reviews are not allowed under MLS rules.[2] Sweet Digs was relaunched in June 2007[3] with an analytical format, and covers all the markets Redfin serves.

Redfin, which offered an automatic agent rating system in 2012, drew criticism for using inaccurate data and pulled its tool from the market.[4]

Awards

Month Association Award
July 2006 Inman News Innovator of the Year[5]
May 2010 Seattle 2.0 Seattle 2.0 Award[6]
June 2010 Lead411 Hottest Seattle Companies[7]
July 2013 Inman News Innovator of the Year[8]

See also

Sources

  1. ↑ CNN article from 2006
  2. ↑ Story in Seattle Post Intelligencer
  3. ↑ www.redfin.com/about/press/releases/pr-sweet_digs_returns
  4. ↑ "New Battle on Providing Real Estate Agent Performance Data". New York Times (blog). Retrieved January 11, 2014. 
  5. ↑ Redfin Wins Innovator of the Year Award From Inman News at Real Estate Connect
  6. ↑ Redfin, Bonanzle, TisBest Win Seattle 2.0 Awards
  7. ↑ LEAD411 LAUNCHES "HOTTEST SEATTLE COMPANIES" AWARDS
  8. ↑ Redfin Wins Innovator of the Year Award From Inman News at Real Estate Connect

External links

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