Bay Area

[HomeBuyer25]

Hi:

Am I the only one who noticed that Redfin agents are only representing properties that fall above the 900 K range in SF. For anything less than 900K, you are directed to one of their partner agents. This means that anybody who wants to buy a property below 900K in the SF neighborhood will only receive 15% of the buyer's commission. This is indeed a bummer as the difference in 15% and 50% is significant and could steer people in a different direction.

FYI, my Redfin agent left me stranded when I wanted to put in an offer on a property that was below 900K. This happened the night before the offers were due. The agent told me that he will have to refer me to a partner agent as all Redfin agents, including him, are writing an offer on this same property. At the time, I thought it was a mere coincidence, but now I realize the changes in their business policy.

Can somebody confirm it.

Thanks

[MyCousinVinny]

I have seen this same thing for many listings but don't know what the reason is. Maybe somebody from the staff can enlighten us?

[HomeBuyer25]

To clarify, I noticed this trend only in the SF city. If you sort the listing by price in SF, you will notice representation by Partner Agents till $899K, and then right after it is Redfin agent.

[Sonal_Basu]

Hi All,

You are right.  At this time, we'll refer you to a partner agent for homes below $900,000 in San Francisco area.

***In this particular instance, SF limit is temporary due to current high demand and will be reset to a lower minimum in couple of weeks. Our intention is to make sure you receive exceptional service and care that you deserve during your home purchase.***

Partner agents share our values of customer service and transparency, and provide a 15% commission refund.  They have minimum number of closed transactions within past year and high client satisfaction rate.

The minimum limits are different in different parts of Bay Area.  The limits are based on demand in the particular area and our abilities to meet the demand with our exceptional service standards.  

For example, in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, we have the minimum set at $400,000.  

I hope this helps.  

[HomeBuyer25]

Hi Sonal,

As we are talking about customer service and transperancy, let's talk about Redfin's policies and my recent experience. Before I get into any of it, I do want to clarify that I bought my first home using Redfin back in 2009.

First of all, I would like to be directed to any links that would clarify Redfin's policies about "minimum limits" in different  parts of Bay Area. All I know is about Redfin's policy about their partner's representation in a  short sale, a land sale, and sale of properties below certain price limit ( which I cannot remember right now)

So, I am really confused by your statement. If even I were to believe that Redfin's policy about Bay area and 900 K-cutoff are standard than is it not something that should be shared with your customers.  If what you are saying is true than my Redfin agent could have just told me that he cannot represent me on this particular transaction as it does not meet Redfin's "minimum limits" for that area.  Instead, despite knowing that I am interested in putting an offer on a property that falls below 900 K and that has a stringent deadline for offers, this agent sends me an email the night before the deadline saying that he cannot represent me as he is writing an offer for another buyer on the same property.

Now, if I were to believe what you are saying about Redfin's minimum limits, how can a Redfin agent be writing an offer for a property (for another buyer)  that falls below Redfin's "minimum limits." Not just that, this agent also told me that all SF-based Redfin agents are writing offers for this particular property so I will have to work with a partner agent.

It seems that Redfin's policy about "minimum-limit" is a moving target, which changes from week to week and depends on how busy your agents are during a particular week.

Obviously, Redfin's honesty and transperancy had made me come back to them for purchasing my second home.  You guys did great work in the short time you did and I cannot be more proud of how you changed the landscape of real-estate. My recent experience, however,  has been a confidence shaker.

For the sake of confidentiality, I have refrained from using any identifying information about the Redfin agent I was working with. Nonetheless, I have emails from this agent documenting everything I mentoned here.

[Charmaine]

Hello there,

My name is Charmaine and I am the Area Manager for San Francisco. I want to address your concerns and offer some assistance, HomeBuyer25. First, allow me to apologize for any confusion and inconvenience we have caused you. It is certainly not our intention to create frustration for our customers. I am well aware of the correspondence you've had with our agent and the circumstances surrounding your recent offer that we could not assist you with. Your offer came in when our minimum was only $400k, which is the "norm" for our entire Bay Area. There were 3 other buyers pursuing the property and at that time, we only had 3 agents working. Being that we cannot represent more than one buyer per agent and the fact that offers were due the next day, we decided to hand you over to a partner agent who could not only write your offer, but give you the support and attention you deserve. This is a very isolated situation and does sometimes occur when a "hot" property is on the market.

Within a few days, we noticed a spike in business that we certainly were not expecting. The best way for us to handle that is to increase our minimums in the area and allow our partner agents to help us, which is what they are there for. We have a very thorough screening and interviewing process for partner agents to ensure their values are in line with those of our Redfin agents. In times such as these, we lean on them to help keep our customers happy. I have asked Sonal to edit her recent post to include that our $899k minimum price point is a very temporary situation that will last 1-2 weeks (maximum). We have hired agents and restructured our team to help support the demand we have in SF.

We truly appreciate your patience while these changes are being made. Should you choose to have a conversation offline about your specific situation, you're welcome to reach out to me. Our goal is to provide you and others with exceptional service.

Thank you for being a loyal Redfin customer.

Regards,

[das88]

I also find these policies very confusing. I made an offer on a short sale with a Redfin Partner Agent. It is a just a backup, so I want to look at other properties. Even when I look at properties that would qualify for a Redfin agent, it says make an offer with my partner agent and save XX amount of money which is much lower than what it says looking at the same listing not logged in.

[Pharmacoping]

Don't let them tell you otherwise, it's all about the money. Redfin was around during the highs and the following lows and they never had a problem with demand. I bought my first home in 2009 via redfin. Great website, terrible agent service but, I got what I wanted which was the 50% refund. Now, with their increasing use of partner agents, they've come up with a formula to maximize their profits while minimizing their exposure and costs. They can say all they want about demand, it can't be any more than 2007-2008. They'll give you their very carefully orchestrated customer service response but like any other business it's all about maximizing their profits, which is fine. However, as a buyer, you should maximize your return as well. Whenever I go to an open house, I have often been offered by other agents to match the redfin refund. If you feel 15% is too low for you, and for me it would be, then you may want to negotiate a higher refund with a non-redfin agent/partner agent.

By the way, I don't know for sure but I wonder if they also refer people trying to sell their homes using redfin to a partner agent when the demand is also too high or the home is below $900k. It would be tough to loose that flat fee they charge. My guess would be, NOT!! 

Just the ramblings of an old man. God bless.

[mjt49]

Thanks for sharing this helpful explanation. I understand that one of Redfin's value is transparency, and this explanation definitely provides useful context for understanding why the minimums changed.

As hopeful first-time home buyers, my fiancée and I have been checking Redfin daily for the past few months to shortlist properties. We have already been on 2 tours, and have been pleased by the service provided by the field agents. However, when I first noticed that Redfin's own agents no longer appeared as an option on any of the properties I viewed, I grew concerned, as there was no explanation to explain what had changed. Only after digging around on the "Our San Francisco Bay Area Real Estate Agents" page did I find that the minimums had dramatically increased for select areas in the Bay Area.

It's very helpful to know that these increased minimums are temporary, as it provides us with reassurance that once we do find that perfect property, Redfin's own agents will be able to help us close a deal. However, had I not took the time to search for this information in this forum, I would have assumed that this was not a temporary change. My feedback for Redfin is that it would be helpful to proactively notifiy users when situations like this occur, such as through a pop-up notificaiton and/or blog post. Just my 2 cents.

[Matt]

I'm sorry for the confusion everyone! 

In the future we'll do a better job communicating changes in the minimum price that we service.

And we definitely want to help as many of you as possible so we're hiring just as quick as we can.