A Brief Tour with Redfin

I went out on a brief date with Redfin a few weeks ago.  It turned out pretty well.  I've been using their site for a while to scope out neighborhoods, look up recent sales and comparables, and generally geek out on real estate data.  After attending their seminar in Palo Alto this fall, I decided to give them a try as a straight-up realtor.

The process is very simple.  When you find a property that you're interested in on their web site, you click a button to request a tour.  They have some ground rules, most importantly that they do not deal with short sales.  Short sales are listed on Redfin, but you'll need to work with another agent or on your own if you want to pursue them.  And, since Redfin focuses on MLS properties, you can't directly request a tour of FSBOs or most new construction.  (However, as long as such places offer a commission or referral fee, you can still call Redfin directly to set up a tour.)  This goes into what is essentially a shopping cart.  You can continue browsing and add other properties to your tour list, then "check out".  At checkout, you can request preferred time periods (like "Saturday afternoon" or "Monday morning") and add extra comments. 

They tell you that someone will contact you within 4 hours to set up your tour; or, if it's late enough in the day, by noon on the following day.  In my case, I got a call a bit before noon; the person apologized and said that their computer system was down so they couldn't schedule, but they would get in contact with me by the end of the day.  And they did... I got a call from the field agent to set it up.


I'm probably kind of unusual, even among Redfin users, in that I have settled on an extremely narrow idea of what I want.  I'm guessing that the majority of buyers will take advantage of the full 5 properties that they allow you to tour in a single day.  For me, though, there was just one property that had recently come onto the market that I thought I might buy, so I just signed up for that one, despite several opportunities to add more.


The actual touring process works differently with Redfin.  For liability reasons, the agents don't drive you around, so the two of you will drive separately to the places you're interested in.  (During the seminar, the presenter got several questions/requests about this, and eventually did allow that, if you had been out with one of their agents several times and demonstrated that you are not a serial killer, an individual agent might decide to ride with you.)  You'll show up, the agent lets you in, you can take your time checking things out, and the agent helps point things out for you.


My tour went really smoothly.  Since I just had the one place I wanted to visit, I took Caltrain up and then walked over.  There was a light drizzle that day, but it was still a pleasant walk.  I like to approach a building this way, and spend some time before or after on the street, getting a feel for the neighborhood, noise level, etc.

I'd arrived at the building about 10 minutes early, so I kept on walking for a while, then circled back.  The agent had arrived about 5 minutes before our scheduled start; we shook hands, introduced ourselves, he used advanced lockpicking skills to obtain the key from the lockbox, and then we headed in.

The unit itself was really nice.  I'm not totally sold on it - there are no dealbreakers there, but enough weird things that I don't feel compelled to jump on it, especially at the price it is currently listed at - but I could certainly see myself living there.  There's lots of light in the unit, the rooms have been recently updated to look quite pleasant, and of course I love the location. 

I chatted a bit with the agent while walking around, some shop talk about the market as a whole, and some specific things about this particular unit.  There were a couple of things that slightly irritated me - it bugs me when someone reads facts off the MLS sheet, and he did say "Now is a great time to buy," - but he was a really pleasant guy, helpful and not at all pushy, so I was really happy with how that experience went.

After I'd spent some time inside, we toured the common areas, which were very small in this particular complex, then he gave a very brief spiel about the Redfin process, and we parted ways.

Afterwards, I got a nice follow-up email from the field agent who answered a question that I'd forgotten I'd asked (whether the heat was electric or gas) and told me to contact him if I had any other questions.

I've been very happy with the experience.  It definitely fits my personality and the way I've been approaching the process, where Redfin is available as a resource instead of driving the situation.  That said, they have pleasant, friendly people, which cuts against the stereotype of Redfin as an impersonal organization.  I'll almost certainly use them again in the future.