Comments on: The Broken Tower and the Ivory Tower

By: Glenn Kelman

Glenn Kelman — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:23:52 +0000

And a post-script: thanks to our other commenter, Phil, for reading through, all the way to the end. You were the first-ever person to comment on our blog, which we all found enormously encouraging…

By: Glenn Kelman

Glenn Kelman — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:02:43 +0000

Now I understand, sorry Dennis. I thought you were talking about 500 Realtors but you’re talking about a specific competitor; my mistake. We already have plenty of competition, but more won’t kill us.

By: Dennis Calvert

Dennis Calvert — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:32:46 +0000

“duped our investors or customers”

I dont understand that statement. As a consumer I’m just pointing out what I researched from 500 Realty at the Home Show. They return 75% not 66%. They don’t charge for Home Tours and 500 to List. They don’t hit you with another 3500.00.

Dollar for dollar they are a better value proposition with more offices to serve the customer. What am I missing? I’m sure you are ready for some form of competition. At the Home Show their agents love Red Fin and all the money they have put in to help educate the planet but I think those guys have nailed it on the head by having Mortgage Reps pay all their advertising and fund the operation.

By: Glenn Kelman

Glenn Kelman — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:19:42 +0000

Hi Dennis, I assume this is an attempt at sarcasm. Why does it bother you so much that Redfin has raised venture capital when so many other online businesses, many in real estate, have as well? Whether we’ll succeed or fail is still very much an open question, but we certainly haven’t duped our investors or our customers.

By: Dennis Calvert

Dennis Calvert — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:58:05 +0000

Glenn you better watch those 500 Realty guys. They are opening up offices everywhere it seems now. There model appears superior to Red Fin in every way but i doubt they have any VC or will be able to obtain any.

I saw them at the Seattle Home Show with Mortgage Reps and quite a “cult” following. They said they just opened in August last year. I entered their database and I will keep you posted.

By: Phil

Phil — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:38:54 +0000

Thanks for the shout-out, man. I am reading, and I do read to the end.

By: Value of Brokerage « The Notorious R.O.B.

Value of Brokerage « The Notorious R.O.B. — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:49:51 +0000

[...] Redfin has one of the best corporate blogs not just in real estate, but in…well, business. Posts like this are the reason why. Glenn Kelman takes the Freakonomics guys to task (gently, as is his wont) for [...]

By: Glenn Kelman

Glenn Kelman — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:25:55 +0000

Thanks for your comment Lenore; I was basing my statement about Stanford and the MLS on what the study said: “the MLS plays no role in the Stanford housing market.”

And Greg, thank you for your kind comment.

By: Lenore Wilkas

Lenore Wilkas — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:54:13 +0000

While Stanford University doesn’t have its own MLS the houses sitting on it are listed in the local MLS by local Realtors with the stipulation that the property can only be sold to a Stanford employee/professor. This is well known in our area.

As for a study done with such a small sampling, well it’s easy to come to conclusions like they make. Try moving off the campus and looking at the entire Peninsula and then redo the study. They just might find something a bit different.

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:31:10 +0000

I found it fairly dismissive of both Dubner and Levitt to their audience to use this research. If they’re exposing the “hidden side” of everything, why use such a narrow-lensed survey? Levitt was noted as an inspiration for the research itself, as someone who had “proven” similar findings previously. The reality is that real estate exists in a market. In markets, it takes a voluntary action of a consumer to consummate any transaction. That means a buyer rules. I’m a traditional broker in Colorado but I frankly love the Redfin stones that are consumer-emancipating… let’s not stand in the way of buyers buying and sellers selling. The reality that D&L don’t discuss is that buyers are the market, they determine values. Positioning and marketing help, sure, but as in anything, if the buyer doesn’t think it’s worth it, no dice.

Glenn, your comment about a tenured prof willing to “teach an extra freshman survey course” is a cogent example describing the emotion that plays into buying and selling and the subjectivity of real estate values. When there is emotional motivation at play… yeah, there are multiple values for that.