Redfin

Brandon Hoffman was horrible. I would never use him again and I would not recommend him to anyone. He was very pushy on us lowering the price, so much so he sold it for $30,000.00 less then what it appraised for. He was not knowledgeable at all. There were a few times I would come home and all the lights were on and the doors were wide open from other vendors coming to look at it. When I called Brandon and asked him about it, he just said "We've got to lower the price of this house if you want to sell it". Did not address the fact that my house was left vulnerable. There was a delay in receiving my check because he forgot to file the paperwork as well.

My experience (looked at over 100 houses, and put in several offers) the multiple agents I've dealt with seem very unmotivated to assist you in finding a home. They offer very little insight and/or advice and seem generally disinterested in helping in anything other than crossing the t's and dotting the i's on your paperwork. As with most things it seems this company is an example of getting what you pay for, and that works out to be half of what a "real" real estate agent can and will do. Overall terrible experience and waste of valuable time, don't be fooled by the $ back at closing, you'll pretty much be doing all of the work yourself.

I was skeptical about using an online agency for real estate, who offered to share half their commission (however, they have a $6000 limit for themselves - in our case, the buyer's commission was over $12,000 so we did get the full 50% of the commission). You have to look at it like you are partners and not expect them to do everything for you. I wanted to find the properties to look on the MLS and choose the ones to look at. The agents are not necessarily familiar with the area where you want to buy, so they may not get the inside information on some of the properties coming up, but I liked looking for houses online and they are quick to get the new MLS listings on their website, so I don't think I missed out on much in the area. There were a couple of properties that came in went before we knew it, but unless we had the inside scoop with that home's particular real estate agent, we would have missed out on them anyway. That is only advantage that I can see to having a more local agent. There were occasional problems with not getting to see property as quickly as I would have liked, but when I expressed a concern about one particular property that I thought might go quickly they worked hard and got us in to see it the next day. It turned out not to be the one that we wanted, but it made me feel better that we could get quicker access if needed. Overall, it was a very good experience. The best part was receiving that commission check about a week after closing - over $6000, which we were able to use to get our yard landscaped and will shortly spend the rest on some more home updates that may have been put off otherwise.