Marlow Harris at 360Digest quotes an article from the Puget Sound Business Journal and points out that a Redfin investor hired Windermere to sell their home.
Matt McIlwains used Seattle’s Redfin to buy their new home, but turned to Windermere Realtor Barbara Shikiar to sell their old home.
This doesn’t really surprise me. Redfin’s value proposition to buyers (cash back when you buy) has always struck me as far more compelling than their value proposition to sellers (flat fee to list). Especially in a challenging sales environment, I think more and more home sellers are going to be looking for someone who’s going to creatively market their home. Throwing your home on the MLS and throwing up a sign is not creative marketing.
What Redfin should do is leverage its online marketing experience and create a compelling package for homeowners; a mini site, Google AdWords buy, craiglist listings, that sort of thing. In order for them to set themselves apart from the other brokers out there, they should provide something that the big boys and other discounters don’t (yet) provide, savvy Internet marketing.
