Technology-Powered Real Estate Brokerage Redfin Launches in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach

MIAMI, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Redfin, the technology-powered brokerage (www.redfin.com), today announced its debut in the state of Florida, offering its one-of-a-kind combination of technology and service to the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach areas. With the addition of South Florida, Redfin real estate agents now serve 22 major metropolitan markets across the United States.

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"Redfin has long had its sights on South Florida as an ideal market to invest our resources," said Scott Nagel, Redfin's President of Real Estate Operations. "As the fourth major market in our 2013 expansion, the priority we have placed on opening South Florida this year is a reflection of Redfin's growing confidence in our ability to quickly turn new markets into profitable ones."

To celebrate its arrival in South Florida, Redfin is hosting a free welcome event on Thursday, June 13 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Red, The Steakhouse in South Beach.

Redfin agents can now help people buy and sell homes in Florida's Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, with more than 2 million homes added today to Redfin's searchable database of active listings and sold homes. In addition to practical uses for home-buying and selling, Redfin users can also have fun viewing the lavish and architecturally distinct homes that play an important role in South Florida's local character.

The Redfin model is different from that of other brokers, uniquely aligning agent and customer interests. Every client who works with Redfin receives a satisfaction survey, whether his or her deal closes or not, and every review is published online. Customer satisfaction ratings, not commissions, determine the agents' bonus pay. Additionally, unlike traditional real estate agents, most Redfin agents get salaries, health care benefits, and opportunities for stock options, so they are not depending on their next home sale to pay their own mortgage.

With more than 20 years of experience in the local real estate community, Robyn Jackson joins Redfin as South Florida Area Manager. She has started two local real estate companies and most recently served as a Florida Supreme Court mediator specializing in foreclosures.

"Over the past 20 years, I've worked in nearly every sector of the real estate industry in South Florida," Jackson said. "I believe that Redfin's unique approach to helping clients using technology and a commitment to customer service will make a the homebuying and selling processes, which most people only go through a few times in a lifetime, easier and more fun for South Floridians."

Redfin refunds homebuyers up to half of the buyer's agent commission. To date, Redfin has refunded clients more than $100 million in commissions. For a $500,000 home, a Redfin homebuyer would save more than $5,000. For listing clients, Redfin agents charge 1.5 percent as opposed to the typical 3 percent of a traditional agent, while providing the full listing service, from pricing and staging advice and professional photography through the negotiation and closing processes. For someone selling a $500,000 home, that would be a savings of $7,500. A person who buys and sells a home with Redfin saves on both sides of the transaction.

With Redfin's arrival, consumers in South Florida can now buy or sell a home with an agent who is paid based on customer satisfaction rather than commissions, as well as one-of-a-kind Redfin data and tools previously unavailable to consumers in South Florida, including:

• Home Value Tool: Enables customers to estimate the value of their home based on the same up-to-date home price information, details and photos used by real estate agents.
• Offer Insights: Publishes real-time statistics and notes from Redfin agents about their home offers to help homebuyers understand takes to win a bidding war in a given neighborhood.
• Deal Room: Helps agents and their clients coordinate and track the tasks that need to be completed in order to successfully close the home purchase transaction.
• Listing Dashboard: Allows home-sellers to track online and in-person traffic to their listing compared with that of nearby comparable homes for sale.

Redfin also offers the following online and mobile tools to help Redfin users quickly access the most accurate and up-to-date information about homes for sale in South Florida:

• Instant Alerts: Smartphone or email notifications when new homes are listed or when the status or price of a 'favorited' home changes.
• Search by School: Shows all the homes for sale served by a certain school with one easy search.
• Mobile Home Tour Scheduling: Request an in-person home tour with a Redfin agent using Redfin's iPhone or iPad app.
• Tour Insights: Comments left by Redfin agents about homes they have seen in person.

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not sales-people, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions. Redfin's online tools feature all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don't pay brokers a commission. The company serves 22 U.S. markets and has closed more than $8 billion in home sales. In 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider. Follow us on blog.redfin.com, on Twitter @Redfin, and Facebook.com/Redfin.

SOURCE Redfin Corporation