Maybe the left armpit was a stretch...but I'll go with you there, John.

As I said in another post:  poorly done.  I'm not skeered, either. FSBO's in my area have gone down drastically.  Most sellers realize they can't do it on their own.

I can't even select one quote in the report that is worth commenting on, positive or negative.

Why did they even air it?  They didn't have anything else? Slow news day?  I dunno.

I already commented on your other tread. Sorry, for 6% I'm too lazy to copy and paste it here.

Only kidding – here it is:  There have been discount brokers in the past and there will be more in the future. The internet is great and has its place for buying and selling goods and services. But, it takes a person to talk to a person and no virtual tour will do. "All real estate is local". We have certain costs that must be paid. We contribute to the local economy in so many necessary ways. When was the last time you watched a little league team playing with "Foxton" or "Assist 2 Sell" on the back of the jersey? My real estate broker pays real estate taxes in the community were I work. Where does Redfin pays taxes? Life will go on.

I also posted to the other one - I HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET - Can't you people wait for us on the west coast to see it? Just kidding. I'm watching it right now and I'll get back to you in an hour or so.

I did a post on my website about today's golf tournament (Phil won!)and 60 Minutes. I thought Lesley Stahl served up softballs to Glen Kelman and there were typical CBS inaccuracies. You can read my comments here:

http://www.charlestononlinehomes.com/blogs/howard_arnoff/archive/2007/05/13/60-minutes-real-estate-and-golf-quick-takes.aspx

Todd, don't waste your time. Lesley runs off with Glen have a hot torid affair and they are now a happy couple living in cyber space. No house needed. Oh, you DIDN't want to know how it ended. Sorry!

Where are the spelling and grammar police when you need them? I'm going to bed.

Hi John and everyone,

Nice response, and yes, I will wear my pin proudly while on my listing appt tomorrow. The sellers are upside down, struggling every month with an adjustable loan that just went up, found me on the internet (thanks point2), and have asked me to help them make the pain go away.

Does Redfin handle short sales? Negotiate with banks on sellers or buyers behalf?

A final thought...what does Redfin do with the people that can't afford to write a check for $3000 to list their home? Do they refuse to list their home? We have all had those sellers that can't afford a can of paint, much less $3000. We are all heros for taking lisitings, spending our money to market the home, spending our resources to make the home look better to help our clients squeeze every dollar from the sale. We do all of this, willingly, with no money advanced and no promise of a paycheck at the end. Hats off to all!  

Redfin, is a good thing for the profession, their model will increase earnings for all, and will convey unequivocally to prospects, why a parent would rather choose to have a  qualified surgeon operate on his dying child, rather than nominate a stranger to carry out the procedure.

Our strength is in our ability to save our clients money or make them money and this is achieved by some thing called “local knowledge”

I think the whole 60 minute piece was a non event. They should have pulled it as they planned or at least called it a commercial.

Redfin has a business model that it doesn’t take a mathematician to calculate that you can’t give away all the profit and stay in business and grow.  Time will show how well they will do and the level of service they can provide for the dollars they charge.

Their seller side program is pretty clever though since they have FSBO’s giving them $3,000 to post their house on the internet and fill in the contract. If that’s all they do than who got taken there? There is profit there but it won't take long to see there is no value.

Bring on the competition, discounters and all, it’s all good. The market normally weeds out the poor plans and the good ones will continue to survive.

Non event and not worth an email to CBS.

Gary, I'm with you.

I agree, Gary, another example of useless, misleading information.

It told us nothing about which model is sustainable and adds more value.

If Redfin is successful on a limited scale, and they are touted as the wave of the future, then there will be more competition for them to face, such as BuyerSideRealty.com (I think they offer 75% back), and they will be faced with a dilemma -- racing to beat the competition to bankruptcy, or adding value to their services, which increases their expenses.

I think I will write a blog on this model, just to force myself to organize all my misgivings about its future.

I agree Gary.

My partner, a statistician, and I watched that piece with bemusement.

Redfin has a great business model as long as conditions don't change and they can afford to keep the organization running on breadcrumbs and used chewing gum during slow periods.

Any Internet corporate structure still has direct/indirect costs like staff, insurance, support, equipment, etc. All these things have set amounts that need to be satisfied. (Show me a staff member that doesn't want a 5% increase every year)

Offering a low commission rate, then refunding a chuck of it back to clients at closing leaves real questions about financial solvency. Unless the know a banker that is offering 10% monthly in interest on deposits, I cannot see how this financial model is viable in the long term. The only thing I can see that the owners/operators are looking to get out of it are their 15 minutes of fame and a golden parachute package when the company shuts it's doors.

I missed the show last night.  I guess I will catch the rerun.

I smiled and even laughed a little when 60 Minutes started in on Real Estate. I have faced MUCH worse than this in my previous profession. I know how to handle this sort of thing.

I spent 25 years practicing Optometry. While in school working on my doctorate degree in Optometry, 60 Minutes did a very negative story on Optometry. Some of my fellow students were really paranoid about how this would affect our chosen profession.

( Note: A Doctor of Optometry degree requires 4 years of undergraduate, university and then an additional 4 years at the graduate level before earning the degree. That is 8 years total and the average student graduated $50,000.00 in debt from school loans back when I went to school. The average debt is much higher than that now, about 3 times this amount.)

We felt like we were working so hard and investing so much into this profession and then along comes a reporter, seeking high ratings, listens to one side of the story and proceeds to trash us on T.V. Many were very bitter and afraid.

Guess what, the sky did not fall and now decades later Optometry is alive and well. When we would attend state and national Optometry meetings, rumors swirled that Optical franchisers like Pearle Vision, Lens Crafters and others would ruin traditional, private Optometry. These franchisers did gain market share but they did not put all independents out of business. In fact the independents still have the largest share of the market.

Then came the “worst events” (according to some) in the history of Optometry. Deep discounters like Wal-Mart started opening Vision Centers in their stores and even worse 1-800-Contacts came along and sold contact lenses online and LASIK eye surgery was making fewer people need glasses. Surely we were doomed! No we were not. As of today numerous, traditional, private Optometry practice are thriving and growing.

Come on 60 Minutes, give me your best shot! I can take it! I have been there and done that for over 25 years!

They did a similiar story on Alarm systems.  They went into a home, disabled two openings (Door and Window) and then the professional burgular "broke in".  

The following quarter was my busiest ever.  I installed and upgraded and added monitoring and made a quick small fortune in that quarter.  It went on and on and on.  Let's hope we get the same result here from the 60 Minute REDFIN INFOMERCIAL

Get ready for the local newshounds, I'm certain there will be some sort of follow up by local tv and newspaper reporters.  You may get the chance for your voice to be heard yet.  Other than at the breakfast table and here.

Wow, $3K to list a house, huh?  Well out of our 2133 residential sold properties on our MLS in 2006, that means that 12 would have paid 3K to the listing agent anyway, 1023 sellers would have paid less to Redfin assuming that every listing agent here would charge 3% for the listing side (which they don't, BTW...some are more some are less), and 1098 sellers would have paid less than $3k with a traditional broker if charged 3% on the listing side.  Our average price home is about $112K.  I suppose that if Redfin goes national, they will have to adjust their fee to take into consideration that some places still have reasonable housing costs.  

Their math sounds good when talking million dollar homes compared to the homes that most people can buy, but I wouldn't charge 6% anyway on a million dollar home!  Whether it is more or less----well, I'm not talking!  No ones business except mine and the seller's!

Remember the comment that real estate agents have stuck by the 6% commission no matter what?  Well,  you know what?  We have to live in these area too.  If area prices go up, I still have to pay for a place to live just like they do!

Yes "20/20" would have been the likely show these days. :) I don't think they were on the air in 1976 when this 60 Minutes show ran. Over the years other stories ran. "Dateline NBC" did a story in the 1990's on contact lenses that was supposed to devistate us. It didn't. Life goes on. Huge stories like Natalie Holloway are even forgotten (too soon). The Don Imus story quickly became old news after Virgina Tech. The only people still talking about the 60 Minutes story on Realtors are Realtors.