I once used Redfin and had a very good experience. After my first agent (in LA area) bungled by overpricing the house I brought in Redfin and they ultimately got the job done well for less money.
My challenge as an investor is this. When I bought my next house, which I also sold, I used a local agent who is very well respected in our area. He gave me a break on the % but it was still higher than I would have paid with Redfin. He has been a top guy in the area for good reason. He has expert knowledge, great relationships with many agents and racked us up several offers almost immediately. One offer was 10K over asking. But he was not a fan of Redfin who is taking money off his table. If you were an agent and there were two houses on sale for your buyer, you’d be incentivized to steer them away from the Redfin house. For buyers this means you are paying less but also likely to get fewer offers. This, of course, may change over time if Redfind is triumphant. However, that would also mean their main competitive advantage - price - is mitigated. What’s the moat?
For me, I think this space is so overcrowded and so many people use personal references I am not certain it is a market ripe for disruption. I also think - and I’ll probably be excoriated for saying this - that good real estate agents work much harder than people realize. And with much more aggravation. Our agents worked hard to get our house ready, lent us furniture, spent on a marketing campaign, and fielded endless calls, questions, etc. I can’t count how many times they came and went, getting home ready, doing showings, etc.
Just my humble 2 cents, but I see a very solid, well run company in a brutal space.
BD