Redfin agent's tour remarks - can they be removed? (agents, Realtors, department)
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We are trying to sell our condo. A redfin agent toured our home the 2nd or 3rd day it was on the market and left comments on their website that irk me. If they want to take one of their own clients to tour our home and offer advice about it, that's fine. But how do they get away with posting things online for everyone to see, especially for people who aren't even using them as realtors and when there is no mechanism available for the homeowner/homeowner's agent to respond to their comments? Some of the decisions that were made in the layout of our condo, etc. were done deliberately and for good reasons, most having to do with more efficient use of space.
Is it even legal for them to post comments about our home on their site?
Every time I've seen this "unique feature" used, the remarks were completely generic - and with obvious intent. "This is a 3 bedroom 2 bath townhouse located in Town A. There is a 2 car garage"
Are you indicating that they provided an OPINION about items in your home?
I'd suggest you get YOUR Realtor to contact the local Redfin brokerage, and let your Realtor take care of it.
If the agent brings a client in to our home and they have feedback -- whether it can be construed as positive, negative or neutral -- I am happy to hear it when it is done in the proper manner, i.e., directly to me and my agent.
I'm not really "worried about it a lot", but I think they should not be in the business of potentially driving people away from viewing my home based on their cherry picking of which facts to reveal.
I also thought there were MLS rules against this sort of thing, but that they had chosen to ignore them. Perhaps I'm wrong.
1. With your local MLS.
If they are REALTOR-owned, your agent should do so, but you can do so yourself.
If they are publicly discussing your home on their site, IMO, they are advertising it without your permission, and you think they are working to your detriment.
And, Redfin agents are REALTORS and compelled to follow the rules.
2. With your state licensing board, whether it is the Department of Real Estate, a Real Estate Commission, or whatever name it goes by.
Again, if they are publicly discussing your home on their site, IMO, they are advertising it without your permission, and you think they are working to your detriment.
Of course, your local state laws and local MLS rules are to be considered, rather than mine or Washington's.
Even if it is "legal," that doesn't make it "right."
Last edited by MikeJaquish; 06-26-2017 at 04:38 AM..
If I remember correctly you can only see agent comments on Redfin if you have a registered Redfin account, so they will not get scraped by search engines or come up in and idle search of your property.
I guess next time don't let Redfin agents show your house.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SalamanderSmile
If I remember correctly you can only see agent comments on Redfin if you have a registered Redfin account, so they will not get scraped by search engines or come up in and idle search of your property.
I am definitely not registered on their site and I am able to see the agent comments. I've even looked at enough listings that the forced registration has activated but I am still able to see the comments despite not being able to see much else.
We are trying to sell our condo. A redfin agent toured our home the 2nd or 3rd day it was on the market and left comments on their website that irk me. If they want to take one of their own clients to tour our home and offer advice about it, that's fine. But how do they get away with posting things online for everyone to see, especially for people who aren't even using them as realtors and when there is no mechanism available for the homeowner/homeowner's agent to respond to their comments? Some of the decisions that were made in the layout of our condo, etc. were done deliberately and for good reasons, most having to do with more efficient use of space.
Is it even legal for them to post comments about our home on their site?
There is NO VALUE to sellers for anyone to post comments about the home you are trying to sell. The process for your listing agent to be sure that no such comments are "on" is simple and I recommend that you contact your listing agent ASAP to have them do that. The term Redfin uses is "Agent Insights" and they probably felt this was a "differentiator".
While I can understand why Redfin might see this as a "feature" that makes their site more useful than others ultimately they know who the process is designed to work and they systems they implement have to be fair to both buyers and sellers -- the potential to abuse the "comments" section of competing homes is well known and for that reason I recommend that ALL SELLERS always tell their listing agents to keep it "off". Similarly there is no good reason to have extra info about "pricing estimates" visible as the problems with this "feature" are also well known...
Mike Jaquish: Interesting quote from article: "Realtor Magazine quoted Redfin Chief Executive Glenn Kelman as saying he was disappointed by the disciplinary action. 'The goal of the reviews,' he said, 'is to disseminate different perspectives on homes from what one might receive from a real estate practitioner.'"
Except that there are no different perspectives on the home. There is one perspective from the one redfin "agent" who visited the home.
I contacted my agent about this. She stated our local MLS rules preclude posting online reviews of homes but that for some reason redfin has decided they needn't follow the rules. Any comments they post should be seen by their employees and clients only and locked to everyone else. Apparently, other offices in town have had this same issue with redfin. Her manager will be contacting them today.
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