This article was in the Washington Post the other day discussing how consumers are using social media to find Realtors, and was picked up by the Consumerist this morning who ask the question – “Would You Judge A Real Estate Broker By His Blog?”. Much of the content in these articles is old-hat to many readers of this blog, but two things jumped out at me –
1 – This comment at the Consumerist –
While I can’t say a blog would lead me to use someone as my broker, I have definitely already excluded two based on their (awful) writings!
Sorry, but if you can’t spell correctly, or even express your thoughts clearly, I don’t want you fighting for my largest investment.
2 – This statement in the WP article about Redfin, which if true is egregious (bolding mine)-
But Redfin has its drawbacks. Many buyers want additional help identifying properties. Also, if Redfin judges a prospective buyer’s offer to be too low — generally below about 85 percent of the asking price — the agent won’t present it to the seller.
If you’re a Realtor, carefully consider what you write.
If you’re a consumer – buyer/seller/voyeur – what do you look for in a real estate blog? Are you as put off as I am by Realtors who keyword slam their posts in an attempt to generate traffic based their use of the words Charlottesville (or any other market) real estate and Charlottesville homes?
I clicked over to the WP article to see what they do at Redfin. It’s supposed to be a “discount brokerage.” There’s a line about them returning 2/3 of commission? Usually $10,000. No wonder they don’t want to give sellers offers that are below 85% of the asking price. Then they wouldn’t make any money.
This is a really bizarre way to run a business, especially when several of the areas they service are having big price declines (seattle, southern california, san francisco, dc). Not only are there buyers who are going to make low offers, but there are sellers who might really need the offer, no matter what it is.
I wouldn’t use them.
If that is indeed accurate, it’s such a huge violation of Realtor ethics (and common courtesy) as to almost unheard of on such a relatively large scale.