The online real estate brokerage Redfin has agreed to pay $4 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit out of court. The lawsuit alleged that the company failed to provide its brokerage services to homes that were listed below a specific price, a practice known in the industry as “digital redlining”. By settling out of court,
Redfin to acquire RentPath for its apartment listings
Online real estate brokerage Redfin has said it will acquire the apartment search giant RentPath Holdings Inc. and combine that company’s listings with its own platform. The idea is to create a more comprehensive platform where people can search for a home to rent or purchase, Redfin said. The acquisition will add around 20,000 apartment
Redfin says 45% of home offers this year made ‘sight-unseen’
Buyers feel more comfortable shopping for homes online thanks to innovations such as virtual tours, and growing numbers are even making an offer on a home without seeing it in person. Redfin said last week that the trend of “sight unseen” offers is reaching record highs, with 45% of buyers who purchased a home in
How to prepare for a video home tour
With most Americans continuing to stay at home to try and prevent the spread of the coronavirus, real estate agents are increasingly relying on video or virtual home tours to show clients their listings. Many agents feel that these video tours can help make up for the lack of an in-person viewing, but they still
Redfin reports rise in offers from virtual tours only
With most buyers resorting to virtual tours as the only way to actually see inside a listed home during the coronavirus outbreak, one might be forgiven for thinking that home buying activity is all but dead. But in actual fact, many real estate brokerages are still doing business, with Redfin reporting that some 12% of
The U.S. shuts down, but home selling goes on
Even as COVID-19 forces mass closures across the United States, home selling is still happening. That’s according to Redfin, which says real estate professionals have quickly adapted to working from home. Redfin said it saw a 494% increase in requests for agent-led video tours last week, following an 80% increase the week before. Most of
Bidding wars fall to 10-year low, but the respite won’t last long
Yet more evidence has emerged that now is a great time to buy, with Redfin saying that bidding wars, in which multiple buyers compete to buy a home, are at their lowest point in 10 years. Redfin says in its latest report that just 10% of offers on homes sold via its real estate agents
More millennials say their finances are in better shape
More millennials have been able to get a handle on their mortgage repayments over the last year, meaning they’re less likely to ask for help from parents, work a second job, or find a roommate to share costs, according to a new Redfin survey. The survey of 1,000 adults born between 1981 and 1996, found
Redfin teams up with Opendoor to expand its Instant Offers service
Web-based real estate brokerage Redfin is expanding the availability of its instant offers service via a partnership with iBuying company Opendoor. The partnership, announced last week, will allow homeowners who sell their homes on Redfin’s platform to get instant offers on their properties. The way iBuying works is that companies like Opendoor buy the homes