Earlier this year, Redfin, the online real estate brokerage, launched a widespread expansion of its 1% listing fees, seeking to entice home sellers to use their service by offering lower commissions than traditional real estate agencies.
As part of that expansion, in markets like Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, San Diego, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Boston, New York, and others, Redfin lowered its listing fee from 1.5% to 1%.
Now, the company is rolling out a new service that offers additional benefits to home sellers that could help them sell their home faster, and for more money, all for an increased commission.
Redfin announced this week that it is piloting a new service, called “Redfin Concierge Service,” that will clean and stage a home for sale.
For sellers who use the service, Redfin coordinates, supervises and pays for services like deep cleaning, painting, staging and landscaping of their property – all for a 2% listing fee, rather than the company’s 1% standard listing fee in certain markets.
According to the company, the “concierge service” will create a “custom plan” for each home to deliver the “optimum” presentation to buyers.
Currently, the service is available only in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., both of which are markets where Redfin offers 1% listing fees.
The company also said that the concierge service is currently available for homes priced at $500,000 or higher.
“With Redfin Concierge, our technology-driven efficiency lets us pay for painting, staging, cleaning and landscaping, all while saving customers thousands in fees,” Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said. “No other major brokerage includes all of this in a standard offering.”
Karen Krupsaw, Redfin’s senior vice president of real estate operations, said the company’s goal is provide the “best” listing service to all sellers.
“Redfin Concierge Service reaches a new audience of home sellers who want to get their home in top shape for selling, but want their agent to handle everything,” Krupsaw said. “We’re thrilled to offer these folks concierge-level service that complements the local expertise of our real estate agents, and the technology and marketing that Redfin has become known for.”
