Redfin Commission Investigation

We’re investigating the Redfin commissions charged to home sellers

If you sold a house to a buyer who was represented by a Redfin realtor, we would like to hear about your experience. Fill out the inquiry form below or call 800.755.0098 and a legal representative will reach out to you.

Redfin is a national real estate firm that provides real estate agents for home buyers and sellers across the country. Redfin’s policy, which follows that of the National Association of Realtors, is to require the home seller to pay the buyer’s agent’s commission. This means that, even though the buyer’s agent is hired to assist the buyer, their fees are paid by the seller. Because of this rule, there is almost no price competition among buyers’ agents as they are not chosen by the party that will be paying their fee.

While the commissions charged by Redfin are typically lower than in the real estate market generally, we are investigating whether Redfin’s fees are nonetheless the product of an anticompetitive policy  that preserves fees paid to buyers’ agents by artificially increasing the cost of the fees paid by sellers. The fees paid to buyers’ agents can be significant – as much as 3%. That means that, for a $500,000 house, the seller could pay as much as $15,000 to the buyer’s agent as commission.

If you’d like to recover the funds paid to the buyer’s agent, contact us to start the process.

In the modern age, most home buyers are able to find a home on their own, minimizing the historic need for a buyer’s agent. But for the anticompetitive policies of Redfin and realtor groups through the MLS, some experts believe that buyers’ agents would cease to exist entirely as they have in many other developed countries around the world. At a minimum, asking buyers to pay their own agents would lead to competition on price, likely leading to lower prices.  The current practice of asking sellers to pay a hefty commission to the buyer’s agent – who may have had little involvement – is rooted in tradition and being maintained through anticompetitive contracts mandated by realtors’ trade groups, like the National Association of Realtors.

Under federal antitrust law, sellers may be able to recover treble (triple) damages.

If you’re fed up with the high fees you paid to sell your home, contact us to fight back.