This article is about real estate website. For Redfin perch, see European perch. For South African redfin barbs, see Pseudobarbus. For and, see Barbus.
Redfin
Subsidiary
SubsidiariesRent Group
IndustryReal estate
Founded2004 (age 22)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Founders
  • David Eraker
  • Michael Dougherty
  • David Selinger
Hq location citySeattle, Washington
Hq location countryU.S.
Key peopleGlenn Kelman (CEO)
Bridget Frey (CTO)
Chris Nielsen (CFO)
ServicesReal estate agent
Broker
Mortgage origination
Area served100+ markets in the United States and Canada
ParentRocket Companies
Websiteredfin.com

Redfin, a subsidiary of Rocket Companies, provides real estate agent services for buying, selling, and renting homes in the United States and Canada.

History

Redfin was founded in 2004 by David Eraker, Michael Dougherty, and David Selinger. Eraker had dropped out of medical school at the University of Washington for a career in software design, and Dougherty received degrees in electrical engineering and international studies from Yale University.[1][2] David Selinger, an alumnus of Stanford University who had previously led the research and development arm of Amazon's data mining and personalization team, joined Redfin as the third founder and CTO. Selinger helped build Redfin's mapping and real estate data analytics engine.[3]

Redfin launched a map-based real estate search site in Seattle in 2004.[4][5]

In September 2005, Redfin named Glenn Kelman as CEO.[6]

Redfin launched home-buying and selling services in Seattle and the Bay Area in 2006. The following year, Redfin expanded to Southern California, Boston, Baltimore and Washington, DC. Redfin offered flat fee pricing for sellers and commission refunds for buyers.[7][8][9]

In 2011, Redfin launched a tool to allow consumers to see a real estate agent's sales history.[10] After it drew criticism for using inaccurate data, the system was discontinued.[11]

In 2015, Redfin launched the Redfin Estimate, an automated valuation tool, and Book it Now, and on-demand service for home tours.[12][13]

In June 2017, the company began Redfin Now, a home flipping division.[14]

On July 28, 2017, Redfin became a public company via an initial public offering, raising $138 million.[15]

In June 2019, Redfin began allowing buyers to submit offers on homes listed by Redfin's selling agents without using a buyer's agent.[16] A month later, the company partnered with Opendoor, whereby visitors to the Redfin website can request an offer to buy their houses from Opendoor.[17]

Redfin entered the rental market with acquisition of RentPath in 2021.[18]

In June 2022, the company announced layoffs of 8% of its staff.[19]

In November 2022, the company announced additional layoffs of 862 people, or 13% of its staff, and the wind down of its Redfin Now home flipping unit.[20]

In July 2025, the company was acquired by Rocket Companies.[21][22][23]

Acquisitions

DateAcquiredDescriptionCostSource
October 2014Walk ScoreAnalysis and apartment search toolN/A[24][25]
April 2021RentPath (now Rent Group)Owner of Apartment Guide, Rent.com, Lovely, and Rentals.com$608 million[26]
April 2022Bay Equity Home LoansMortgage lender$137.8 million[27]

Fines and litigation

In May 2007, Redfin was fined $50,000 by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, and was forced to shut down reviews of homes on the market on its website, prohibited under multiple listing service rules.[28]

In November 2020, a lawsuit by several fair housing organizations accused Redfin of violating the Fair Housing Act by offering fewer services to homebuyers and sellers in minority communities and not offering to sell lower-priced homes because of the lower profits on such sales.[29][30][31] In 2022, the company paid $4 million to settle the lawsuit, changed its policies, and implemented a new internal monitoring system.[32][33]

See also

References

  1. ^ Rhodes, Elizabeth (September 26, 2004). "A sit-down, flyby real-estate overview". The Seattle Times
  2. ^ Stone, Brad (March 7, 2013). "Why Redfin, Zillow and Trulia Haven't Killed Off Real Estate Brokers". Bloomberg News
  3. ^ "David Selinger". Entrepreneur
  4. ^ Stone, Brad (March 8, 2013). "Why Redfin, Zillow, and Trulia Haven't Killed Off Real Estate Brokers". Bloomberg
  5. ^ Peterson, Samantha (October 25, 2004). "Real Estate Shopping Goes Sky-High". Inman
  6. ^ Brandt, Libertina (October 4, 2021). "3 Moments That Shaped the Career of Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman". Inman
  7. ^ Roberts Jr., Glenn (February 6, 2006). "Redfin:Click Here to Buy A Home". Inman
  8. ^ Burslem, Joel (April 25, 2007). "Redfin Gets a Facelift and Expands Eastward". Inman
  9. ^ "Redfin Snags Another $12 Million in Funding". Inman. July 18, 2007.
  10. ^ Carter, Matt (September 29, 2011). "Redfin Makes Agent Performance Data Available in 14 Markets". Inman
  11. ^ Carrns, Ann (May 1, 2012). "New Battle on Providing Real Estate Agent Performance Data". The New York Times
  12. ^ Harney, Kenneth R. (December 9, 2015). "Redfin Launches a Service to Compete with Zillow's Valuation Estimator". Washington Post
  13. ^ Cook, John (July 7, 2015). "Redfin Unveils 'Book it Now' Service, Giving Home Shoppers Flexibility to Schedule On-Demand Tours on Their Schedules". GeekWire
  14. ^ SOPER, TAYLOR (June 30, 2017). "Redfin testing 'Redfin Now' service that lets it buy and resell homes directly with customers". GeekWire
  15. ^ Olick, Diana & Balakrishnan, Anita (July 28, 2017). "Real estate start-up Redfin surges over 44% in IPO: 'We are the Apple of real estate,' CEO says". CNBC
  16. ^ Zafar, Nina (June 4, 2019). "Redfin's newest online tool cuts out the buyer's agent". The Washington Post
  17. ^ Clark, Patrick (July 11, 2019). "Opendoor Partners With Redfin to Expand Home-Flipping Reach". Bloomberg News
  18. ^ Cook, John (February 19, 2021). "Redfin Will Pay $690M to Acquire RentPath, Owner of Rentals.com, Rent.com and ApartmentGuide". GeekWire
  19. ^ Saric, Ivana (June 14, 2022). "Redfin laying off 8% of its staff". Axios
  20. ^ BEK, NATE (November 9, 2022). "Redfin to cut 13% of workforce and shut down home-flipping business RedfinNow". GeekWire
  21. ^ "Rocket Companies Completes Acquisition of Redfin". PR Newswire. July 1, 2025.
  22. ^ "Rocket completes purchase of real estate site Redfin". Detroit Free Press. July 1, 2025.
  23. ^ Williams, Candice (July 2, 2025). "Rocket Companies completes purchase of Redfin". The Columbian. The Detroit News
  24. ^ "Redfin Acquires Walk Score". Business Wire. October 22, 2014.
  25. ^ COOK, JOHN (October 22, 2014). "Redfin buys Walk Score, marking first acquisition in company history". GeekWire
  26. ^ "Redfin Completes Acquisition of RentPath for $608 Million". PR Newswire. April 5, 2021.
  27. ^ Page, Doug (April 4, 2022). "Redfin Vertically Integrates with Bay Equity Home Loans Purchase". National Mortgage Professional
  28. ^ Cook, John (May 17, 2007). "Redfin fined $50,000, shuts down home reviews". Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  29. ^ Johnson, Gene (October 31, 2020). "Fair housing groups sue Redfin with allegations of 'redlining' minority communities". USA Today. Associated Press
  30. ^ Lerner, Michele (November 2, 2020). "Housing groups sue Redfin, alleging federal discrimination violations". The Washington Post
  31. ^ "A Progressive Real Estate Firm Faces Accusations of Discrimination". Bloomberg News. January 18, 2022.
  32. ^ BISHOP, TODD (May 2, 2022). "Redfin will implement internal fair housing monitoring system in $4M legal settlement". GeekWire
  33. ^ "Redfin settles lawsuit alleging housing discrimination". Daily Record. Associated Press. April 29, 2022.