So I started the story yesterday…  And I want to pay it off.

Let me start by saying that the blogger that shook them up is Frank Llosa.  He is one of the most forward thinking and technically astute brokers in the country… he has even built his own MLS that should be a model for all of the big boys.

He apparently came across the post on Redfin and read my comment… and found his way to my post about the same thing.  It had also occurred to him that their “science” was pretty incomplete.  What’s more is that he was disappointed that they never acknowledged the comments or post.  Frank is actually a fan of Redfin… but he likes a good debate.

Since he has his own MLS, and better data crunching ability than I… he ran the numbers.  And he blogged about it.  His comments are also visible at yesterday’s links to Redfin’s blog.  But even better… they emailed him.  Visit the link to see what he had to say…

But here is the quick version (please note… the long version is WAY better):

Redfin didn’t include seller paid expenses in their calculations.  In many markets, this can be substantial.  So, while they are making hay over how their rebates save money for the buyers and how they are crack negotiators, the problem is that they weren’t including all of the data about the negotiations.

If you read the referenced blogs from today and yesterday, you will see plenty of examples of how this is a HUGE hole in their data.

Enjoy.