Redfin is an “online brokerage for residential real estate,” and, if you read the company’s website, it was actually the first one. It’s probably also the richest – Redfin just received $12 million in financing.
Not too long ago, Redfin was fined $50,000 by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service; many onlookers saw this as a way of silencing Redfin’s honest (and therefore sometimes less-than-complimentary) property reviews, and felt rather bad for the company. That’s no longer necessary.
“We expect this to be our last round of venture financing,” announced Glenn Kelman, Redfin’s CEO, in a press release. The release went on to provide some corporate background information (though it did steer clear of the whole NWMLS mess).
“Since Redfin’s last round of financing in May 2006, the company has completed more than $350 million in real estate transactions, saved its home-buying customers nearly $6 million in commissions, increased revenues by more than 2,000 percent, expanded into four new markets, and been featured on ‘60 Minutes.’” That’s pretty impressive.
And now a few more people will be able to experience that “impressiveness,” as Redfin just launched its service in the D.C. area; that means its area of coverage now includes Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, California, Virginia, and our nation’s capital. Everyone else will have to wait, but with a fresh $12 million in Redin’s pockets, the delay might not last long.
Hat tip to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s John Cook.
