Redfin debuts ‘Early Access,’ giving homesellers ‘more control’
“Early Access” gives homeowners who “want to sell, but are not ready to commit to full exposure” more options, Chief of Real Estate Services Jason Aleem said.
Redfin has introduced a new search category on its website, an addition that the company characterized as an expansion of options for homebuyers and sellers.
'Early Access' now live: Redfin Early Access launched May 18. "Early Access" listings will not accrue days on market or publicly display price-drop history, Redfin said, enabling sellers to test the market while buyers gain an early look at home listings they won't be able to find elsewhere.
The "Early Access" category will include Redfin "Coming Soons" and pre-market listings from Compass International Holdings brands, the latter of which are shared via Redfin's partnership with the brokerage giant. The listings will be placed high in search results on Redfin and showcased in a way that conveys to buyers that the listings are unique to Redfin.
In a tie-in to Rocket Companies, which acquired Redfin last year, buyers who purchase an "Early Access" home and finance with Rocket Mortgage will get either a 1-percentage-point reduction for the first year of their loan or a lender credit to reduce upfront costs. Homebuyer leads in "Early Access" will go to the listing agent, a company spokesperson said.
Boosting seller confidence: Redfin Early Access is beneficial for a housing market "desperately" in need of more inventory, according to Jason Aleem, chief of real estate services at Redfin.
"A lot of homeowners want to sell, but are not ready to commit to full exposure," Aleem said. "Giving sellers more control over how they enter the market gives them more confidence. Redfin Early Access lets sellers test the market before going all-in, while giving buyers a first look at homes they won't find on other major sites."
What do buyers and sellers really want? While the industry-wide debate over access to listings is ongoing, a couple of recent surveys suggest consumers may be open to coming-soon options — depending on how they are handled.
One survey released May 18 by Redfin found that 83% of prospective sellers are interested in listing their home as a coming-soon before its broader market debut. The survey, which Rocket Mortgage conducted among 1,000 U.S. homeowners last month, also found that 66% of respondents said gaining a clearer sense of what their home would actually sell for would motivate them to list.
"There are homeowners out there who want to sell, but they need a low-risk way to gauge the housing market before committing," Aleem said.
Meanwhile, nearly half of respondents (47%) said they found their current home either through a non-public or less-public route — such as through a personal connection — before it was listed, while only 41% found their current home through a home search site or app.
Pre-marketing also appealed to a majority of respondents in a recent survey from Zillow, which rolled out its own pre-market listing option in March. Over 4 in 5 (85%) of the over 2,000 U.S. adults surveyed in late April by The Harris Poll said they'd be more likely to hire an agent who can pre-market their home — as long as it is put before "the broadest online audience," the survey noted.
"When a seller hires an agent, they're placing enormous trust in that person to get them the best outcome," said Errol Samuelson, chief industry development officer at Zillow. "Pre-marketing to a closed network is not the same thing as pre-marketing so the broadest audience in the country can see it for free — and sellers know the difference."
Sellers are "not asking for limited access," Samuelson added. "They're asking for reach."