In front of two computer screens, under a whiteboard and on a desk from IKEA, Loren Ellingson sells real estate.
Also available at home and on his bus commute by pocket PC, Bluetooth and laptop, Ellingson tells clients to call or write any time, except during Seahawks games. But he won’t visit the home you want to sell. Not to price it. And not to host an open house.
Ellingson is a listing agent at Redfin, a two-year-old real estate tech startup in downtown Seattle. Sellers contact Redfin and confer with a listing coordinator who assigns an agent. A 10-person team handles Washington state listings.
Unlike the traditional sales-based commission, agents are paid a salary plus bonuses related to customer surveys.
A scented candle burns in Ellingson’s two-person office on a recent Thursday.
He has 33 listings, one set to close today. Prices range from $216,500 to $1.35 million.
“As a traditional agent by myself there’s no way I could handle 40 listings. But being in the office, in one day, I could probably follow up with all my clients.”
By 11 a.m., he’s scrolling through Northwest Multiple Listing Service data to prepare for a phone consultation, seeking nearby homes of similar size to the house he’ll be listing.
The seller already has filled out a three-page questionnaire, written a 65-word description of the property and posted 12 photos.
“We ask them to do the marketing remarks, because they know the home best,” Ellingson says. “I’ll go in and tweak it or jazz it up a bit.”
Noon means lunch. Ellingson attends a company-wide meeting about the company’s wiki, an internal Web site where employees can add content. Food is supplied by Redfin, as it is three days weekly. Today: pad Thai with tofu, yellow curry, salad and fried rice.
Before the hour’s up, Ellingson is on the phone with his seller. They discuss square footage, remodels, how the seller heard about Redfin and then price.
“I think you need to be just under the $500,000 range. I don’t think there’s a lot to support $510,000,” Ellingson says. “You don’t want to come in overpriced – your house will not even get shown.”
They settle on $485,000.
Next, a listing coordinator will work via the Internet with the seller on getting the listing posted. Once an offer comes in, another coordinator handles paperwork related to closing. Ellingson deals with all other aspects of the sale, including negotiations and a phone meeting 21 days in to revisit pricing and other issues. (Field agents can let buyers, inspectors and appraisers into homes.)
Ellingson, throughout the afternoon, continues to make and take calls. At 2:30, he leaves the office for the first time to get a drip coffee at Starbucks.
He says on the walk back that working for Redfin alleviates pressure he felt when he worked as an assistant to an agent at John L. Scott.
“I’m not chasing listings. You’re not focused on commission. You’re focused on customer service,” he said.
Which includes pitching in on other listings. When Ellingson returns, agent Klaus Gosma asks for help pricing a home.
“He came in at $525,000,” Gosma says. “I think he might be able to get a little more.”
The two agents go over the size of the seller’s house, its proximity to Interstate 5 and the neighborhood.
Gosma decides on $529,950.
The day ends with a rare face-to-face client meet-up. Ellingson waits on the Second Avenue sidewalk, the sun having already set. His new seller pulls up, jumps out and Ellingson hands off a key box and a pile of open house signs.
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