Redefy: Reviews, Complaints, Pros, Cons, and Competitors

Redefy offers sellers a simplified selling experience— a nearly full package of services for a low, flat fee. But Redefy’s standard package does omit some services that sellers may find indispensable. Find out what Redefy does— and doesn’t— offer in exchange for their competitive flat fee, and how their selling experience may diverge from traditional expectations.

Redefy was founded in 2011 in Aurora, Colorado and currently operates in 9 U.S. states. Redefy uses a very straightforward business model; instead of the traditional percentage-based commission— i.e., the more your house sells for, the more you pay your agent— Redefy charges a simple, universal flat fee. 

But like most discount brokerages, Redefy charges less, but also offers fewer services. 

Read on to learn what value Redefy offers for their flat fee, some of their main pros and cons, and what online reviews tell us about the experience of selling with them. 

• What is Redefy?
• How Selling Your Home with Redefy Works
• Redefy Pros and Cons
• Surveying Redefy Reviews
• Redefy Complaints
• Redefy vs. Clever

What Is Redefy and How Does Redefy Work?

Selling your home with Redefy is somewhat similar to a traditional sale— but there are some important differences.

When you work with Redefy, you’ll be working with a team of specialists instead of a single agent. Although you’ll be assigned an in-house Redefy agent after you sign your listing agreement, they won’t be your sole contact at the company until very late in the process. This can be an advantage to sellers, but it can also be confusing, and result in muddled communication.

As far as Redefy’s sale process goes— which we’ll describe in detail below— it’s very similar to a traditional sale process, with two main differences. 

One, you have to pay $500 of your listing fee up front. This fee is non-refundable, so even if your home doesn’t sell, Redefy keeps that money. It’s fairly unusual to pay an upfront fee to sell a home.

The second difference is that, while Redefy supports sellers throughout most of the process, they don’t help conduct open houses. That means the seller will have to plan, conduct, and manage their own home showings. Considering how complicated it can be to triangulate the desires of the average home buyer, this could be challenging for the average home seller. 

For this selling experience, Redefy charges a flat fee of $3,500. 

How Selling Your Home with Redefy Works

Once you decide to use Redefy, they’ll send a Redefy agent to your home, to give you advice on staging, and provide a comparative market analysis to help arrive at a price. Even if you don’t sign with Redefy, the CMA is yours to keep.

It should be noted, though, that the agent you meet at this initial meeting isn’t the agent who’ll be handling your sale— you’ll meet your appointed agent later in the process.

When you sign the listing contract, they’ll arrange for your professional photos, yard signs, and lockbox. You’ll also fill out a client questionnaire that will help shape your selling experience, and pay a non-refundable $500 “listing retainer.” This is somewhat unusual— few brokerages require you to put any money down up front— so potential Redefy customers should be sure they want to commit to Redefy before they pay this fee.

After you approve your listing, it’ll go live to the local MLS, as well as sites like Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, and others. This is also the point where you’ll meet your in-house Redefy agent, who’ll be your main contact for the rest of the sale process. 

One other thing to note at this point in the process— your Redefy agent will not help you conduct showings and open houses. This will be the sole responsibility of the seller.

The agent will, however, take the sale down the home stretch once interest starts coming in. They’ll handle incoming offers and negotiations, oversee the sales contract, coordinate with the buyer’s agent on funding and title issues, and guide you through closing. After closing is when the seller will pay the remaining $3,000 of Home Bay’s fee.

Redefy Pros and Cons

Redefy has some obvious advantages (a low, predictable cost), as well as some disadvantages (some standard services aren’t covered). Let’s weigh each side of the equation.

Pros

Low Cost

Redefy charges a flat fee of $3,500 to sell your home. To get a sense of whether this is a bargain, let’s say this number represents half of a standard commission (In a standard commission, half goes to the listing agent, and half goes to the buyer’s agent). 

This fee would be exactly 3% of $125,000, meaning that if you’re selling a house for $125,000 or less, then Redefy probably isn’t the cost-effective choice for you. However, if your home sells for more than $125,000, Redefy offers real, substantial savings— and those savings increase as your sale price goes up.

Strength in Numbers

Redefy sellers work with an entire team of experts, although they’ll have an in-house agent who’ll guide them down the home stretch of their sale. This can be a great advantage, as they’ll have specialists working on every step in the process. Even the best agent has areas in which they excel slightly less than in others.

A Free Comparative Market Analysis

Not only does Redefy offer you a comparative market analysis— which provides recent, on-the-ground data that can help you find your home’s ideal price— but they give it to you before you even sign your listing agreement. That means that if you decide to go with another company, you still get the benefit of that information.

Cons

Upfront Fee

When you sell with Redefy, you have to pay a $500 listing retainer up front. This fee is non-refundable, so you won’t get it back if your house doesn’t sell. It’s fairly rare for a brokerage to ask a seller to put money down up front.

No Open Houses

Showings are a big part of any home sale. If your home is a desirable property in a hot market, it may not need extensive showings; you may get interest and even offers just by listing your home. But in other markets, buyers need to be attracted and persuaded, and the open house is where that happens. Agents know how to do this, but it’s a big ask from a seller.

Few markets

Redefy is only available in a limited number of markets— 29 U.S. cities as of June 2020. If you don’t live in one of those cities, you’re out of luck.

Looking for a better solution to selling your home and saving money? We’ve partnered with Clever Real Estate to offer top-rated agents who will sell your home for $3000 or 1%. Start saving today!

Surveying Redefy Reviews

Redefy holds a very good 4.3 out of 5 average rating, based on 115 customer reviews, across Yelp, Google, and Facebook. They also hold a stellar A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

There is one caveat, though: Redefy uses a franchise model, which means each office is independently owned and operated. Customer experiences at one Redefy office may not be representative of any other Redefy office, so if you’re thinking of selling with them, make sure you look at reviews of the specific office you’d be working with.

That being said, what do people say about Redefy?

The positive reviews make a few of the same points repeatedly. Reviewers mention financial savings, an easy, fast transaction, and the upside of having more than one person working to sell your home.

Redefy Complaints

Complaints found in the negative reviews also have a common theme; poor communication is sometimes an issue, with one customer complaining that Redefy never contacted them unless the seller initiated contact first (Note: This isn’t necessarily a negative, if you’re looking for a low key selling experience). 

Other Redefy complaints mentioned losing their $500 listing retainer after their home didn’t sell, and others mention the lack of assistance with open houses, and even half-hearted negotiation during closing. 

As a whole, the reviews suggest that, if you have a hot property in a booming market, Redefy’s streamlined services and team-based approach probably won’t negatively affect your home’s prospects. However, if you have a unique property in a cool market, or you need a high level of engagement from your agent, Redefy may not be the ideal choice for you.

Redefy vs. Clever

Redefy and Clever Real Estate are both flat fee real estate brokerages, but their business models diverge quite a bit.

For a $3,500 flat fee, Redefy provides a full service experience, minus the dedicated agent, and open house support. As we covered above, this price point makes sense if you’re selling a house worth $125,000 or more, and you’re willing to accept certain compromises. 

Are you prepared to plan and oversee your own open houses? What if your home doesn’t sell immediately? That means after weeks or even months of open houses, if you’re doing something wrong, there won’t be an agent around to advise you.

This leads into the other disadvantage; the lack of a dedicated agent. For sellers who have a very specific idea of how they want to run their home sale, Redefy’s hands-off approach can be great. But if you’re a first-time seller with little familiarity about how the market works, you may find yourself needing more answers than Redefy can give.

So how does Clever compare?

Clever offers a truly full service selling experience at a price point that’s very similar, but even lower. Clever’s flat fee is $3,000, or 1% if your home sells for over $350,000, and they pair you with an experienced, pre-vetted local agent. This agent advises you along every step of your sale, from staging and pricing, to open houses, to offers and negotiation, all the way through closing.

And these aren’t in-house agents. These are experienced local agents who’ve partnered with Clever, and have agreed to provide a full service, elite sale experience for a flat fee. These agents have a deep knowledge of their markets, and will know exactly what buyers in your area are looking for. 

Real Estate Witch has partnered with Clever Real Estate to help our audience realize their real estate goals. Contact them today for a free, no-obligation consultation, and get started with your five-star, full service sale experience!