Redfin has joined the movement to pre-market listings with the launch of its Redfin Early Access, a new search category featuring homes that are only on Redfin, plus pre-market listings from Compass International Holdings’ portfolio of brands.
The Seattle-based brokerage said Redfin Early Access was designed to help buyers enjoy an early look at homes that aren’t listed elsewhere while helping sellers test pricing and demand before a broader market debut. Redfin Early Access listings get premium placement in search results and are denoted by special icons, so users know when a home is unique to Redfin.
“A lot of homeowners want to sell, but are not ready to commit to full exposure,” said Redfin Chief of Real Estate Services Jason Aleem. “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. That’s good for sellers, good for buyers and good for a housing market that desperately needs more inventory.”
How is this in the best interest of homeowner?
In most cases I don’t think it is in the best interest of the home owner! It is always best in my opinion to have as many showings as possible in a limited time frame to obtain the highest price when inventory is tight!.
Kathy
This is NOT in the best interest of anyone except Real Estate companies double ending the deals.
I totally agree! This is only in Redfin’s best interest
who wants to go to have to go to multiple sites to see what homes are for sale? more fragmentation of a fragmented industry
Just another ploy to confuse the Buyers and Sellers in today’s already complicated real estate market!
There’s alot of inventory in certain places already.
I agree that this is not in the best interest of the homeowner. How does this fit in with Washington State’s ban on private listings? Real estate brokers are prohibited from marketing homes to a limited or exclusive group of buyers or other brokers unless the home is broadly marketed to the general public at the exact same time. Is this considered broad marketing? The legislation goes into effect June 11, 2026.
A lot of homeowners want to sell, but are not ready to commit to full exposure,” said Redfin Chief of Real Estate Services Jason Aleem. I Can’t be the only Realtor that sees that the Emperor has no clothes. This is a typical of founders of firms that take their companies public that ultimately want to sell and cash out at high prices. I get that and am all for it. I at one point invented the first hypo-allergenic baby shampoo available for public use. My goal was to go public and cash out. But I never mislead the public to achieve that goal. (We did not go public and ultimately ran out of money). However I love entrepreneurship but don’t blatantly lie to the public and say what is noted in that first sentence. Firms listed on Wall Street have as their ultimate obligation is to maximize profits. So apparently now in the real estate industry these Wall Street firms lie about these off market listings as benefiting their seller clients. That may be the case for a small number of sellers however for these firms to push this BS as the new way to sell real estate is to be detested. Obviously, this is done to benefit these wall street firms’ bottom lines. And that is fine…..if they just say that, rather than promote something that is truly not in the best interest of most sellers.
if u seriously want to sell in today’s market & any other as in years past for top dollar,u list ur property with a licensed Real Estate Professional who follows a strict code of ethics who will give ur property maximum exposure which translates in to the fastest possible sale for top dollar!!
Every comment I’ve read is true. If a seller is not ready to sell then how does testing the market make any sense? For most sellers there a lot of work getting your home ready to sell. Make this make sense. Either there’s a lot I’m missing Or nothing at all. It’s another confusing scam.
It is absolutely fine to do this, once the listing office advises the seller/s that there is a disadvantage to the seller in doing so. This is similar to an office exclusive listing whereby a property is listed and kept “in house” and not appear on the MLS. In taking such a listing, the agent is required to inform the seller/s that this could be unfavourable to them if they were to so choose.
The only time I have used “coming soon” to real advantage was in a resort area. The advance notice of date it would hit the market allowed out of state potential buyers the opportunity to arrange travel and actually view the property in person at the same time the locals could view it. A buyer from another state did just that and did actually purchase the property for full price.