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Redefy targets sellers with a discount broker model

Redefy believes listing agents are overpaid. The Denver-based firm launched a seller-focused national real estate franchise model earlier this year that charges homeowners a flat fee for full service.

Spread across 12 major U.S. metros, the firm’s franchisees have closed 417 transactions in the first half of this year.

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The rise of popular real estate portals make it cheap and easy to market properties to homebuyers, according to Redefy founder Jordan Connett.

For homes priced under $1 million, Redefy charges sellers a flat fee of $2,500 for in-person consultation, professional photographs, home showings, online and multiple listing service marketing, contract negotiation, and management of the title and closing process.

The firm uses a mix of salaried and independent agents, along with administrative staff, organized so that each agent focuses on a specific role.

Salaried agents work in the office handling the digital paperwork and negotiating and closing deals.

Independent agents, who outnumber salaried counterparts by a ratio of 5-to-1, have just one job — secure listings.

Redefy pays the independent agents, whom the firm calls “field” agents, a flat fee for every listing they bring in, and they collect a standard commission when they nab a buyer.

Screenshot of redefy.com

“We broke down the real estate agent’s job into its basic component tasks, organized teams who excel in these individual roles, and added technology to streamline every step of the real estate process, from inception to closing to follow-up,” Connett said.

Connett and co-founder Chris Rediger are not real estate newbies. Connett managed a Keller Williams Real Estate brokerage for two years before leaving to found Redefy in 2011. (Redefy started as a brokerage, but it began franchising this year.)

Rediger was an investor in residential real estate before founding Redefy.

Redefy plans to open four new markets by the end of the year, and its founders are bullish on its future. Why?

“We’ve armed our teams with software created by real estate professionals, integrated with a proprietary process that eliminates all the hassles,” Connett said.

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