Reprint Of RE/MAX MainStreet Article Re: 60 Minutes Interview/Red Fin

ARENDS

"Could I be misquoted more times in two minutes and 20 seconds?" asks the Sales Associate with RE/MAX Northwest Realtors in Seattle. "I had lots of good things to say that somehow never made it on the air."

Arends (CRS), a RE/MAX Platinum Club and Hall of Fame member, was the only representative of the traditional real estate industry to appear in the segment, which focused on Settle Internet discounter Redfin.

View the streaming video of the program.

Arends says she had good answers to every question asked by interviewer Lesley Stahl. It's just that most of them landed on the cutting-room floor.

For example, questioned about the fact that Redfin sells houses for a flat rate and that she won't discount her commission, "60 Minutes" cut most of her response.

"The answer to that is - and no matter what I did they would not put it on the air - it's not what you pay an agent, it's what the seller nets that matters," Arends says. "I have reams of documented proof that my sellers net more than they would with Redfin. That's the crux of the whole story."

Stahl interviewed a Seattle couple who say they saved $26,000 by selling and buying through Redfin. Arends wondered how much money the couple left on the table by not using a full-service Realtor. She also said that companies such as Redfin offer their customers the Wal-Mart treatment when what they really need is a professional Realtor.

Arends believes the CBS program had already determined the tone of the program before ever talking to her.

"They certainly slanted it," she says. "The story was going to be the same no matter what I told them. The thing I was struggling to get across is that it's not only the service we provide that's valuable, but the skill and expertise we bring to the table."

Arends has received more than 100 e-mails from Realtors around the country.

"They were very supportive," she says. "Most of them were very upset with the portrayal of real estate agents. I'm surprised that so many of them mentioned the editing job. Every time I said something, my mouth was open to say something else."

Still, she doesn't regret doing the interview.

"I'm absolutely glad I did it," she says. "I mean, somebody was going to sit in that chair and get the same treatment."

"They did some good things such as capturing me out and about," she says. "And it was nice to show that I had a strategy on my listings. I could tell the segment on staging was going to make the air; Lesley was animated during that interview, which wasn't true the rest of the time."

Copyright © 2007 RE/MAX International Inc. 5/17/07