I stumbled upon a site called $500 Realty a couple days ago...

The Tacoma, WA based company will list your property for, you guessed it, $500. Not only do you get it thrown into the local MLS, but you also get a professionally installed post and sign! Killer deal for some people I suppose.

Here's the real kicker, and the part that ties in Redfin, sorta:

When it comes to buying a house through $500 Realty, they will refund 66% of the commission back to you. Or, if you'd like, they can credit the closing costs (at the lenders discretion). Or, maybe they will apply it towards the down payment (again at lender discretion). Or maybe...

OK, no more maybes. That's probably confusing you enough as is.

The whole idea reminds me of a great post by a local friend, Larry Morris, in which he asks "Are You Committing Fraud with Seller Paid Concessions?"

In Oregon, any sort of rebate back to the customer is illegal. I wonder what will change first, Oregon Law, or the laws of other states that are allowing this to happen?