How Much Do Redfin Agents Make?

Whenever I go to a conference like Inman Connect or a RE Bar Camp I'm always asked what kind of agents Redfin hires or why would an agent work at Redfin when Redfin doesn't pay a commission. The general undertone of the questions being that Redfin hires the rejects of the real estate industry or those who couldn't hack it. The truth couldn't be further from that!

To answer this question we recently wrote a lengthy post on our corporate blog, What Kind of Person Would Work as a Redfin Agent, that digs into not just why they'd work at Redfin but exactly how much money a Redfin agent makes. And we even go a step further and compare it to what other agents make. 

Turns out Redfin pay for our Seattle agents is in the 90th percentile when we dug into the MLS records for the last year and figured out how much every agent in King County makes. Here's the nitty gritty on how we pay:

We don’t pay our agents a commission, but do offer a bonus based on client satisfaction. To calculate the bonus, we survey clients about the likelihood of their recommending our service. Paying based on the survey response, and then publishing that response, has an overwhelming effect on agent behavior, most of it very good.

In King County, Redfin has had five agents handling deals for us over the same time period that we considered when analyzing traditional agents gross commissions: May 2009 to May 2010. All of them lead a team. The average pay of those agents has been $113,266, or the equivalent of $157,849 if you include the value of our benefits.

In the post we focused on the money because that's what outside people always ask about but when I talk to agents at Redfin the reasons I hear why they joined Redfin is because they were tired of spending all their time marketing (agent's typically spend 80% of their time generating business and only 20% actually helping clients) or they want to help us in our quest to make buying and selling easier and better or they want a real estate career with benefits, vacation time and a career path. 

If you have questions on what's like to be an agent, coordinator or field agent at Redfin feel free to ask away. We're happy to share what it's like!