Keller Williams realty or Redfin where to work?

Question

Hello, all. I am a newly licensed real estate agent in MA and have my NH reciprocity license. I plan to work for either Keller Williams or Redfin as a real estate agent. I have friends in both companies and wanted to see if any current, past or present agents could share their experiences or recommendations.

Thank You

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Joshua Rivera Former Realtor here.  When I relocated from MA to ME, I signed on with KW in S. Portland.  What a disaster!

They are all about agent count.  There were big promises of training and lots of support, but that was just talk.  After I signed on - as an experienced agent in my early 60s - they handed me off to a 20-something kid as my "mentor".  The kid wasn't even licensed yet.  Promises were made and then broken.

They pushed me hard to go to a free one-day event called "Ignite", so I did.  It was a hard sell to attend another seminar at $800.  Ignite was an utter waste of time as it offered virtually nothing in the way of useful information.

When I submitted my letter of resignation to my "coach" and the DMB, I didn't even get a response.

Let me be clear - not every KW office is like this.  They have a good reputation and could not have built their business if every office was a chaotic and unorganized as S. Portland.  My point is that you need to look at each office closely.

I moved to EXP and found the polar opposite.  The support and training are spectacular.  They also have a recruiting model that feels a little like MLM to me, but I chose not to invest any time in it.  I just wanted to sell real estate.

I ended up leaving because moving to Maine at 63 years old with a contact list of 8 people in the entire state - all family members - just didn't make sense.  I would have needed to grind for 5 years to start building referrals and repeat business.  That's why I chose to get into business brokering, which proved to be a very good move.

As to Redfin, that is a very different model.  In my opinion it's good for agents who want to be a Realtor, but don't want to work hard.  You get some minimal salary and benefits, then you get paid for activities like listing and showing properties.

As a Realtor talking with a prospective seller, I *loved* being up against Redfin.  My pitch was simple. "Mr. Seller, I am paid only when I sell your home.  That other company pays their agents whether they sell your property or not.  Which of is do you think is more motivated to give it everything we've got to sell your home?  When that call comes in from a buyer wanting to see your home on a Friday night, which of us is more likely to forego our date night and take that appointment?"

I never lost to Redfin.  They're the textbook definition of an easy target.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

Joshua Poitras · Answer

I am at Candor to Josh, Work with this team, d you have an investment property yet?

Todor Ialamov · Answer

@Joshua Rivera

Hello Josh, when I got my licence I joined KW in Reading MA. Their training classes are great. I learned a lot ( was even awarded rookie of the year). It is a great agency and still feels like family. However, I am an investor first and wanted to work with investor clients, and there is not much there on this side.

A year ago moved to Candor Realty (out of Lowell). We are a team of over 30 agent investors. If your goal is to be an investor and work with investors, I would strongly recommend to check us out.

We have a meet up (Pints and Properties) this Thursday 6:30 at 165 Thorndike st Lowell MA. Come have a beer and check us out.

Shoot me a Message if you wanted to get more details.

165 Thorndike

Matthew Dennehy · Answer

Keller Williams is a great company and lots of market share. There’s a lot of training for new agents, and a lot of opportunity for growth. I was with the KW Metro office out of Bedford until I got my brokers license and became independent. They were great.  I left, and started my own brokerage, because my clients needed more flexibility and I’ve never looked back!

Redfin is a completely different model and they don’t have a large market share in our market. I will let someone else speak about them as a company, since I don’t have any first-hand experience, just caution you to thoroughly investigate before you consider that as an option.

Joshua Tessier · Answer

I am in a similar boat.  I want to transition from working in Engineering to full time with real estate. I need the engineering salary to keep pace with my current renovations on the properties I already own.  In order to keep gowning I need that W2 and 2 years of employment in the field for another year or two. Finical freedom is going closer and closer so my question is more how do the two handle agents buying properties for themselves and commission splits.

Russell Brazil · Answer

One is being self employed business owner....the other is being an employee with a job. Which of those 2 do you prefer?

Bruce Lynn · Answer

Very different companies...depends on what you are looking for.... Redfin is more like working a job...so you'll probably have more steady income in the begining if you need a paycheck....seems like a great company, but for the most part I don't see people stay that long.  You might be more like a cog in the wheel doing a specific job...for example most agents are probably showing 1 to 4 homes at a time to customers.  If they want to make an offer, you hand off to a different agent who writes contracts.  So you may not develop a long term business by helping repeat customers and may not learn all aspects of the business.  Some people are ok with that in return for a paycheck and to get a very basic start.

Seems like most people get into real estate to build their own business, control their time, and get rich.   You stand a much better chance of that at KW.  Plenty of investor agents.  Growing, profitable, debt free, awesome technology, great training.   No matter what niche you want to get in there is someone at KW not only doing it in a big way, but probably a giant way,   Obviously not everyone will be successful at KW or any company, but I think you most often will have the best chance at KW vs almost any other brokerage.

Joshua Rivera · Answer

@Charlie MacPherson Thank you for your response. I plan on taking the ME exam this month just waiting for the NH commission to process my paperwork to give me the form to submit with the ME application

Joshua Rivera · Answer

@Shawn Mcenteer I am looking to invest and learn to be a realtor as well as I will start of real estate part-time if there are no benefits (traditional = no benefits and redfin = benefits)

Shawn Mcenteer · Answer

Hi @Joshua Rivera  that answer will depend on what it is you are looking to do.  Are you  looking to learn to be a realtor, are you looking to invest, are looking to do both, or something else?

Keller Williams realty or Redfin where to work?

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