Redfin Shareholders Say Yes to Rocket Deal—Industry Shakeup Ahead?

Rocket Mortgage - Redfin Acquisition Approved by Shareholders

If the preliminary vote tallies hold, Redfin shareholders just gave Rocket Companies the green light to buy them out for $1.75 billion. That vote took place yesterday, June 4, during a special meeting that followed some last-minute legal fireworks and a bit of political heat. Assuming everything stays on track, the deal will close before the end of June.

For those who haven’t been tracking it closely, this merger means Rocket, best known for Rocket Mortgage, is about to add a national real estate brokerage, tech platform, and salaried-agent workforce to its portfolio. It also means Redfin, which hasn’t had a profitable year in nearly two decades, gets absorbed into a company with the budget and appetite to scale their model nationwide.

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Redfin Joins Zillow in Blocking Listings Not First Shared via MLS

Redfin Follows Zillows lead on blocking non MLS Listings

Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, announced this week that Redfin.com will no longer display listings that were publicly marketed before being shared through the MLS. In a post published April 14th on Redfin’s blog, Kelman stated, “Because we believe that all buyers should be able to see all listings, Redfin.com will not publish any listings that have been publicly marketed before being shared with all real estate websites via the MLS.” In an effort to support this approach, he also called on MLSs to adopt a coming-soon designation that hides days on market and price changes, features often cited by agents and sellers as barriers to listing early on the MLS.

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