"The times they are a changin'.."

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I came across this story in an interesting London real estate blog, The Rat and Mouse. The story actually references something which appeared on this side of the pond, in a Sixty Minutes story of earlier this spring.

The story chronicles the struggle of online real estate brokerage mavericks Redfin with the "establishment" real estate community. Essentially, Redfin's model offers brokerage services at a substantial discount below the traditional six percent commission rate. They use a flat seller's fee of $3000 and -- in a move that must be peeving a number of folks -- they refund two-thirds of the standard buyer's commission back to the purchaser of the home. You can watch the entire Sixty Minutes story here...