(2006-02-09) New Real Estate Sites

Article about Real Estate sites http://www.zillow.com and http://www.redfin.com - (Zillow) provides data like previous sales prices and the prices of similar properties on 60 million residential properties, information that real estate agents do not display in the public multiple listing service... (Redfin) which maps listings with other sources of real estate data for Seattle, added a feature last week that allows a visitor to buy a property online. A real estate agent is not cut out of the process; in fact, Redfin is itself a real estate brokerage company. But the site automates the paperwork of making a bid and then rebates to the buyer two-thirds of the buyer's agent's commission, which is usually 3 percent. Redfin, as the buyer's agent, takes only a 1 percent commission.