Yup…we did it. We bought our house with the website redfin.com. Redfin is basically a relatively new website that displays houses for sale online (includes pictures and all of the specs) and even assigns you a real estate agent that will help you close on a home. One thing I learned while buying a house is that ANYBODY can become a real estate agent. No offense to real estate agents but I would say a very large percentage of them are plain idiots. We actually went through 2 agents before settling on redfin. And we met countless agents at all of the open houses we went to. Many times they would lecture to us about the housing market or about loans and it was plain obvious that we knew more than them. I was like….how do these people get clients?????

Now, I’m not going to say that Redfin is perfect but they were miles better than when we were working with any other agent and I’ll explain why a little bit later. It’s so funny too because whenever we would meet a real estate agent and the topic of Redfin came up they were quick to bash them…maybe because they do their job better than them? If I were an agent, I’d be scared too. I see Redfin being the wave of the future for the real estate market honestly. So now I will list the pros and cons of buying a house with redfin.

Pros:
- You get half of the commission back. When you buy a house with a regular real estate agent, they get 3% of the selling price as their commission. If you buy with Redfin, you split that commission with them so you get 1.5%! This can turn out to be a hefty sum…for us it was over $7K that we got that we wouldn’t have normally gotten with any other agent.
- Everybody gets paid on customer satisfaction, not on you buying a house. Everybody we encountered from Redfin was SO NICE and had the best customer service ever. They were very helpful and were quick to reply to any questions we had. We first put our bid for the house right before Thanksgiving weekend….our agent was working for us ON Thanksgiving Day!
- Everything is electronic. If you’re comfortable with the internet and email you will LOVE this aspect. All of the papers we had to sign were through email using an e-signature. And it was pretty much the easiest thing I’ve ever done. And afterwards you have an electronic copy of all of the papers. Very convenient.
- There’s even a Redfin iPhone app. How cool is it that I can shop for houses on my phone??

Cons:
- Although I felt like everyone we worked with seemed very competent at their jobs and knowledgeable, I did feel during the negotiation period our agent wasn’t as “tough” as she could have been. In other words, she wasn’t the best negotiator…so in this case, being too nice was not a good thing! But I was reading reviews on the agents (they are all online), you can see that some agents are better skilled at negotiating than others..it is just luck of the draw I guess. In the end, she was good enough and I was overall happy with her.
- Their website/listings only gets updated once an hour. We had many agents tell us how Redfin is not “uptodate” like the listings they see but for us that didn’t matter. It’s not like we can go run and see a house the minute a house gets on the market! But I put it here as a con because it might be for some people.
- You have to find your own houses. This can be a time consuming process and I suppose it might be nicer to have someone else sift through the houses to show you but for us, it wasn’t too bad. Plus Redfin has an email feature where you can put in the specs you like and they will email you when a house that fits your description goes on the market. I noticed many real estate agents are doing a form of this nowadays anyways instead of handpicking houses for you.
- They don’t do short sales. This was a bummer to us but when we had our own real estate agent he didn’t do them either!

The process of buying a house through Redfin is relatively easy. You just go through the listings and pick whatever house(s) you want to see and click “Go See It”. You put in the times you are available to go see it and they assign you a local field agent. This whole process is very fast….you can even schedule to see something the next day. The best part is they do not pressure you to buy a house at all. Again, they get paid on customer satisfaction! If you decide to buy a house, they then assign you a “lead agent”. This person holds your hand through escrow and all of the paperwork/negotiations. We actually never met this person but did all of our dealings through phone and email. That’s kind of weird but convenient because it’s a lot easier to not have to coordinate meet up times since we’re both very busy and work pretty late.

Would I buy a house with Redfin again? Absolutely! Like I said, it wasn’t the perfect experience but if I had to work with a random agent or Redfin I would definitely pick Redfin. I think even if I knew an agent (which we did and regretted using him), I don’t like the pressure of feeling bad about taking so long to buy a house. Plus, you get that fat refund at the end….so worth it!

If anyone has questions about Redfin…feel free to ask!

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belkin energy saving surge protector with remote! – $20.99;

Shipping is an extra 8 bucks but if you buy two like I did you can get free shipping. Also, don’t forget to use Bing cashback for an extra 5%. If you don’t know how to use Bing cashback, it’s SUPER easy. Just visit Bing.com and click on shopping. Find the store you are shopping at and go to the website through this link. You will get your cashback in a few weeks! It’s super easy. Now back to this product…I love how this surge protector has a remote. I plan on using this for our entertainment center and possibly for our office. It will make turning off the electronics every night SO EASY! Many people forget that even if your your electronics are off, while they are plugged in they are still using electricity. Albeit very little, but it adds up over time!

3in memory foam mattress topper – $45

After much discussion, our friends recommended that instead of paying a lot for a highend mattress to just buy a mattress topper instead. It seems like people swear by them. This one is highly rated and a great deal! I am thinking of buying a 2nd one for the guest room too. We’ll test it out first though. :)

uniball pen with super ink – free

I love a good pen and this one helps prevent check fraud. and oh yeah it’s free so who cares! the only bad thing is they give a limited number each day so you have to get in on the deal before they run out.

printable 50% off Joann coupon – normally these coupons are 40% off so this extra 10% makes me happy and it should make all you crafters out there happy too!

Taco bell fresco taco – free
you know what’s sad….even though this taco is free, everytime I go to taco bell i can’t resist ordering something else. which is a shame since taco bell is oh so unhealthy. but how can I resist this???

And at 89 cents, it might as well be free! I love taco bell, don’t hate peeps.

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The Dealnew Guide to the Best Black Friday Deals

Top 15 Black Friday tech deals

Rating the Black Friday Laptop Doorbuster Deals

And don’t forget the Amazon Black Friday deals have already started: Amazon Black Friday Deals

And the Amazon Black Friday Deals Calendar can show you the deals coming up

And speaking of deals, click here to get 3 free Amazon mp3 downloads! 3 Free Mp3s from Amazon

********More Deals**********

The Budget Fashionista’s Comprehensive List of Black Friday In-Store Deals

H&M Black Friday Sale – 25% off item of your choice

I will continue to update this when I see good deals!

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Luckily for me (and you), I’ve been collecting free Gogo coupons for a few of the major airlines. Hopefully when I fly home for Christmas my airplane will be equipped with Gogo and I can have internet on the plane! (yes, I am addicted :P)

So here are some codes:

2287680956psc – expires Jan. 7, 2010. Works on AirTran Airways, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines flights.
DELTATRYGOGO – expires Dec. 31st, 2010. Works on Delta Airlines

Ok, I just realized retailmenot has a Gogo page! so you can keep up to date with the codes there. :)

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You can view a bigger version here.

And if you’re looking to buy some plug adapters….here is a hot deal for a 3 piece set for 15.99!

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With VIP membership it means you can get free overnight shipping with every order!! And of course returns are always free.

I just had to share with all of the shoe lovers out there like me! I’ve ordered shoes from them before and I loved their customer service. They also have a wide selection of shoes and a really great reviews section if you’re looking for more info on a shoe.

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- steel cut
- made with organic oats
- topped with fruit and brown sugar crumble
- SO SO YUMMY!!

Did I convince you yet? Go here to find the closest Jamba Juice near you. (And no… Jamba Juice is not paying me! I just really love the stuff :))

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BUT I have another deal, and one that is even better in my opinion! It’s the free quiznos sub deal! Just go here to sign up. They’ll send you an email with a link to print out your coupon. I tried it and got the honey bacon club…..mmmmmm. They are only giving away a million, so better hurry up!

Also, if you want something healthier, you can sign up for a coupon for a free Kashi frozen entree. Here is more info on their all natural selection of entrees.

I love how all of these deals have been coming out because of the recession!

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His tips include knowing what kind of coverage you need, providing phone numbers for all of the major car insurance companies so you can shop around for prices, and including a list of questions to ask. All of this info is super helpful and will be sure to save you some money on your car insurance! Check out the rest of his blog if you’re looking for other ways to save money as well.

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So how does the website work? You just sign up with whatever club card you have and then it will display all of the coupons available for that store. Next, just click “add” on whichever coupons you think you’ll use. Next time you go grocery shopping, the coupons will be automatically applied to your purchases! Pretty easy!

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