Redfin’s Offer Insights intends to provide homebuyers with unique information about specific housing markets.

Redfin took its latest stab at the hyperlocal landscape late last week with the unveiling of “Offer Insights,” a new feature on its website that highlights the observations and experiences of Redfin agents on specific real estate markets.

Inspired by today’s housing market, which has come to be defined by low housing inventory and high competition, Redfin intends for Offer Insights to provide insights into a local marketplace that will give homebuyers an advantage when pursuing a residence in the area.

Redfin Offer Insights – Giving Homebuyers an Edge

At launch, Redfin is featuring roughly 8,000 Offer Insights on its website. Some key characteristics of the feature include:

• Prior to a transaction closing, Offer Insights are not tied to a specific home, but rather, a neighborhood, postal code or city.
• Once the transaction closes, though, the Offer Insights is updated, and more details about the transaction (such as the address of the home) are included in the Offer Insight.
• Only Redfin agents are allowed to contribute Offer Insights.

So, with that in mind, here’s an example of an Offer Insight that a Redfin agent in Boston wrote about the city’s West Cambridge neighborhood:

A strong offer with a waived financing contingency was the primary factor in my client winning this offer. However, her cover letter explaining renovation plans and excitement to make the property a home made a big difference! Other buyers were investors looking to flip the property, but it mattered to the sellers that the next owner was going to live in the home personally.”

Glenn Kelman – Offer Insights a ‘Competitive Advantage’ to Customers

Offer Insights, Redfin explained, grew out of its “Tour Insights,” which it launched in 2011 and now features 250,000 notes on homes that Redfin agents have toured in the last couple years; anything from road noise, to pollution, to radiant floor heat was covered in the notes.

Glenn Kelman, Redfin’s CEO, said the company’s long-term goals for Offer Insights are ambitious.

“Our long-term strategy is to combine the expertise of local agents on the ground with powerful technology running in the Internet cloud,” he said. “The result is a competitive advantage customers can’t get anywhere else.”

And indeed, this is just the latest example of the real estate process becoming more open and free. From listing information to client testimonials, the business of real estate has been in constant flux the last couple years, and if Offer Insights tells us anything, it’s that innovation is showing no signs of slowing down within the housing industry.