The Zillow And Redfin Convenience Trap

About this episode

The episode discusses the hidden costs of using real estate platforms like Zillow and Redfin for homebuying.

Getting a home mortgage used to take weeks of phone calls and paperwork. Now, real estate search platforms like Zillow and Redfin offer comprehensive, nearly one-click homebuying. What are the hidden costs of trusting these industry giants with every step of the process? Today on Lever Time , producer Natalie Bettendorf speaks with Lever reporter Helen Santoro about her investigation into how these one-stop real estate shops may actually be hurting homebuyers — and the U.S. economy. You can read Helen’s story here , and a follow-up story here . Click here for a full transcript of the episode. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/join . To leave a tip for The Lever , click here . It helps us do this kind of independent journalism.

People in this episode

Host: Natalie Bettendorf

Guest: Helen Santoro

Topics covered

• real estate
• homebuying
• mortgage
• Zillow
• Redfin
• economy
• investigation

Keywords

• home mortgage
• real estate search
• one-click homebuying
• hidden costs
• homebuyers
• U.S. economy
• investigation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Zillow, Redfin, Lever, levernews.com

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