I think buyers could brave buying a home without a realtor. It's a little crazy but doable.

Selling is another matter entirely. If you would like the peace of mind to know that your home is actually in your past once the money is in your bank account, use a broker. Having your past home haunt your future can be a miserable prospect.

Why can't my attorney provide me with that assurance while he's taking me through the closing process? What extra thing is the broker doing?

Cutting the fees in half.

cutting the fees by 25% actually. Redfin acts as the buyer or seller's broker and only gives you back half of their 3% commission. The other side's broker still gets their 3%. So you pay 4.5% instead of 6%.

That only accounts for the selling side, though. You also get a refund as a buyer and if you are buying and selling with Redfin (not uncommon), the savings are substantial.

They actually only charge 1% commission as the selling agent now, too, so vs a typical 6% combined commission, they save 33% for the seller. (Assuming just a sale)

Redfin doesn't seem to disclose how they calculate the refund anymore, though, so I'm not sure how much that works out to be. Seems to be around half a percent, so lower than it used to be.

All combined, it's close to half of the traditional fees that they either refund or don't collect.

How does a web site get licensed as a real estate broker, anyway?

They are registered brokers with a website- just like Windermere. They took this path vs being just a website like Zillow.

zillow is much more than a website if you're an agent

They have physical brokers in each region (I think the unit is more granular than each state, iirc?)

Yeah I think it's by metro area. I live in DC and the same office handles DC and the Maryland and Virginia DC suburbs, and I think many of the agents are cross-licensed.