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Lever Time

The Zillow And Redfin Convenience Trap

Lever Time

The Lever

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.8560 Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to the free ad-supported version of our podcast. For an ad-free experience,

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visit levernews.com slash upgrade. When Donald Trump was inaugurated like all presidents, he swore

0:12.1

an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Instead, Donald Trump has decided

0:16.9

to swerve, deflect, and append the Constitution and treat it like a terms and conditions

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page. I'm Professor Corey Brett Schneider. And I'm deeply unqualified comedian John Fugleson.

0:27.3

We'd like to invite you to listen to the Oath in the Office podcast where every week we interpret

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the Constitution and hold Trump accountable to his oath. It's a podcast that offers real insight on how to take action against tyranny and mayhem,

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because despair is not a strategy.

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We'll hold him to his pledge, despite his threats to democracy and the law itself.

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It's a podcast that's all about hope for what a real democracy should look like from an esteemed, respected

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constitutional scholar and a deeply neurotic comedian who thought the emoluments clause was a breakfast item.

1:01.1

Subscribe to The Oath in the Office where every week we talk about how citizens can preserve our democracy

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and fight back against the threat to democracy.

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Subscribe to The Oath in the Office on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast.

1:17.8

The Lever

1:18.7

From the Lever's reader-supported newsroom, this is Lever Time.

1:26.2

I'm Natalie Bettendorf, filling in for David Serota.

1:30.1

Getting a home loan used to mean weeks of phone calls and paperwork, but now it's gotten easier,

1:37.4

maybe too easy. A recent investigation from our team at the lever found that real estate sites

1:43.8

Zillow and Redfin are

1:45.7

trapping consumers and pushing out competition with their one-stop-shot models.

1:51.3

The lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission last week backs this up, claiming that the

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