Redfin Team Profile: Tim Harper of The Legacy Team

Tim Harper is a Redfin Premier agent and Team Lead of The Legacy Team in Ormond Beach, FL. He originally joined Redfin from 2015-2022 to launch and lead our Daytona Beach market. He rejoined us in November 2024 after starting his own brokerage, Palm & Pine Realty, bringing his entire team home under the Redfin brand. We caught up with Tim to hear more about his journey back and his experience with Redfin Teams.

How did you get started in real estate?

I’ve been in real estate for over 10 years. I started at a mom and pop real estate brokerage where we primarily did foreclosures during the Great Recession. That was some of the grittiest work in real estate, but I was fortunate enough to make a living doing it. I knew I wanted to take my real estate career to the next level, which ultimately led me to connect with MaryDell Penney, who is still leading the Florida team. We talked about starting up a new market in Daytona Beach. Redfin was very scrappy at the time and there was a lot to figure out on the fly, but I thought the tech, culture and people were amazing. To me, it was clear Redfin was the only one doing something different with real estate, so I decided to be a part of it for the next seven years. When I left, I started my own brokerage and built an awesome team. 

What were the biggest challenges with owning your own brokerage? 

You hear about tech challenges all the time in real estate, and that was true for me too. Coming from Redfin, it took me by surprise—I took it for granted how far ahead Redfin was in terms of agent technology. I went through the best CRM systems you can buy and spent a ton of money on them, and nothing came close to what Redfin provides with Agent Tools, quality of leads and top-tier support. There’s a reason overall tech adoption rates are low among agents. When you’re working with seven different tools, it’s not as cohesive as something built in-house. 

I also found myself missing Redfin’s consumer site and app so much. Well, actually, I was still using it every single day personally to help find homes for my clients, but I couldn’t recreate the quality of leads I got as a Redfin agent. Again, I found myself paying thousands of dollars a month for other systems that just weren’t up to par. We’d get random leads funneled to us, then it was up to the team to cold call without much context. You had to be gritty with it and we were able to be successful. But I always had it in the back of my head that Redfin made things so much easier for agents to do what they do best!

What made you decide to come back to Redfin?

I never thought my 20-something year old self would say this, but I missed having a strong corporate backbone to my business. When I had my own brokerage I was wearing 27 different hats. I missed being able to have resources on policy and legal issues readily available, especially when the industry started to change last year. I also noticed that Redfin was the first brokerage to be out there doing something about that industry change, and appeared to be evolving right along with it with Redfin Next and Redfin Teams. It seemed to me that this was Redfin’s time to shine and execute the vision they’d always had.

How did you approach bringing your team to Redfin?

When I told my team about Redfin Next, I sat them all down and said “I know we’ve been through a lot of changes, but how much do you guys trust me?” Luckily, they heard my transparent thoughts over the years about Redfin, including me saying out loud if Redfin ever managed a way to keep doing what they’re doing, but with a slight mix of more traditional structure then I would be all in! With that said, I’m happy to report that after the first month back, everyone on my team is blown away and asking why I ever left! We’re coming back better and stronger. Having the support around you along with the tech, camaraderie and culture makes a difference. 

How is your team structured? 

We’re set up with the rainmaker model, where I’m there to be a mentor to everyone on my team. I work with my own clients, but also spend a lot of time shadowing my team, hopping on video calls and supporting them with negotiating, contracts, and other development opportunities. I’m able to pave the way for them and expedite their success with how Redfin operates. It’s easy to see the possibilities are endless with Redfin Next and Redfin Teams to really fine tune the operations for a better work-life balance, but also lean on each other to serve more clients with the best customer service, especially since Redfin offers so much value to independent agents as it is. It’s great to see how open Redfin has been with Redfin Teams. They take our feedback every day and use it to ensure we have the best winning system.

Who do you think will be attracted to Redfin Teams?

I really think anyone can benefit from being on a team. There’s an obvious attraction for newer agents who want support and mentorship to take their career to the next level, and to the more experienced agents who may be passionate about mentoring, but are also looking for additional camaraderie and support to help with accountability. Another great approach is through partnerships where you have two heavy-hitters who can weave their talents together for even more impact. We have some teams, like Elena Fleck and Jonathan Huffer of The Luxury Experts, who are set up this way and they deliver a great one-two punch for their customers. 

What would you tell other agents who are thinking about joining Redfin? 

I’d say take everything you know about traditional real estate in terms of structure and throw it out the window. Just listen to what Redfin has to offer. Redfin is the only brokerage that has their technology cemented and integrated seamlessly with one another. It’s all super robust but still user-friendly. I know all of the tech companies use the same buzzwords and it’s hard to trust that. But when Redfin says you’re getting 10 new leads a month, that means 10 serious appointments—not cold calls. Just think about what you can achieve with that combined with the #1 support team and the best agent tools! I can go on and on, but at the end of the day, it’s an absolute no-brainer!

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