Summary of Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation—The consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”).

The financial information as of December 31, 2020 that is included in this quarterly report is derived from the audited consolidated financial statements and notes for the year ended December 31, 2020 included in Item 8 in our annual report for the year ended December 31, 2020. Such financial information should be read in conjunction with the notes and management’s discussion and analysis of the consolidated financial statements included in our annual report.

The unaudited consolidated interim financial statements, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary to present fairly our financial position as of March 31, 2021, the statements of comprehensive loss, statements of cash flows, and statements of changes in mezzanine equity and stockholders’ equity for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020. The results for the three months ended March 31, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the year ending December 31, 2021 or for any interim period or for any other future year.

Certain amounts presented in the prior period consolidated statements of cash flows have been reclassified to conform to the current period financial statement presentation. The change in classification does not affect previously reported cash flows from operating activities, investing activities or financing activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows.

Principles of Consolidation

Principles of Consolidation—The unaudited consolidated interim financial statements include the accounts of Redfin Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries, including those entities in which we have a variable interest and of which we are the primary beneficiary. Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated.

Use of Estimates

Use of Estimates—The preparation of consolidated financial statements, in conformity with GAAP, requires our management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and results of operations during the respective periods. Our estimates include, but are not limited to, valuation of deferred income taxes, stock-based compensation, net realizable value of inventory, capitalization of website and software development costs, the incremental borrowing rate for the determination of the present value of lease payments, recoverability of intangible assets with finite lives, fair value of our mortgage loans held for sale, fair value of interest rate lock commitments ("IRLCs") and forward sales commitments, fair value of reporting units for purposes of evaluating goodwill for impairment, current expected credit losses on certain financial assets, and the fair value of the convertible feature related to our convertible senior notes. The amounts ultimately realized from the affected assets or ultimately recognized as liabilities will depend on, among other factors, general business conditions and could differ materially in the near term from the carrying amounts reflected in the consolidated financial statements.

Recently Adopted and Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements—In August 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "FASB") issued authoritative guidance under ASU 2020-06.

This guidance removes the liability and equity separation models for convertible instruments with a cash conversion feature or beneficial conversion feature. As a result, companies will more likely account for a convertible debt instrument wholly as debt, and for convertible preferred stock wholly as preferred stock (i.e., as a single unit of account). In addition, the guidance simplifies the settlement assessment that issuers perform to determine whether a contract in their own equity qualifies for equity classification. Finally, the guidance requires entities to use the if-converted method to calculate earnings per share for all convertible instruments.

We early adopted ASU 2020-06 as of January 1, 2021 using the modified retrospective approach. The cumulative effect of initially applying the new standard was recognized as an adjustment to accumulated deficit. Upon the adoption of the new standard we recognized the following adjustments:

	Ending Balance as of December 31, 2020		ASU 2020-06 Adjustments		Beginning Balance as of January 1, 2021
Convertible senior notes, net	$	22,482	$	2,723	$	25,205
Convertible senior notes, net, noncurrent	488,268		159,755		648,023
Additional paid-in capital	860,556		(170,240)		690,316
Accumulated deficit	(270,313)		7,762		(262,551)

The $7,762 adjustment to accumulated deficit represents a reduction to non-cash interest expense related to the accretion of the debt discount under the historical separation model.