As readers, listeners of Notorious POD, and people who have heard me present live know, I’m on the record as suggesting that we do not have a housing bubble. What we have is dollar devaluation caused by massive Fed money printing since the start of the pandemic. Accordingly, I believe that the “seller’s market” will … Read more
I think it’s safe to say that I was reeling in a bit of shock and disappointment last quarter, when Zillow abruptly quit the iBuying business. I thought for years that Zillow’s overall strategy made perfect sense, and that becoming the market maker for residential housing was at the center of that strategy. So I … Read more
Full disclosure: I have had a number of business relationships with HomeSmart in the past, hope to in the future, have spoken and will speak at some of their events, and I am friends with many of the people there. But they are not a client and I am under no confidentiality restrictions with them. … Read more
Got a phone call first thing this morning from a good friend of mine, who is one of the smartest people in the industry, who flat out asked me why Realogy was publicly taking a stance against cooperation & compensation in the MLS. He’s usually able to figure stuff out, but this one, he said … Read more
I just saw this article from NAR Research come across my news feeds: Leading Economic and Housing Experts Predict Multiple Fed Interest Rate Hikes, Slowing Inflation and Home Price Growth in 2022. The key takeaway: More than 20 top economic and housing experts predict two quarter-point interest rate hikes by the Fed in 2022. Next … Read more
I’m gearing up to release the next two big annual pieces — grading myself on last year’s predictions and 2022 predictions — but I got yet another email from some PR firm: Investment in virtual real estate has become the talk of the town in the real estate world as millions are being poured into … Read more
Welcome to another installment of an annual tradition around here: the Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate in 2021. I look forward to this post, as well as my Seven Predictions post, each year. Last year, I went out of my way to select interesting people who weren’t the Obvious Choices. This year, I’m … Read more
For the past few years, the attention of the industry leadership has been focused on the issue of commission compression. The Moehrl lawsuit was the beginning, but the involvement of the DOJ and now the FTC is raising real concerns about what happens to the 6% real estate commission that has been the default for … Read more
Three years ago, I wrote a post titled, “The Case for iBuyer Becoming the Default.” It came up in my social media feeds, thanks to the hard work of my social media manager. And the timing couldn’t have been better, since I’ve been thinking that I need to reassess iBuying as a category in light … Read more