It’s that time of year again. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose. And Rob making ridiculous predictions sure to be wrong about the year to come. Welcome to the predictions for the Year After the Pandemic. Let’s all raise a glass and forget that 2020 ever happened, and move … Read more
So with the news that the rumors of a “merger” between Opendoor and Social Capital (IPOB) were in fact true, I thought a quick followup might be helpful, if not to you, then to me as I think through things by writing about them. It would be worthwhile for you to watch the presentation, especially … Read more
Just found out from a VIP reader (thank you!) that Opendoor is supposedly in merger talks (and by merger, it’s really an acquisition) with a specialized investment vehicle named Social Capital. The story from Business Insider: Opendoor, a property technology company, is in advanced talks to go public via a merger with Social Capital Hedosophia … Read more
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I apologize to you all, but I’ve been neck-deep in a very important project that’s taken months of my life to setup. The last few weeks have been pretty intense. I’m not quite ready to unveil it just yet, but soon… soon…. But having found a couple of hours … Read more
After the past week, it is rather delightful to be writing about real estate issues for a change, rather than big social questions and difficult issues. Without further ado, let’s get into it. Mike DelPrete, a consultant and analyst of real estate technology, sent an email to his list today with the title, “iBuyers Turning … Read more
It’s been a minute or two since I posted; blame the mundane annoyances of moving. Yes, I’m one of those people who bought a house during the pandemic and managed to move, despite all of the problems with vendors and the like thanks to government limits. I’ve also been very busy with projects and have … Read more
Since my last quick take on this, I have had more time to investigate, research, and talk to a wide variety of people from the real estate and financial worlds. I am more convinced than ever that iBuyer will return with a roar when this current shutdown is over, and why people in the real … Read more
I got an email this morning from Mike Delprete about Redfin and Opendoor “pausing” buying activity due to the COVID-19 situation: By temporarily pausing the purchase of homes, Opendoor has shut off its only source of revenue; there’s no iBuying without buying. The effect is akin to an airliner losing both engines while in flight. … Read more
In the next couple of weeks, we’ll get earnings releases from Zillow. I wish we get earnings reports from Opendoor and Offerpad, but… hey, we can only look at what we can look at. So I completed my analysis of Q4 iBuyer numbers out of Phoenix, where I have the best dataset. Let’s see what … Read more