Pandemic, Gen-Z, and Household Formation

Longtime readers know that one of my abiding interests is in household formation among the younger generations in US and Canada. I even have a whole category/tag devoted to it: Generation Screwed – Millennials and Beyond. Thanks to a new post by Zillow Research, we have another opportunity to dip back into this evergreen topic. … Read more

A Few Thoughts About Rentals

This morning, I woke up to not one but two emails about Rental Beast, a new startup that proposes to become the MLS for rentals and integrate it with existing MLSs. One was from WAV Group, doing their PR thing, so I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention. But the second one was from … Read more

In Which I Propose an Affordable Housing Solution

It’s way too late, but I have insomnia. Plus, Brad Inman of Inman News published a rare Op/Ed about Bernie Sanders’s housing plan with what seems like approval: I don’t agree with all of it, but Bernie Sanders was not afraid to put it forward. Cheers to that. Moreover, it is not a plan guided by … Read more

Notorious P.O.D. Episode 5: RentMetrics and George Kalogeropoulos

  Episode #5 is one of my favorites. I love introducing innovative startups in real estate to the high level elite audience that frequents this blog. (That would be you, dear reader/listener.) But this one was really special. George Kalogeropoulos, Founder and CEO of RentMetrics.com, is frikkin’ brilliant. I think you can tell just from … Read more

City of Eastvale to Real Estate Investors: FOAD

My last post dealt at some length with Federal policy. But in many of my writings, presentations, and comments, I point out that the folks who are most likely to get all up in your business are municipalities. Case in point: the city of Eastvale, CA, with some 57,000 residents, is contemplating telling real estate … Read more

Deconstructing Obama on Housing

As I’m sure my industry-savvy readers — that would be you — know by now, President Obama sat down with Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow, for a half hour interview in which the President answered questions that Zillow gathered from social media. The video is embedded above. Thing is, if we’re going to understand where … Read more

A Few Questions on Housing Inventory

My friend Mike Simonsen of Altos Research recently put up an excellent post explaining why he thinks the housing inventory levels remain so low. Read the whole thing, since Mike is one of the sharpest guys in the industry, and he uses data that the other analysts often do not. In summary, Mike thinks that … Read more

Seven Predictions for 2013: The AKUS Experience

  Once again, it is time for the world famous (in my own mind at least) annual tradition of making predictions for the coming year that are Guaranteed to be Wrong, or Your Money Back! This year, I thought I would pay tribute to the greatest musical act still working today: Alison Krauss and Union … Read more