[Editor’s Note: PadSplit’s Atticus LeBlanc was the guest on Episode 4 of The Blueprint Sessions. This is the accompanying essay, originally published as a members-only article for members of the GEM.] Co-opting Inventory Housing is simply not affordable for most Americans, whether they are renting or trying to buy. We’ve known this for many years. … Read more
Last month, I wrote a post wondering what financial investors might be thinking and noted that the post was almost entirely speculation: Yet, every single day, we hear about buyers getting outbid in ludicrous ways. I recorded a podcast with a broker in San Antonio the other day, and he made the point that on … Read more
Last quarter, which included the full year 2020 results, I wrote that EXPI turned the corner and is now the most serious competitor to most of the traditional brokerage models in the industry today. Nothing from its Q1 results changes my mind on that assessment, as I wrote last quarter: Absent some kind of major … Read more
At long last, Compass has reported on its first full quarter of operating as a public company. This is a moment I have been waiting for for quite some time, as there has not been a traditional brokerage to compare Realogy to since I started keeping track way back in the day when Realogy was … Read more
Here in Q1 of 2021, I’m beginning to detect a certain pattern when it comes to trying to analyze earnings calls to see where the industry is. There’s a lot of repetition, as if the things I’ve noted years ago haven’t changed at all. And yet, Q1 was a sizzling hot market, with unprecedented activity … Read more
When Opendoor reported its 2020 results, I was so impressed that I went out and broke my own self-imposed rule and bought some shares. It’s a small position but it is a position, and I’m long Opendoor. Well, the Q1 results lead me to believe I’ve made the right choice, despite the markets disagreeing with … Read more
In my last analysis of Redfin, I wrote that Redfin has to decide who it wanted to be. It was stuck in a “larval stage between one model and another” as per Glenn Kelman’s wording: I agree that Redfin is in some larval stage between one model and the other. The one model is/was one … Read more
This is going to be a relatively short post. Frankly, because I’ve run out of ways to say the same thing quarter after quarter. If you’re new around here, please go back and re-read everything I’ve written about Zillow after every one of Zillow’s earnings calls. Then you can check out my June 2018 Red … Read more
Sam DeBord has posted something he himself called “where we dig into the hard work.” It’s worth reading if you’re in the MLS subsector, or care deeply about it. If not, I doubt you’d care very much. The post is “Breaking Down the Rules: Brokers and MLS Data (LEAP Part 3).” Since he asked people … Read more