In case you missed it, Greg Robertson and I recorded an episode of Industry Relations on Zillow’s announcements last Thursday; it was just posted. In it, I started musing about how IDX is less of a deal than VOW, and Greg and I started to talk about what Zillow might be able to do for … Read more
[Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Phillip Cantrell’s LinkedIn page. If you don’t know Phillip, and you have an interest in real estate, you should. I am reposting with his permission but you probably should at least follow the man on LinkedIn. His bio is below. The post has been very lightly edited for … Read more
Although I just published a lengthy VIP post about the Opendoor/IPOB investor call, there was something in that presentation that didn’t really fit that post. It’s also of wider interest, so I thought I would write about that here. It’s about how the incumbents in real estate, according to Eric Wu and Opendoor, are highly … 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
As longtime readers know, I have often written about the issue of misclassification of employees as independent contractors, since that is the key linchpin of contemporary real estate practice. For example, you can start here: On California’s New Gig Economy Law: Don’t Relax Just Yet and just google the rest. So this is a brief … Read more
Thanks to the research I’ve been doing for the Q2 Report (releasing soon, I swear!), I kind of figured that RE/MAX was going to have a mediocre quarter. And there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I suppose that light still exists but… I’m trying to make sense of the disaster that … Read more
You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. – Morpheus, The Matrix Let me be honest here — I’ve been saying more … Read more
I’ve decided to change up how I go about analyzing the quarterly earnings reports from the five public companies in residential real estate. Part of it is that I’ve started a new investor-focused set of products and services (contact me if you want more information) but the other part is that the old way of … Read more