Regular readers know that I have said that Opendoor could be the most important company in real estate. My reasoning was that Opendoor looked to be trying to revolutionize the single biggest painful aspect of buying a home: the mortgage. Here’s what I wrote: So yeah, I think Opendoor is about revolutionizing the entire culture around how homes … Read more
I’ve been really, really busy traveling all over this great country of ours. Finally got to visit Montana which is every bit as beautiful as advertised… I think… since most of what I saw was snow blinding my windshield…. But the view from the plane coming in and flying out was exquisite. Must visit again … Read more
Back in the dark, dark days of the Bubble (2008-2011), I remember thinking a lot about, and talking about, strategic default. Here’s a sample from the tail-end of 2010: What got me wondering is whether that commercial and others like it, which constantly denigrate banks, call mortgages illegal and immoral, and talk about how you … Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I learned about a new Fannie Mae program that was rolled out to lenders called Collateral Underwriter, or CU. From the press release: Fannie Mae created the online tool in 2013 to analyze appraisal data it had been receiving from lenders electronically since 2012. With the rollout in early 2015, … Read more
Consider this a Easter present to my readers. Sort of like a colorful egg, hidden amidst thorns and brambles of Gen-Y DOOOOOOM that I get into sometimes. Barbara Gray is one of those friends one makes on the Internet in the 21st century. That is, I’ve never met her in person, and with whom I … Read more
Last Thursday, Zillow released a report on minority access to mortgages in partnership with the National Urban League. In case you were wondering what the conclusion of the report might have been, it was titled, “A House Divided: How Race Colors the Path to Homeownership“. The topline conclusion comes from Stan Humphries, Zillow’s Chief Economist … Read more
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
Coming off of an awesome, Hall-of-Fame type of year in which I batted .600 in predictions (or, alternatively, a year in which I only got 6 out of 10 predictions even remotely close to right, and hence am a big #FAIL), I thought I would don the Nostradamus hat once again and make foolish predictions … Read more
In my earlier post on the New Normal in real estate, a commenter took issue with my predictions about the future of the 30-year fixed rate mortgage (among other claims). I thought I would expand on that aspect a bit. The specific mechanism that I think will be put in place is a change in … Read more