The $418 million commissions lawsuit that was settled last week with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is certainly a big deal. The NAR is trying to sound positive, but all signs point to this outcome being meaningful for the industry. TD Cowen Insights is… Read More
At the highest level, I agree with the premise of this tweet from The Real Estate God. The overarching argument is that one’s main criteria for selecting a real estate market in which to enter should be “the place with the least competition.” And the… Read More
This example, by Matt Levine, is a funny way to understand how many negotiations work: In negotiations, it is often helpful to have someone else, some “absent principal,” to blame for your position. You go to a car dealership, the salesperson says “this car costs… Read More
Real estate commissions on homes in the US are typically between 5-6%. And it is usually split between the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent (or it goes all to one agent in the case of dual-ended deals). It is also customary for this commission… Read More
Over the last few weeks, a number of people have told me that, when it comes to their current home, they have a number in mind. They more or less said, “I’ve already spoken with my husband/wife about it and, if someone were to offer… Read More
There’s a lot of money at work right now trying to reinvent the way that homes are bought and sold. Perhaps the most popular trend is “instant buying” or algorithmic home buying. I have been writing about this for years, mostly because of Opendoor. But… Read More
I have been writing about the real estate startup Opendoor for many years here on the blog. Another promising startup in this space is Knock, and today it was announced that they just raised a $400 million Series B round (led by Foundry Group). They share… Read More
The Toronto Real Estate Board (Canada’s largest real estate board) and the Competition Bureau have been fighting for years over whether TREB’s housing market sales data, including realtor commissions, should be publicly available online. The Competition Bureau, as well as many forward thinking realtors, believe… Read More
A new “transparent offer platform” called Haus has just launched in California to serve the residential real estate market. The way it works is that all offers are submitted online. And once an offer has been confirmed, it – along with all of its terms –… Read More
I’ve written about Opendoor.com a few times. As far as I can tell, they are the furthest ahead in terms of disrupting the residential real estate market. So I like to follow them quite closely. They’ve recently launched some new features, so I figured it… Read More
BRANDON DONNELLY 