Yes, it’s that time of year again. As always, in advance of my 2022 predictions, I like to grade my 2021 predictions and see just how wrong I was with them. I have a feeling it’ll be bad. But still, one must soldier on, consoled by the fact that all of my predictions are sure … Read more
I’m gearing up to release the next two big annual pieces — grading myself on last year’s predictions and 2022 predictions — but I got yet another email from some PR firm: Investment in virtual real estate has become the talk of the town in the real estate world as millions are being poured into … Read more
Welcome to another installment of an annual tradition around here: the Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate in 2021. I look forward to this post, as well as my Seven Predictions post, each year. Last year, I went out of my way to select interesting people who weren’t the Obvious Choices. This year, I’m … Read more
I’m busy working on some blockchain-related research, but saw something come across my feeds that I thought deserved a brief treatment. On Inman, I see this: Where are the hearts and minds of Americans after 2021’s wild real estate ride? It’s a sponsored post talking about a study commissioned by Coldwell Banker looking at consumer … Read more
For the past few years, the attention of the industry leadership has been focused on the issue of commission compression. The Moehrl lawsuit was the beginning, but the involvement of the DOJ and now the FTC is raising real concerns about what happens to the 6% real estate commission that has been the default for … Read more
Just watched a YouTube videos from Nicholas Gerli of Reventure Consulting that has me wondering about the housing market in the years to come. The big question is, could investor demand alone sustain current (and future) home prices? You can watch the full video below, but the fundamental take is that home prices will collapse, … Read more
I’m on the road, which means airports and hotel rooms. And I’m on an intellectual road trip as well, trying to puzzle out what the future of the industry looks like with Zillow’s recent withdrawal from Afghanistan shutdown of Zillow Homes. So I thought I’d give myself a break and look at something that caught … Read more
I often get accused of being a doom-monger. It’s probably because I kind of am. I mean, I find doomporn fascinating (and clearly, I’m not alone given the popularity of websites like Zerohedge) and I do like to think about — and talk about — what larger trends could mean. I used to have little … Read more
In my consulting work, I often say that strategy is 18-24 months, because things change too fast to make any reasonable plans past that point. It isn’t simply black swan events like the pandemic either; just the pace of technology change is that fast, and if the strategy worked, then the organization should be in … Read more