6 ms·

I can't read the original article, but this appears to be an identical article at least from the start: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/11/02/zillow-to-sell-7

by axxl 5y ago

I can't read the original article, but this appears to be an identical article at least from the start: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/11/02/zillow-to-sell-7000-homes-for-2-8-billion-after-flipping-flop/ https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/11/02/zillow-to-sell-7000-... I don't know which is the original and which is the copy. Edit: It seems like they are both sites owned by the same company? But one has a more aggressive paywall? I don't know. The schadenfreude is real for me seeing this. A company like Zillow getting into flipping seems questionable to me. The customers are no longer aligned with the company on goals with something like this. It's like when the realtor offers to buy your house... they obviously feel like they can make more than you, when they're supposed to represent you! Edit 2: What I'm surprised at as well is how short-term their forecasting seemed to be. They just started doing this and the market cooled a tiny bit (also, what? where?) and they're selling everything off? Were they incapable of sustaining anything but massive constant growth?

JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> Zillow getting into flipping seems questionable to me. The customers are no longer aligned with the company on goals with something like this I'm currently looking to buy a house. Having a Zillow in between the seller and myself (as a dealer, not a broker) wouldn't be a slam dunk, but it would be worth some non-zero premium to me. (Just offering a counterpoint to the "uselessly driving up prices" narrative.)
- arthurcolle 5y ago
  Not only that (it's true though) but what if they committed to a certain $ figure of upgrades/renovations for the house in question? Seems valuable in terms of property values even if it costs the seller/buyer some additional premium up front
  - judge2020 5y ago
    As someone selling to Zillow, they do retain a certain amount ($x thousands) from the seller for repairs and cleaning, at least for relatively new construction. I imagine it's a larger number depending on how old the house is and how much repair they think they need based on their appraisal/final walkthrough.
    - sjg007 5y ago
      You can also just refuse their offer too if they want to take too much off the top.
- brendoelfrendo 5y ago
  Can I ask why? I'm also looking to buy a house and the Zillow offerings, from what I've seen, are not particularly competitive. They don't seem to care much about the quality of their housing stock. I'd also be leery of dealing with someone removed from the initial seller. It sounds like a great way to "launder" issues with the home where Zillow can say "eh, we didn't know about that."
  - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
    > Can I ask why? I'm also looking to buy a house and the Zillow offerings, from what I've seen, are not particularly competitive. I agree. (I'm not buying from them.) I am having to deal with sellers who change their ask at the last minute, have past financial issues (if something goes wrong and I have to sue, will they have assets?), want to stay through the winter, et cetera. In most home purchases, expedience isn't the most important thing for the buyer. For some, it is, and in those cases something like Zillow's offer in theory makes sense. (Counterpoint: homes aren't fungible.)
    - nradov 5y ago
      Checking if the seller has assets in case you have to sue is just bizarre. That's not how residential real estate works.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
  - sigstoat 5y ago
    > Can I ask why? john q homeowner (probably) generates significantly more counterparty risk in transactions than giant corporation's house flipping algorithm. no shortage of stories of home sellers doing all sorts of weird shit, that zillow et al just wouldn't have time/energy to engage in.
  - mrkstu 5y ago
    I'm looking to do this- I'm going to move out of state, and having a counter-party buying my house that is likely to offer maximum flexibility as I'm looking for another house elsewhere is valuable.
Kalium 5y ago
> The schadenfreude is real for me seeing this. A company like Zillow getting into flipping seems questionable to me. The customers are no longer aligned with the company on goals with something like this. It's like when the realtor offers to buy your house... they obviously feel like they can make more than you, when they're supposed to represent you! I've personally dealt with selling real estate within the past calendar year. Having someone willing to offer me an option highly likely to close quickly at a small discount to the prospective market rate would have been a pretty attractive option. Otherwise it can take months upon months to close a sale. Months in which I'd really like to have that money and perhaps be thousands of miles away. Do they think they can make more money than me? I have no doubt. Am I as patient or able to invest as a business much larger than me? Probably not. The real estate market is not always a particularly liquid or quick one to operate in.
- HWR_14 5y ago
  Where do you live that it takes "months upon months" to close a sale? Usually the complaint is that the market moves so fast people have to make risky snap purchasing decisions.
  - Kalium 5y ago
    A national average is about two months, from what I can find, depending greatly on where you are and what you're selling. That standard deviation can be quite a pain. It's certainly challenging to plan around an unknown and potentially unbounded number of months. The ability to make that into a known number might thus be valuable to some people in some situations. You're absolutely right, of course. There's no shortage of stories about markets moving fast! That said, it's been my personal experience that people don't generally share their stories about a house or condo moving slow. Perhaps complaints and stories might not be an ideal guide to reality in this instance?
  - tablespoon 5y ago
    > Where do you live that it takes "months upon months" to close a sale? Usually the complaint is that the market moves so fast people have to make risky snap purchasing decisions. IIRC, when I bought my home, the closing date was about two months after we'd made the deal with the seller. But that's not as long as it seems: there's stuff you have to do in that time, like getting the inspection done, haggling over any issues found, and getting ready to move in/moving out.
lelandfe 5y ago
> this appears to be an identical article Check the authorship: "Bloomberg." This is a syndicated article, you can find the original here: https://archive.md/gND5q https://archive.md/gND5q After getting purchased by Condé Nast, ArsTechnica similarly began reprinting articles from sister publication Wired: https://arstechnica.com/author/wired-com/ https://arstechnica.com/author/wired-com/
hellbannedguy 5y ago
I have felt for awhile that the USA should limit the number of homes a company, person, or foreigner can buy, especially in tight areas of the country--for instance the Bay Area. 1. No more wealthy foreigners buying our homes with an email. 2. No one person can own more than 5 homes. 3. Eliminate buying up swaths of realestate by companies period. My reasoning is obvious. Try it for a few years, and see what happens. Yes--realestate speculators will be crying in their Laginitas Pale Ale. Gorgon Gekko will have to liquidate his Realestate Speculation portfolio. Yes--those parasites with We buy Your Home within 24 hours will be crying in their whatever. Yes--those non citizens who want buy a vacant house in our country will be crying. It might make buying a home for Joe Six Pack something he might be able to work towards?

by axxl 5y ago

JumpCrisscross 5y ago

> Zillow getting into flipping seems questionable to me. The customers are no longer aligned with the company on goals with something like this I'm currently looking to buy a house. Having a Zillow in between the seller and myself (as a dealer, not a broker) wouldn't be a slam dunk, but it would be worth some non-zero premium to me. (Just offering a counterpoint to the "uselessly driving up prices" narrative.)

arthurcolle 5y ago
Not only that (it's true though) but what if they committed to a certain $ figure of upgrades/renovations for the house in question? Seems valuable in terms of property values even if it costs the seller/buyer some additional premium up front
- judge2020 5y ago
  As someone selling to Zillow, they do retain a certain amount ($x thousands) from the seller for repairs and cleaning, at least for relatively new construction. I imagine it's a larger number depending on how old the house is and how much repair they think they need based on their appraisal/final walkthrough.
  - sjg007 5y ago
    You can also just refuse their offer too if they want to take too much off the top.
brendoelfrendo 5y ago
Can I ask why? I'm also looking to buy a house and the Zillow offerings, from what I've seen, are not particularly competitive. They don't seem to care much about the quality of their housing stock. I'd also be leery of dealing with someone removed from the initial seller. It sounds like a great way to "launder" issues with the home where Zillow can say "eh, we didn't know about that."
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > Can I ask why? I'm also looking to buy a house and the Zillow offerings, from what I've seen, are not particularly competitive. I agree. (I'm not buying from them.) I am having to deal with sellers who change their ask at the last minute, have past financial issues (if something goes wrong and I have to sue, will they have assets?), want to stay through the winter, et cetera. In most home purchases, expedience isn't the most important thing for the buyer. For some, it is, and in those cases something like Zillow's offer in theory makes sense. (Counterpoint: homes aren't fungible.)
  - nradov 5y ago
    Checking if the seller has assets in case you have to sue is just bizarre. That's not how residential real estate works.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- sigstoat 5y ago
  > Can I ask why? john q homeowner (probably) generates significantly more counterparty risk in transactions than giant corporation's house flipping algorithm. no shortage of stories of home sellers doing all sorts of weird shit, that zillow et al just wouldn't have time/energy to engage in.
- mrkstu 5y ago
  I'm looking to do this- I'm going to move out of state, and having a counter-party buying my house that is likely to offer maximum flexibility as I'm looking for another house elsewhere is valuable.

Kalium 5y ago

> The schadenfreude is real for me seeing this. A company like Zillow getting into flipping seems questionable to me. The customers are no longer aligned with the company on goals with something like this. It's like when the realtor offers to buy your house... they obviously feel like they can make more than you, when they're supposed to represent you! I've personally dealt with selling real estate within the past calendar year. Having someone willing to offer me an option highly likely to close quickly at a small discount to the prospective market rate would have been a pretty attractive option. Otherwise it can take months upon months to close a sale. Months in which I'd really like to have that money and perhaps be thousands of miles away. Do they think they can make more money than me? I have no doubt. Am I as patient or able to invest as a business much larger than me? Probably not. The real estate market is not always a particularly liquid or quick one to operate in.

HWR_14 5y ago
Where do you live that it takes "months upon months" to close a sale? Usually the complaint is that the market moves so fast people have to make risky snap purchasing decisions.
- Kalium 5y ago
  A national average is about two months, from what I can find, depending greatly on where you are and what you're selling. That standard deviation can be quite a pain. It's certainly challenging to plan around an unknown and potentially unbounded number of months. The ability to make that into a known number might thus be valuable to some people in some situations. You're absolutely right, of course. There's no shortage of stories about markets moving fast! That said, it's been my personal experience that people don't generally share their stories about a house or condo moving slow. Perhaps complaints and stories might not be an ideal guide to reality in this instance?
- tablespoon 5y ago
  > Where do you live that it takes "months upon months" to close a sale? Usually the complaint is that the market moves so fast people have to make risky snap purchasing decisions. IIRC, when I bought my home, the closing date was about two months after we'd made the deal with the seller. But that's not as long as it seems: there's stuff you have to do in that time, like getting the inspection done, haggling over any issues found, and getting ready to move in/moving out.

lelandfe 5y ago

> this appears to be an identical article Check the authorship: "Bloomberg." This is a syndicated article, you can find the original here: https://archive.md/gND5q https://archive.md/gND5q After getting purchased by Condé Nast, ArsTechnica similarly began reprinting articles from sister publication Wired: https://arstechnica.com/author/wired-com/ https://arstechnica.com/author/wired-com/

hellbannedguy 5y ago

I have felt for awhile that the USA should limit the number of homes a company, person, or foreigner can buy, especially in tight areas of the country--for instance the Bay Area. 1. No more wealthy foreigners buying our homes with an email. 2. No one person can own more than 5 homes. 3. Eliminate buying up swaths of realestate by companies period. My reasoning is obvious. Try it for a few years, and see what happens. Yes--realestate speculators will be crying in their Laginitas Pale Ale. Gorgon Gekko will have to liquidate his Realestate Speculation portfolio. Yes--those parasites with We buy Your Home within 24 hours will be crying in their whatever. Yes--those non citizens who want buy a vacant house in our country will be crying. It might make buying a home for Joe Six Pack something he might be able to work towards?