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According to their call tonight they say they are out of that business permanently. I wonder if they plan on pivoting it to something less speculative? FWIW, I

According to their call tonight they say they are out of that business permanently. I wonder if they plan on pivoting it to something less speculative? FWIW, I'd love a system where you could "sell" a home to a broker and "buy" one without the musical chairs game of contingency offers, etc. I think there's real value in a space that completes the sale of properties based on some window of expected return for a property. Something where I could use a broker to buy a place cash for me and then I arrange the loan and the bank buys it off of them and starts a mortgage with me. And do the same for my property where they buy it from me at the same time and sell it and I get the difference minus a fee.

smsm42 5y ago
I'm not sure what you look for is realistic. As a seller, I'd surely prefer to avoid all those contingencies, inspections, etc. - just give me the money, take the property and be done with it! As a buyer, though, I surely want something that I pay multiples of my annual income for to be thoroughly inspected, and be absolutely sure everything is ok (or at least if something is not OK I know it and it's priced in). Risking this kind of money is not something I could afford. I'm not sure anybody - maybe except US federal government - could afford risks of this magnitude without covering oneself somehow. So there would be a process. You could pay somebody to undergo this process instead of yourself, but I don't think you could get rid of it entirely. That said, intermediaries like you describe exist, afaik. E.g. Flyhomes do something like that.
- nemo44x 5y ago
  I get it but I’d imagine there’s an actuary table that could be put together to insure against issues in most cases. I mean the entire process today is so dated, isn’t it? A bunch of people submit offers and then 1 gets picked and then a variety of inspectors come by to make sure nothing glaring is broken. What if the intermediary scaled the inspection part (pro services are hard to scale, yes) and when you buy from them it’s “guaranteed”? Like a certified used car.
  - smsm42 5y ago
    I'm not sure actuary table would work in such case. Actuary tables work when we're dealing with random events. House problems aren't random, and my wish as a seller to hide the problems from the buyers is definitely not random. So each shortcut taken by the buyer allows an opening for me as a seller to cheat. Of course, 95% of people won't cheat. But we're talking about million-dollar deals, even 5% of cheating could lead to huge losses. Certified used car is under control of the certifier so their risk is minimal, and my risk is as much as I trust a big brand not to cheat me. There's a risk, but a known and identifiable one. When buying a house, there's no such control, so exposure is much bigger. Of course, if a big brand has a house and is willing to guarantee it, it'd be an attractive offer to me as a buyer, but they'd need to somehow reduce their own exposure to the risks first.

smsm42 5y ago

I'm not sure what you look for is realistic. As a seller, I'd surely prefer to avoid all those contingencies, inspections, etc. - just give me the money, take the property and be done with it! As a buyer, though, I surely want something that I pay multiples of my annual income for to be thoroughly inspected, and be absolutely sure everything is ok (or at least if something is not OK I know it and it's priced in). Risking this kind of money is not something I could afford. I'm not sure anybody - maybe except US federal government - could afford risks of this magnitude without covering oneself somehow. So there would be a process. You could pay somebody to undergo this process instead of yourself, but I don't think you could get rid of it entirely. That said, intermediaries like you describe exist, afaik. E.g. Flyhomes do something like that.

nemo44x 5y ago
I get it but I’d imagine there’s an actuary table that could be put together to insure against issues in most cases. I mean the entire process today is so dated, isn’t it? A bunch of people submit offers and then 1 gets picked and then a variety of inspectors come by to make sure nothing glaring is broken. What if the intermediary scaled the inspection part (pro services are hard to scale, yes) and when you buy from them it’s “guaranteed”? Like a certified used car.
- smsm42 5y ago
  I'm not sure actuary table would work in such case. Actuary tables work when we're dealing with random events. House problems aren't random, and my wish as a seller to hide the problems from the buyers is definitely not random. So each shortcut taken by the buyer allows an opening for me as a seller to cheat. Of course, 95% of people won't cheat. But we're talking about million-dollar deals, even 5% of cheating could lead to huge losses. Certified used car is under control of the certifier so their risk is minimal, and my risk is as much as I trust a big brand not to cheat me. There's a risk, but a known and identifiable one. When buying a house, there's no such control, so exposure is much bigger. Of course, if a big brand has a house and is willing to guarantee it, it'd be an attractive offer to me as a buyer, but they'd need to somehow reduce their own exposure to the risks first.