A friend of mine had a really bizarre experience with Zillow’s ibuy. First, he sold right his condo through them right before the pandemic (Jan. 2020), but then

A friend of mine had a really bizarre experience with Zillow’s ibuy. First, he sold right his condo through them right before the pandemic (Jan. 2020), but then, literally a week before his 90 day closing period was up, they pulled out, blaming public health orders [1] even though they would never be in his house and it was literally a matter of paperwork. They did this as a way to get out of their contracts and hedge their bets. Flash forward eight or nine months, the housing market explodes and they triple down on their iBuys. My friend sells his home again, again with Zillow (I couldn’t believe he chose them either), and they offer him more than they did in Jan. 2020 (he sold sometime in 2021). Even with the extra mortgage payments he had to make, he still ended up making some money on the deal. Clearly, these companies were in over their heads, making bad decisions on algorithms and not doing real due diligence. The fact that they had an out 18 months ago and stopped doing this, only to triple down and lose $550m in a quarter is just staggering. [1]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brendarichardson/2020/03/28/zillow-redfin-opendoor-and-realogy-suspend-ibuyer-programs-as-coronavirus-weakens-housing-market/?sh=4358c0395856 https://www.forbes.com/sites/brendarichardson/2020/03/28/zil...