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I have considerable experience in the Real Estate backend software industry, and so am occasionally contacted by headhunters hiring for Real Estate Investment s

by driggs 4y ago

I have considerable experience in the Real Estate backend software industry, and so am occasionally contacted by headhunters hiring for Real Estate Investment startups. Here's a typical reply that I give to them: I am philosophically opposed to "investing" in real estate, as your industry exists entirely to snatch up affordable housing from actual homeowners as a get-rich-quick scheme, benefiting those who are already rich at the expense of those who would otherwise be rising up out of their own financial situation. Nothing personal, but I wish you - and everyone in your predatory industry - swift failure in your endeavor, for the benefit of the average homeowner. Have a good day!

fourstar 4y ago
Where did your "considerable experience" in the RE industry come from?
- driggs 4y ago
  I worked for several years at a small company whose primary products/services involved aggregating/normalizing/warehousing/publishing listing data, which grew to handle a large percentage of all listings in the country. I knew every quirk and metadata mis-feature of every MLS software in use, and was on the technical standards board of the National Association of Relators. Our company was bought out by one of the big user-facing Real Estate websites, and our team was responsible for the listing collection/normalization pipeline.
ravivooda 4y ago
I do something similar for Amazon Recruiters. Hi there!! You seem to have contacted me even though I explicitly told Amazon that I'm not interested in pursuing opportunities at this time. It's been very bothersome the number of mails I get (2+ on certain weeks). I've patiently requested earlier to be removed from your reach-out list, but alas here we are again! Sent from an auto-drafted template that I've set up for specifically Amazon Recruiters.
bilsbie 4y ago
Seems naive though. Wouldn’t that argument apply to investing in almost any product people need?
- chmod775 4y ago
  No. It's an argument against rent-seeking and predatory market tactics.
  - kamaal 4y ago
    Same, By this definition you shouldn't invest anywhere where the supply is low and demand is high, which by very consequence rules out all investments.
    - Jcowell 4y ago
      I believe the unsaid prerequisite here is the investment subject being a human necessity (whether or not owning a home is a human necessity is another argument)
    - chmod775 4y ago
      All forms of investment are either predatory or rent-seeking?
      - kamaal 4y ago
        Unfortunately yes. Even the pie fallacy argument is subject to certain conditions which are often false. For economy to work beyond pie fallacy you need situations where most of the economy is driven by people who make wealth by creating things out of nothing. That is purely knowledge work jobs. Almost any where, where you need a raw material as an input to make a thing, the supply of that is limited, and therefore subject to these demand-supply issues(predatory behaviour/rent seeking). This extends to things like buying a plumber's service. If the number of plumbers are limited, and their time is limited(which it is), and there more people who need their services than plumbers going around. Plumbers are going to charge a premium for putting you up their priority queue. That is what you are ready to pay to buy their services before others could get a chance. This doesn't mean its predatory. Its what you are willing to pay to buy their time. Any other way of settling this is bonkers, If the price is fixed and the queue if FIFO, why should you be given a special exception and moved up the queue. And more importantly why should the plumber settle for lower pay when clearly there is a demand for his services. But on the short run, everything even in knowledge economy work, money is made literally by moving it from person A to person B. Hence A wins at the expense of B. Even on the longer run most people lack the resources, patience and overall life situations to make decision over such long periods of time.
edmundsauto 4y ago
I often fantasize about taking a job like this for a year or so - just enough time to learn all the skeletons. Then whistleblow.
- Breza 4y ago
  That's how I feel about cryptocurrency

by driggs 4y ago

fourstar 4y ago

Where did your "considerable experience" in the RE industry come from?

driggs 4y ago
I worked for several years at a small company whose primary products/services involved aggregating/normalizing/warehousing/publishing listing data, which grew to handle a large percentage of all listings in the country. I knew every quirk and metadata mis-feature of every MLS software in use, and was on the technical standards board of the National Association of Relators. Our company was bought out by one of the big user-facing Real Estate websites, and our team was responsible for the listing collection/normalization pipeline.

ravivooda 4y ago

I do something similar for Amazon Recruiters. Hi there!! You seem to have contacted me even though I explicitly told Amazon that I'm not interested in pursuing opportunities at this time. It's been very bothersome the number of mails I get (2+ on certain weeks). I've patiently requested earlier to be removed from your reach-out list, but alas here we are again! Sent from an auto-drafted template that I've set up for specifically Amazon Recruiters.

bilsbie 4y ago

Seems naive though. Wouldn’t that argument apply to investing in almost any product people need?

chmod775 4y ago
No. It's an argument against rent-seeking and predatory market tactics.
- kamaal 4y ago
  Same, By this definition you shouldn't invest anywhere where the supply is low and demand is high, which by very consequence rules out all investments.
  - Jcowell 4y ago
    I believe the unsaid prerequisite here is the investment subject being a human necessity (whether or not owning a home is a human necessity is another argument)
  - chmod775 4y ago
    All forms of investment are either predatory or rent-seeking?
    - kamaal 4y ago
      Unfortunately yes. Even the pie fallacy argument is subject to certain conditions which are often false. For economy to work beyond pie fallacy you need situations where most of the economy is driven by people who make wealth by creating things out of nothing. That is purely knowledge work jobs. Almost any where, where you need a raw material as an input to make a thing, the supply of that is limited, and therefore subject to these demand-supply issues(predatory behaviour/rent seeking). This extends to things like buying a plumber's service. If the number of plumbers are limited, and their time is limited(which it is), and there more people who need their services than plumbers going around. Plumbers are going to charge a premium for putting you up their priority queue. That is what you are ready to pay to buy their services before others could get a chance. This doesn't mean its predatory. Its what you are willing to pay to buy their time. Any other way of settling this is bonkers, If the price is fixed and the queue if FIFO, why should you be given a special exception and moved up the queue. And more importantly why should the plumber settle for lower pay when clearly there is a demand for his services. But on the short run, everything even in knowledge economy work, money is made literally by moving it from person A to person B. Hence A wins at the expense of B. Even on the longer run most people lack the resources, patience and overall life situations to make decision over such long periods of time.

edmundsauto 4y ago

I often fantasize about taking a job like this for a year or so - just enough time to learn all the skeletons. Then whistleblow.

Breza 4y ago
That's how I feel about cryptocurrency