Compass nears profitability, outperforms competition: Mike DelPrete

The hot real estate market has fueled strong growth across the industry. Compass’ growth is noteworthy, and it demonstrates that though the industry moves slowly, some players move faster than others. Continue reading

IBuyers are paying above market — and reselling for more: Mike DelPrete

Home prices are rising across the U.S., and iBuyers, led by Opendoor, Zillow and Offerpad, are paying record-high, above market values for the homes they’re buying, but they’re also reselling them for more money than ever before. Continue reading

After a pause, iBuyers are back in a big way: Mike DelPrete

For anyone concerned that the iBuyer model wouldn’t be popular in a seller’s market, the evidence shows that it is resonating with consumers more than ever, and market conditions are in fact fueling its growth. Continue reading

Opendoor’s mortgage attach rate jumps, but at what cost? Mike DelPrete

For any company attempting to generate profits from adjacent services, and there are a lot, mortgage remains hard. It is no panacea for profitability. Continue reading

The problem with stock as a recruiting tool for Compass agents: Mike DelPrete

Stock option programs sound good on paper, but as we can see with Compass, the reality varies. The post-IPO performance of Compass’ stock highlights the primary issue with stock as a recruiting tool. Continue reading

IBuyers are entering the previously untouched Northeast market: Mike DelPrete

Billion-dollar disruptors are coming to the Northeast market, featuring new models like instant offers, cash offers and buy-before-you-sell programs. Are agents and brokers ready? Continue reading

Offerpad is a more profitable flavor of iBuying: Mike DelPrete

Offerpad’s latest financials strongly suggest that a less venture-funded, less tech-enabled, more real-estate focused and less breakneck version of iBuying can be (almost) profitable. Continue reading

Zillow’s uphill battle to attach mortgages: Mike DelPrete

In 2018, Zillow set itself lofty goals when it entered the mortgage business. Three years later, Zillow’s actual performance is far, far below its predictions, which highlights how difficult the mortgage space is, not just for Zillow, but also for ever… Continue reading

Zillow vs. realtor.com: Mike DelPrete on their battle

It appears that Zillow’s longstanding traffic lead over realtor.com is diminishing. It’s insignificant in terms of competitive advantage and revenue uplift — and might simply be an artifact of pandemic browsing patterns — but it does reveal a deeper tr… Continue reading