The Insider: Issue 038
“Can we do better?” This week’s issue shows that yes, yes we can.
Something Different
Look, we all know it: America is crawling with real estate agents. But sometimes it’s helpful to see how this looks from the broader culture looking in. This New York Times piece, “Why So Many People Became Real Estate Agents in the Pandemic,” is such a view.
HousingWire did a nice breakdown of Compass’s annual report. It’s clearly a skeptical perspective, but one does get the sense that the tech/mortgage/exclusive listings flywheel that is the promise of their business needs to start spinning — fast.
If you haven’t noticed, how homes are built, and, really, what homes are, is changing with increasing velocity. Modular homes, tiny homes, 3D-printed homes, and centralized homebuilding are all having a moment. Case in point: Veev, a vertically-integrated, centralized, tech-powered builder, raised a $400 million funding round. Seems like a trend to pay attention to.
Does anything about this market make sense anymore? Redfin reported last week that “1 in 3 homebuyers is looking to relocate, an all-time high”. The week before, they released a study showing that while average home tenure dipped a bit last year, it’s still significantly above the historical average (13.2 years in 2021). Are we staying or are we going?
Have You Heard About This?
Debt Trap Door <> Meet Secret Passage to Daylight
With debt and credit problems looming as one of the biggest hurdles to homeownership in the U.S., rising medical debt is an issue to watch. We ran across a charitable initiative that aims to eliminate medical debt in a way that is smart, compassionate, and almost sounds too good to be true. RIP Medical Debt was founded in 2014 by two former debt collections executives, Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton.
The short story is the two founders worked for decades in the debt-buying industry and realized there is a unique way to relieve medical debt. Essentially, they’ve set up a charitable organization that raises money and buys large bundles of medical debt without tax consequences to donors or recipients. The New York-based 501(C)(3) so far has eradicated $5.6 billion in medical debt, providing relief for over 3.1 million people. INCREDIBLE. And yes, very much a real thing. Maybe there is hope for our rising housing crisis.
What's Inside
Are there different ways to do real estate that we may want (or need) to explore? Catch Episode 1 of our new Insiders-only podcast, Other Ways.
Did you know Inside membership gives you 1-on-1 access to Marc Davison and Brian Boero, 1000watt’s Co-Founders? If you have a challenge, need a perspective, or want to riff on an idea, book your time now.
Inspiration Point
‘Can we do better?’
Now that every side of the political spectrum at least agrees that climate change is real, what do we do about it? Can we do better than our current ways of living? That’s the question at the center of a new interactive learning experience coming later this year from Margaret Atwood, the legendary writer of a few dystopias like the “The Handmaid’s Tale.” She’s calling it “Practical Utopias — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collectively design the possible.” The 8-week program will bring together some of the world’s most creative thinkers and problem solvers to see what kind of solutions for a more sustainable future they can conceive. We’re excited to see what kind of housing ideas come out of this experiment.
The Evil Ant Apocalypse
We have no idea where the sign above came from, but it was spotted on Facebook and snapped at a local library somewhere in the world. We’re sharing because it’s a great example of how creative copy has the power to wake us up from the somewhat catatonic state of our day to day. Simply stopping at “Please do not eat in the library” doesn’t have the same tone or punch as what we see here with the Ant Apocalypse explanation. This way makes us open to cooperation. The other way — a simple declaration of a rule — makes us want to break it. Something to think about next time you’re putting an ad together for your local weekly or even making “no shoes” signs for open houses.
Quote of the week
“The reason I resist closed boxes is that nature does not deal in closed boxes.”
— Margaret Atwood
