7 Companies That Could Change The Real Estate World
These companies could have the power to change the real estate industry.
For better or worse, these companies could be shaking things up in the real estate market. Know who they are, how they can help, and the risks they can bring.
1. Zillow
Zillow is a big beast. They’ve been one of the most controversial companies and websites in the real estate market since they launched their horrible flawed Zestimates. Now they’ve bought a mortgage lender, are trying to take over renting and property management, and are now trying their own hand at flipping houses with Zillow Offers. They say they plan to buy 5,000 houses a month. Or at least use this as a powerful lead generation tool to feed leads to their agents.
Aside from manipulating values, the biggest risk Zillow represents is if it fails. They already report they are losing over $45M every three months on Zillow Offers.
2. Opendoor
Opendoor is one of those new giant iBuyers or online wholesalers. They are armed with hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital and have forged a partnership with real estate brokerage Redfin. Just like OfferPad has done with Keller Williams. They aren’t buying everywhere, or every type of property. It’s a great example of what you can do as an individual wholesaler when you have unlimited funds to buy and flip fast. You can do that using Best Transaction Funding to finance your deals. Again, the real risk here isn’t the competition, it is if they aren’t buying at the right numbers and fail and turn off Wall Street and the big funds behind them.
3. WeWork
WeWork is a great example of what’s possible in terms of going big, and also how to fail hard by overstretching and having an unsustainable business model. Worth close to $50B a few weeks ago, the office giant’s valuation has just been revised down by about 75%, to less than the $12B they’ve borrowed.
4. Zurixx
You may not have heard of them, but Zurixx is behind the education programs recently promoted by HGTV star Tarek El Moussa. They just got hit with an FTC investigation and order to stop due to being misleading, and charging high fees for training that may not produce the promised results. That could end up shaking up the real estate guru space. More notable personalities in this side of the industry are going to have to find new ways to market if they are going to stay in business.
5. Google
For real estate investors who are relying on PPC ads and SEO, Google has all the power to shut the flow of business off overnight or hike the costs of lead generation. The same goes for Facebook. Be very careful about betting everything on third party platforms.
6. Amazon
Amazon has been looking for its angle to take over the real estate market for a long time. It may have already found that in selling homes online.
7. Haus.me
Haus has created a whole new generation of houses. They can withstand earthquakes and hurricanes, and are reportedly even zombie proof. They produce zero carbon emissions, can run completely off the grid, and you can take them with you when you want to move. They are also highly autonomous and packed with new smart home tech. It could completely change what we expect from housing.
