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the short term model is predicated on managing inventory like a retailer and diversifying holdings like a trader. mastering both functions, let alone one, is very challenging, but far from impossible. if opendoor can acquire data and predict transactions better than competitors, the mountain top becomes eminently more climbable. from a portfolio perspective, the early stages are actually the least risky because opendoor can cherrypick the best real estate markets, and within those markets, cherrypick the best homes, where "best" means the properties most likely to sell quickly and profitably.
the long term vision has not been articulated, but it seems like opendoor could grow into a platform for homes much like amazon is a platform for consumer goods. opendoor would provide the buyers, product guarantees (e.g., home inspections passed), the open house experience, and predictive analytics (e.g., home X has a 80% chance of turning over in 30 days if priced at $1M) while others manage financing and inventory risk. if this conjecture is right, look for opendoor to (a) lower prices and (b) streamline real estate transactions with automation where possible and where not possible, to empower untrained (i.e., cheap) individuals with computer vision and smart software to perform tasks like certified professionals. if neither happens, consider the conjecture wrong. :)
Buying and selling over $1B in home is not impressive when done by a computer. If someone did it single handedly maybe. I hate when people quote numbers to impress and confuse others. At $100,000 that's 10,000 homes. Selling 10,000 items is not impressive. So why should I care what stack you used?
It would be more interesting to know why this stack helped the business. Otherwise it's just a list that doesn't have much connection to the $1B part in the title.
I'd say the main direct effects were (1) we were able to iterate very fast on our internal tools, which are used by internal operators to manage each transaction; and (2) our data science setup has allowed us to price homes incredibly accurately. Many companies have estimates of a home's value, but Opendoor puts its money where its mouth is ;) Happy to answer any more questions about it.
Would you be willing to share an email so i can ask you a couple of questions if appropiate?
For anyone who was wondering, they use smart locks from Schlage. But i'm curious for two things: -why they use those except for the different models Schlage has. -where is Schlage api's documentation :p
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I think everyone on the team understands that helping unblock other engineers is as valuable as writing some code yourself. It generally hasn't been an issue getting timely review, though we have discussed tracking the average size of the PR queue as a metric if review times did worsen. Most of the time other engineers on your team will review your code, but often engineers will pop across teams and doing code review…
We've found mention bot to be helpful internally for intelligently selecting who should be performing reviews: https://github.com/facebook/mention-bot Give it a try!
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But it basically is flipping isn't it? Maybe they can work out how to flip a little cheaper with technology but this model only works because flipping is so hot right now. http://www.housingwire.com/articles/39523-home-flipping-hits...
It looks similar, but we're actually very different than flippers. House flipping is about finding underpriced houses (either by having a sharp eye, or by buying distressed houses), and then optimizing the amount of money invested vs. the return. Opendoor is much more focused on the customer experience, trying to give fair offers to every home - everyday homes, not distressed ones. We typically don't spend very long…
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I'd say the main direct effects were (1) we were able to iterate very fast on our internal tools, which are used by internal operators to manage each transaction; and (2) our data science setup has allowed us to price homes incredibly accurately. Many companies have estimates of a home's value, but Opendoor puts its money where its mouth is ;) Happy to answer any more questions about it.
I am actually building a business on real estate appraisal in Argentina (reva.com.ar), building many of the tools you mention to get the most accurate representation of values of homes. Im quite surprised you got it so well that can build a business around buying thehomes yourselves. Would you be willing to share an email so i can ask you a couple of questions if appropiate?
I'm a software engineer at Opendoor- happy to answer any questions!
Can you please write an email to your Marketing Department and pass along a note? Here's the text: "While effective in your goal of creating Brand Recognition of 'Open Door' please be informed that the blitz campaign with the radio ad featuring the sound of a doorbell ringing, followed by the company name, 'Open Door,' was one of the most unabashedly Pavlovian ear-worm manipulation techniques I can recall. It almost…