Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 634 posts

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#71

Post by silisili »

whimsicalism wrote: post #44
silisili wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry if this is a stupid question/thought... but wouldn't a mass run to asset classes itself cause inflation? Like some self fulfilling prophecy?

Can we please stop using the term inflation to mean rising asset prices?

The two are often intrinsically linked, especially in the case of housing. It's not that one sees house prices rising and says 'inflation!', but more where it would naturally lead.

Or another way...a rise in house prices means a rise in rents which means rise in renter wages which means rise in prices. Over the course of some time, naturally.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#73

Post by woeirua »

I think Zillow is facing a big potential loss on these properties. The homes that I've seen on the market in my area through Zillow/OpenDoor have been exceptionally poor quality and grossly overpriced. They've been steadily marking them down week after week and they're still not selling. Some are now more than $100k below what Zillow paid for them back in Aug/Sept (on a $600-700k home). Even with their fees, Zillow has to be taking a big hit on these properties.

The end of this cycle is definitely going to scare a lot of companies and investors out of real estate for quite a long time. If you're looking to buy a house right now, make sure you're somewhere you want to live for a while. You're probably buying close to (if not at) the top.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#74

Post by hellbannedguy »

axxl wrote: post #4

I can't read the original article, but this appears to be an identical article at least from the start: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/11/02/zillow-to-sell-7000-... I don't know which is the original and which is the copy. Edit: It seems like they are both sites owned by the same company? But one has a more aggressive paywall? I don't know. The schadenfreude is real for me seeing this. A company like Zillow gettin…

I have felt for awhile that the USA should limit the number of homes a company, person, or foreigner can buy, especially in tight areas of the country--for instance the Bay Area.

1. No more wealthy foreigners buying our homes with an email.

2. No one person can own more than 5 homes.

3. Eliminate buying up swaths of realestate by companies period.

My reasoning is obvious. Try it for a few years, and see what happens. Yes--realestate speculators will be crying in their Laginitas Pale Ale. Gorgon Gekko will have to liquidate his Realestate Speculation portfolio. Yes--those parasites with We buy Your Home within 24 hours will be crying in their whatever. Yes--those non citizens who want buy a vacant house in our country will be crying.

It might make buying a home for Joe Six Pack something he might be able to work towards?

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#75

Post by harryh »

whimsicalism wrote: post #32
cletus wrote: post #15

This is a good example of the fallacy of youth: buying too far into hype and being all "the sky is falling" with negative news. It wasn't long ago that we were reading how Zillow et al were going to buy up all the housing stock and keep millenials and Zoomers homeless forever. The people saying this have obviously never gone through a "bust" cycle. This is unsurprising as we've now been in the longest bull market in…

Sorry, youth here. The housing market remains screwed regardless of the actions of Zillow or Blackstone or whomever.

Decades of under-building due to restrictive zoning laws will do that.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#77

Post by SN76477 »

I hope this bubble bursts.

In less than 3 years the rent in our working class city went up 45%.

Not to mention the absurd qualifications one needs to rent.

4 times the income to rent, very good credit and background checks.

This is not sustainable for working class people.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#78

Post by whimsicalism »

silisili wrote: post #71
whimsicalism wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we please stop using the term inflation to mean rising asset prices?

The two are often intrinsically linked, especially in the case of housing. It's not that one sees house prices rising and says 'inflation!', but more where it would naturally lead. Or another way...a rise in house prices means a rise in rents which means rise in renter wages which means rise in prices. Over the course of some time, naturally.

They are often linked, but they are not intrinsically linked. I'd argue that "often intrinsically" is oxymoronic anyways.

A rise in the specific asset class of housing lowers the dollars ability to purchase housing, I'll give you that. But asset prices hiking in general are not inflationary. It could be because people are chasing yields (probably inflationary) or it could be that there is new information/discoveries making it so that the expected productivity of these assets is going to be much greater, which is not inflationary.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#79

Post by whimsicalism »

harryh wrote: post #75
whimsicalism wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, youth here. The housing market remains screwed regardless of the actions of Zillow or Blackstone or whomever.

Decades of under-building due to restrictive zoning laws will do that.

Yes, that - plus the rapid reversal of white flight to the suburbs among young people in the last 10-15 years (more of an east coast phenomena).

It is both a demand and supply problem, but short of creating a Hukou system I don't see any solution but building.

Re: Zillow seeks to sell 7k homes for $2.8B after flipping halt

#80

Post by bchris4 »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #27

When I heard that Zillow was buying in the middle of an extremely exuberant residential market, it surprised me and I thought they must know something I don’t. Surely they aren’t stupid enough buy and hold a fairly illiquid asset class during market all time highs. Guess I was wrong.

I find that every time I catch myself thinking this way I’m typically wrong- nobody knows anything, big orgs in particular are dumb, and a little common sense usually wins out.
Post reply on HN