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The massive Zillow sell-off has begun


November 12, 2021

Agents hang on to your flyers because it’s about to stampede! The U.S. is now welcoming vaccinated visitors from 33 countries around the world. Among them is a pool of eager overseas buyers who have been itching to get back to buying, selling, and developing in the states. How do we know? The phones at brokerages in LA, NYC, and Miami have been ringing off the hooks. We’ll be watching how this influx of cash buyers impacts the hottest housing markets. 

TODAY'S BLUEPRINT

  • Goodbye Zillow, hello Pretium Partners?

  • Another housing record gets shattered

  • These cities are bucking the down payment trend

Pretium is picking up what Zillow is putting down

Source: The Real Deal

One company’s misfortune is another’s golden ticket. Zillow has just agreed to sell 2,000 properties to Pretium Partners, an NYC-based investment firm. Pretium already owns around 70,000 single-family rental homes, so this massive investment is just a typical Wednesday for them. Pretium plans to rent out their new cache of casas, because when rental rates just experienced the steepest jump in 16 years, why not? 

As for the other 16,000 properties Zillow hopes to sell, two other rental investment companies are sniffing around: American Homes 4 Rent and Invitation Homes. We’ll keep you updated as this sell-off story develops. 

Our take

The silver lining in this story: Zillow isn’t worsening the affordability crisis by listing their homes above market value. They’re selling their properties at or below value and those properties are flowing straight into the hungry rental market. Eat up!

It’s like Christmas in Q3 for starter home buyers!

Source: Elmwood Park Zoo

Buyers caught a break in Q3. The number of “most affordable” homes on the market increased by a record-breaking 13% YoY. This report is based on pricing tiers developed by Redfin, dividing homes into categories ranging from “most affordable” (AKA starter homes) to “luxury” (read: Bezos). 

In Q3 there were 78,000 homes on the market in Redfin’s “most affordable” tier. Compare that to over 100,000 on the market in Q3 of the years 2013 to 2016. So, with supply still historically low, affordable housing demand won’t be dropping anytime soon. 

Our Take

LET'S F****** GO! This story is great news! Get to work! More homes on the market will attract buyers like honey. If you want to find homes for your clients, you better act fast while inventory levels are up. We can guarantee: fresh affordable listings won’t last long! 

Your buyers can snag a home for less than 10% down in these 10 cities

Source: Realtor.com

Down payments aren’t skyrocketing everywhere. In today’s white hot market, a down payment of 20%+ (and maybe your first born’s naming rights!) has practically become a requirement to win the ultra-competitive bidding wars happening in popular metros across the country. But a few cities have remained affordable outliers. Check out this list of the 10 metros with the lowest average down payment percentages in September:

  1. Fayetteville, NC: 3.7% 

  2. Alexandria, LA: 5.1%

  3. Wheeling, WV: 5.1%

  4. Clarksville, TN: 5.7%

  5. Albany, GA: 6.3%

  6. McAllen, TX: 6.4%

  7. Springfield, OH: 6.5%

  8. Florence, SC: 6.9%

  9. Terre Haute, IN: 6.9%

  10. Tupelo, MS: 7.2%

Our take

Thinking small is the new thinking big. Help your clients see the possibility of moving to a smaller, more affordable metro. It could be the fastest, cheapest way to find the home of their dreams.

FOUNDATION PLANS

Source: Perfect Agent

These quick tips will help you price and market your seller’s property so it has the best possible chance of being at the center of a battle! Our favorite three tips are:

  1. Stage the home. We can’t emphasize this one enough. The ROI on staging is really high.

  2. Give potential buyers a taste of local. This is where your expertise comes in. Tell potential buyers about the best coffee shop, restaurant, or bar around the corner. Help them see what life in this home could really be like. 

  3. If a picture is a thousand words, a video is worth a million! Grab a quick IG live of yourself showing the property, or point out your favorite features in a series of stories. 

SCHEMATICS

JUST IN CASE

Keep the latest industry data in your back pocket with today's mortgage rates:

Source: Rocket Mortgage

Don't forget to send a few emails on Sunday, just to get ahead of the competition 😉

Have a great weekend. See you on Tuesday,

-James and David