The Roaring 20's
Issue 13 - January 1st, 2020
There are no proper words to describe the wild year of 2020, and I saw this Tweet this morning from Apple CEO Tim Cook which resonated with me: "Here’s to a New Year filled with promise and possibility, health and well-being, compassion and unity — and the dawning of a safer world and a healthier planet for us all."
I look forward to the Roaring 20’s ahead. Humans are insanely resilient. As we kick off a near year, I am excited to keep creating and sharing my thoughts with you all here. Choose positivity over negativity. Choose building and creating over waiting. Be nice to people. Stop making excuses for things you can’t control. Embrace the times and get to work. There’s never been more opportunity in our world to improve and make things better in all facets of our society and life, and I choose the side of the builders and creators and doers. Let's all make 2021 a year to remember as one of the best years ever.
Newsworthy Links To Share
Celebrities and tech billionaires dominated the LA real estate scene this year. Two sales topped $100 million: Jeff Bezos’ $165 million splurge for David Geffen’s historic Jack Warner estate, and WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum’s $125 million purchase of Jeffrey Katzenberg’s custom-built compound just a couple miles away. Read more HERE.
The innovation around home appraisals forced upon the industry in 2020 may stick around in the future. Now, the FHFA is considering implementing hybrid appraisals that enlist a third-party – typically an appraiser trainee, home inspector or real estate agent – to collect the data for a lender and certified appraiser once past the automated underwriting system. Yesterday the FHFA announced a Request for Input on the subject, looking for comments on the possible risks/rewards of such a plan. Read more HERE.
The godfather of Realtor-office innovation 47 years ago, RE/MAX seems primed to do something bold. My guess, it will launch a national virtual brokerage to compete with eXp. It could partner with WeWork for agent community building and offer teams discounted access. The initiative could be a breakout success and hasten the decline of the old brokerage model. This is one of the bold predictions Brad Inman lays out in his 21 predictions for 2021. Read more HERE.
Zillow CEO, Rich Barton, shares his thoughts on the year ahead: Across industries, the shift offline to online is accelerating. The virtual tools home shoppers have adopted for safety today will become their expectations for convenience tomorrow. The past year has also laid bare how antiquated processes such as in-person appraisals, filings, and closings need to be simplified, streamlined and digitized to meet the needs of today’s home shoppers. Read more HERE.
I love audiobooks, and I listen to about one book a week currently. The most impactful book I listened to in 2020 was "The Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel. Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money - investing, personal finance, and business decisions - is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics.