11/15/18: Watch uLab LIVESTREAM, continue momentum post #NARinBos18
UPDATE: Livestream only working on
https://www.facebook.com/MITxU.Lab/videos/1923499287727191/
Greetings, fellow real estate innovators!
It's been nearly two weeks since thought leaders gathered at the #BosRETech MeetUp and Travis Wright has asked me to share his slides (see attachment below).
Several people including Sharon Gorrell have asked for an update on continuing the discussion, perhaps during MIT's IAP (Interterm Activity Period) in January. While plans for 2019 come together, here's a suggestion. MIT offers a MOOC -- Massive Open Online Course -- called uLab that we can use as a framework to act on "what wants doing" in the future (see image below).
Translation? If insights from Travis's presentation on real estate platforms, Mark Lesswing's on markets for real estate data, Dazza's on digital identity, or Thomas's on information fiduciaries are echoing, and you want to translate some of your ideas into prototypes recommend watching uLab's 3rd LIVESTREAM.
http://web.mit.edu/webcast/u.lab/f18/3/
uLab is a self-paced course, so it's NOT important to do anything in real-time, or to attempt to do everything. If you can watch for an hour today at 10am, good. If not, you can watch on demand or we can find a time to watch together. The important thing is to watch and then act, to keep momentum from #NARinBos18 moving forward. To encourage you to develop YOUR ideas, participants in uLab self-organize into supportive coaching circles.
That's #RE2020 role, and if others are interested, we'll explore making an application to be part of uLab's bold new initiative -- S.Lab.
More on that, and how to slip into the uLab process at whatever level you'd like to participate. Many people simply watch the four live lectures. The next is at 10am today. ENJOY whether you watch in real time or on demand.

ATTACHMENTS: Available upon request, write [email protected]
Compass is spending “billions” of dollars on an end-to-end platform
SLIDES: Travis Wright's vision of an alternative real estate platform
Bill Wendel Thu 15 Nov 2018 5:33PM
@jackbarry Thanks Jack for your PRIVATE email. Want to share any of your insights into multiple indicators of systemic change on RE2020? Please note, anything here is open to the public.
Jack Barry Thu 15 Nov 2018 9:04PM
Bill
Anything I would say to you in an email... you can consider it public...unless I would label it as private, which is not likely to happen.
thanks...
Keep up the great work.
jb
[email protected] ( [email protected] )
R E S P E C T !
JackBarryRealtor.com ......JackBarry 415 235 7897
Bill Wendel Thu 15 Nov 2018 5:43PM
Here's one from Inman News:
Opendoor CEO wants to make homebuying and selling free
The iBuyer startup currently charges homesellers an average fee of 6.2 percent when they accept its all-cash offers, but leader Eric Wu says it should someday be zero
http://bit.ly/EnvisionNoREFees
"In addition to providing a “frictionless and eventually free” real estate transaction to consumers, Wu charted a roadmap that includes driving down real estate commissions, doubling Opendoor’s market share every year, perfecting a “self-service” experience for buyers and sellers and potentially providing its technology to homes “outside its network.”
Asked for more explanation on Wu’s comments, an Opendoor spokesperson declined to offer any insight to Inman on how Opendoor could make its service free. They also would not elaborate on any other plans Wu discussed during the panel.
...that still raises the question: if its core service is provided for free, how will Opendoor make any money? Wu may have provided some clues about other potential sources of revenue at the event.
Wu also emphasized Opendoor’s goal to perfect a “self-service” transaction experience for consumers, describing this as a “focal point” for the startup. The “vast majority” of consumers entering the market desire a product that’s simple and transparent and has some element of self-service, he said.
"... Opendoor has managed to borrow so much money — more than $2.5 billion so far — to snap up homes. These investors have so far been undeterred by the prospect that Opendoor might struggle to sell its acquisitions (and pay off its debt as quickly) when the market turns south."
[Opendoor] plans to be buying and selling homes in 50 markets by the end of 2020.
It has snatched about 5 percent marketshare in a handful of those markets, and “that’s roughly doubling every year,” Wu said.
Bill Wendel · Thu 15 Nov 2018 3:26PM
UPDATE: Livestream only working on
https://www.facebook.com/MITxU.Lab/videos/1923499287727191/