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☆ Vishal Garg wants you to understand why he's still Better's CEO, even after getting ridiculed for brutally laying off 900 people via Zoom
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-03 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Vishal Garg, the CEO of Better, spoke out nine months after laying off hundreds of people over Zoom. "I would regularly tell my team that I think I'm the right founder for this company," Garg said. For his younger employees, Queens might be known as a hip borough with diverse populations and menus. But to Garg, Queens was something to be embarrassed by, leading him to pour even more energy into his work. Now at the helm of a slimmed-down Better, Garg is firmly looking forward to the future, SPAC or no SPAC.

☆ Blackstone, Apollo brace for deteriorating commercial real estate market that one analyst says could lose 30% of its value
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Year-over-year price growth has already slowed for commercial properties, signaling souring outlooks that could reduce values by 20 to 30%, the strategists wrote in a report. Executives at the Bisnow event pointed to high rents on multifamily properties, though growth is softening. Yardi"If this doesn't clear the market, then I don't know what does," Marcus said of her multifamily properties, which she described as large and relatively new. Andrew Holm, a cohead of US investments at Ares, the owner of more than $50 billion in commercial real estate, is hunkered down for the long haul, however. At the Bisnow event, he was so bearish on commercial real estate that he struggled to name a single sector that might be attractive over the next six months.

☆ Opendoor is staring down losses after once boasting it wouldn't repeat Zillow's home-flipping fiasco. 5 properties from Phoenix to Atlanta show the trouble it's facing.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( James Rodriguez | Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The losses are mounting for Opendoor as home prices fall in previously red-hot markets such as Phoenix, Southern California, and Las Vegas. Opendoor cut the listing price three times, ultimately dropping it to $657,000 before the property sold. Opendoor has since cut the listing price five times, most recently advertising the property at $417,000. Records on Zillow indicate Opendoor has reduced the listing price six times. As for the homes Opendoor is buying today, Wu said executives "expect those to perform well and in line with expectations."

☆ American Express is hiring 1,500 technology workers before the end of the year. Here are the salaries to expect in IT, finance, engineering, and risk management.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Britney Nguyen | Alex Nicoll | Rachel Durose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The credit-card service company American Express is hiring right now. AmEx hired 3,600 technical workers this year and aims to hire another 1,500 before the end of 2022.Insider analyzed HB-1 visa-holders salary data to give job seekers an idea of salary expectations. Job seekers interested in joining the remote-friendly company are in luck: AmEx is hiring 1,500 technology workers before the end of 2022, Ravi Radhakrishnan, the chief information officer, told Bloomberg. This is on top of the 3,600 engineers, coders, developers, and more that the company hired earlier this year. Below are four sectors — IT, risk management, finance, and engineering — with openings at AmEx and how much employees make in roles that fall under those categories.

And layoffs at proptech companies have become all too common. That makes it harder for such startups to find customers as well as to woo funding from VCs. We've covered the hottest proptech startups before, but the current economic environment makes it much more difficult to determine which ones stand the best chance at success. To identify the startups that deserve the most attention right now, we polled a dozen venture capitalists who invest in proptech. Some VCs identified in this list recommended multiple proptech startups.

☆ Investors and landlords are watching big expiring leases from Twitter, Morgan Stanley, and 7 other companies to understand just how hard remote work will hit the office sector
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-13 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

It'll take years to gauge the effect of remote work on major office buildings across the US. Trepp, a company that tracks real-estate debt, has compiled a list of 10 office leases to watch. Deals can take months to complete, while office leases often can run up to 10 years, resulting in typically steady income for property owners through the ebbs and flows of the broader economy. In order to fully understand what's happening, it can be helpful to look at some of the largest leases in major buildings across the country. Landlords usually purchase large office buildings with large loans, so naturally, the income of the property is of great interest to whoever holds the debt.

☆ These are the 25 startups that sponsor the most H-1B visas for immigrants looking for work
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-05 | by ( Melia Russell | Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Tech startups use the H-1B visa to sponsor employment for foreign nationals. Insider compiled a list of the venture-backed startups that sponsor the most H-1B visas. For a startup to hire a foreign worker, it must sponsor their petition for an H-1B visa, which lets them work in the US for up to six years. The program does not guarantee a visa, but some of nation's most valuable startups have used the program to hire foreign nationals. The vast majority of visa applicants used the H-1B program, but the H-1B1 program, which serves Chilean and Singaporean nationals, and the E-3 program, which serves Australian nationals, were also included.

☆ Zillow just laid off another 300 people as its downsizing continues. Here are 42 other real estate and mortgage firms that have slashed staff during a brutal time for the industry.
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-20 | by ( Alex Nicoll | Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Many layoffs have been at firms focused on mortgages and residential real estate services. Every segment of the real-estate industry, including proptech innovators that concoct new ways to buy and sell real estate and traditional mortgage brokers, is vulnerable to rising interest rates. The downsizing began in the mortgage industry with Better's Zoom layoffs at the end of last year. Some of the latest and notable casualties came from real estate marketplace giant Zillow, consumer lender Finance of America, and international vacation rental company Vacasa. Do you know of other real estate tech or mortgage-related layoffs?

☆ As families and 'Parrotheads' flock to campgrounds and RV parks, institutional real-estate investors see their next big score
▼ + stars: | 2022-05-23 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Investors are eyeing profits in campgrounds and RV parks as Americans flock to the great outdoors. Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Cabana Cabins Auburndale, Central FloridaThe trend is also driven by demographics. Sam Zell's Equity Lifestyle Properties, another large REIT that invests in RV parks alongside mobile homes, has also been busy. While it's not clear how much big investors have thrown into RV campgrounds, manufactured housing communities as a whole have seen a burst of Wall Street financing. After looking hard at multifamily and industrial, he settled with RV parks.

☆ See the 32 pitch decks that some of the hottest property-technology startups used to raise millions from top VCs like SoftBank and a16z
▼ + stars: | 2022-05-21 | by ( Alex Nicoll | James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

VC investment fell by 38% in 2022, but the technological transformation of real estate continues. investment fell by 38% in 2022, but the technological transformation real estate continues. Insider has collected 32 pitch decks that successful firms have used to raise funding from VCs and private equity firms. Clockwork AnalyticsThe pandemic laid bare the necessity of a technological transformation of commercial real estate. MosaicThe pandemic boosted traditional construction companies' interest in the high-tech corner of the sector.

☆ New housing laws around the country could give renters alternatives to cash security deposits. Here are 5 startups that could see a windfall.
▼ + stars: | 2020-02-21 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The rising cost of rent has prompted some states like New York, Oregon, and California to retool their rent laws. The high upfront cost of a security deposit can dissuade some renters from moving into a new location. Cincinnati recently passed a "Renter's Choice" law, which required landlords of a certain size to provide alternatives to security deposits. Rental properties typically charge both the first month's rent and a one-month's rent security deposit, which puts many apartments out of reach for a median American. A new slew of "renter's choice" laws have been hitting the desks of local, state, and national politicians, offering renters the choice between a traditional security deposit or security deposit insurance.

Persons: Bernie Sanders, Ankur Jain, Scott Stringer, Stringer, Bill de Blasio, Ben Carson, Mike Rudoy, Rudoy, Reichen Kuhl, he's, Kuhl Organizations: Democratic, Federal, Consumer Finances, Legislators, U.S . Department of Housing, Urban Locations: New York , Oregon, California, Cincinnati, of New York, New York, New York City, Virginia, New Hampshire, Reichen

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