Thomvest Ventures’ Nima Wedlake on OpenDoor's S-4

Power House

This week, Thomvest Ventures’ Nima Wedlake joins the Housing News Podcast to discuss the housing market’s real estate ecosystem as well as Opendoor’s S-4 filing, which now values the company at $4.8B.

During the interview, Wedlake touches on his recent blog that examines Opendoor’s business practices, its progress to date, and its future prospects. He also discusses why so many companies in the housing space are now choosing to go public.

For some background on Banosian, here’s a summary of HousingWire’s article on the S-4 filing:
Opendoor has officially filed its announcement to go public after announcing its merger with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. II in September. But the filing also revealed that Opendoor is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission over its advertising practices.According to the filing, Opendoor in 2019 received a civil investigative demand. Inman first reported on the investigation, which was disclosed in the company’s S-4 statement.
As of Oct. 1, the investigation is ongoing, the filing says.Opendoor has been busy over the last few months. As of Aug. 18, Opendoor has resumed iBuying in all 21 of its markets following a pause due to COVID-19. In the filing, Opendoor said “we are just scratching the surface today. We believe we have a massive opportunity to expand our to reach the top 100 markets in the United States.”

For much of 2020, government edicts related to the pandemic had a dramatic effect on Opendoor’s business. In the first half of 2020, Opendoor said it sold 7,832 homes, compared to 8,985 homes in the first half of 2019, representing a decrease of 13%.

Overall, Opendoor made $1.9 billion in revenue in the first six months of 2020, slightly below the $2.2 billion from the first six months of 2019. Overall, Opendoor posted a net loss of $118 million from January through June 2020.

The Housing News Podcast is a weekly wrap of the top news stories by HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler. Each week, HousingWire interviews financial services experts who can help make sense of the latest headlines, sponsored by our partners at Freddie Mac.

HousingWire articles covered in this episode:

• Opendoor discloses that it’s under federal investigation
• Blackstone-owned lender and servicer Finance of America to go public
• Caliber Home Loans plans $2B-plus IPO
• United Wholesale Mortgage plans $16B public debut via acquisition

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