'Price-Distorting' iBuyers Like Zillow Hurt U.S. Homeowners, Rivals Say
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3aq389/price-distorting-ibuyers-like-zillow-hurt-us-homeowners-rivals-say
High-tech “iBuyers” like Opendoor and Zillow have burst onto the housing scene in hot U.S. markets with a seductive promise: For a fee, they will buy your home for cash, let you pick your move-out date, and help you avoid the irritating process of showing your home.
The iBuyers are, naturally, attempting to scale up rapidly in order to win market share and brand recognition, throwing their current hopes for a profit out the window in a 2020s reprise of the rideshare wars. The companies have started to gain unwanted attention in the process; earlier this month, one TikTok went viral after pushing conspiracy theories about the iBuyers’ end goals.