Revisiting Opendoor: So Many Words

I am struggling to understand what's different...

Those readers who have been with me a while ought to know that I yield to no one in my support for iBuying generally and Opendoor specifically. You can search this blog for articles about Opendoor and iBuying from a few years ago, and I seriously doubt you can find a bigger bull than I. Turned out, I was wrong—along with millions of others who really thought iBuying would change the industry forever. I’m going to be buying some nice steak dinners for friends of mine I’ve made bets with next year, that’s for sure.

Don’t blame just me. Some of the smartest people in tech and investing thought the same. Remember this video?

Now, I haven’t paid much attention to Opendoor the past few years because… there really wasn’t much of a reason to pay attention to Opendoor. That is in spite of the fact that I was and still am an Opendoor shareholder. The company was struggling mightily to keep the lights on, but I had not seen Opendoor do anything particularly interesting.

That all changed this week, at least on Twitter. And I am now learning that drama around Opendoor has been going on for a while.

The big push appears to be that some activist investors want to push out Carrie Wheeler, CEO, and have Opendoor actually deliver on its promises to transform the way we all buy and sell houses. Crypto influencer Anthony Pompliano is going to have Wheeler on his podcast, which should be interesting as well.

But that isn’t what got me to think about Opendoor again, or to take another look at Opendoor. Connected to all the new energy and drama is a new blogpost (ostensibly) from Carrie Wheeler describing the new strategy for Opendoor. I read it, then read it again. Then a third and a fourth time.

I don’t understand what Wheeler is trying to say. That is, if she is trying to say anything at all—which is not a given when it comes to corporate communications. Oftentimes, corporate PR seeks to say nothing at all while using many fancy and nice-sounding words.

So I’d like to dig into this “Our Path Forward” blogpost, think about what I already know about Opendoor and its history, and maybe ask some questions. Hopefully, Pompliano will ask similar questions on his podcast, so we all can get some real answers about what Opendoor is doing.

Again, I might come across as a bit harsh but I am an Opendoor shareholder who would like nothing more than to see those shares go to $100. Any criticism or apparently criticism is out of love, not hate.

And my apologies, but this got very very long. So many words indeed.