Year of the Rat

The Lunar New Year took place on January 25, 2020, and marked the beginning of the Year of the Rat; first of all zodiac animals in the 12-year cycle. As I come from a half Singaporean background, Chinese New Year had always been a deep-rooted tradition. My zodiac animal happens to be that of a Rat; representing Yang, and the beginning of a new day. In Chinese culture, rats were seen as a sign of wealth and surplus, a notion which I happily accept. They are clever, quick thinkers; successful, but content with living a quiet and peaceful life. Sensitive to others' emotions, but stubborn with their opinions.

I take astrology and its association with one's personality traits with a grain of salt, but it's uncanny how accurate it sometimes is. It really comes down to self-awareness, one of the most important principles I carry forward into the new year. This state of awareness and understanding; the objective observation of oneself, is considered the highest form of enlightenment, and understanding your strengths and weaknesses is essential in becoming your best self. 

Almost a month into 2020, it's important to reflect on the last 10 years and set the stage for what's to come. As I look back, I can say with absolute certainty, the best choices I have made in deciding which endeavours to pursue can be attributed to the following:

I moved to Vancouver in 2010, when the city was hosting the Winter Olympics; an event that put Vancouver on the map, and gave us the likes of Olympic Village, Vancouver Convention Centre, and the Richmond Oval. 

Over the years, the city has grown into a bustling tech hub. In CBRE's Scoring Tech Talent labour market analysis, Vancouver is ranked #3 in Canadian cities for its tech talent and opportunities, behind only Ottawa and Toronto. There is a correlation between talent growth patterns and real estate markets, with Toronto and Vancouver consequently having the lowest downtown office vacancy rates in North America. In Canada, 161,700 tech jobs were added from 2013 to 2018, with $558 million in Venture Capital funding that took place in Vancouver in 2019.

Vancouver is no longer the anomaly of the tech world. Uber and Lyft officially started operating on January 24th, 2020. This may inspire some to live a minimalist lifestyle, eradicating the need to own or lease a vehicle, and further outsource life through a mobile phone. Software is truly eating the world.

The last decade saw a proliferation of real estate apps. The once Rogers' backed Zoocasa (later acquired); TheRedPin (shut down); and Viewpoint, the first portal in Canada to publicly display historical sales data. 

The battle over who should be able to access the data, once safeguarded and locked away in silos, was put to rest once and for all on August 23, 2018, when the Competition Bureau declared a decisive victory over TREB regarding its anti-competitive practice. This was of course followed by the Canadian launch of U.S. based real estate giants, from a country where no such data hoarding exists.

Zillow, the "largest, most trusted and vibrant home-related marketplace in the world," made its long-anticipated expansion into Canada on October 15, 2018, spearheaded by Chief Industry Officer Errol Samuelson. Zillow Group is now led by Rich Barton, one of the original founders who took over the role of CEO following Spencer Rascoff, as the company tackles new business segments. Redfin followed suit by launching its agent services in the country on February 12, 2019. 

Zillow and Opendoor are ushering in a new era of technology-enabled property transactions, aptly named the iBuyer business model, with Opendoor purchasing the lion's share of homes. Along with Zillow, the two companies comprise roughly 86% of iBuyer transactions. 

Global PropTech investment hit a record high at $14 billion in the first half of 2019. IoT (Internet of Things) has evolved with new and innovative ways of connecting smart devices to the physical world. In Commercial Real Estate, buildings are integrating motion-sensors that track movement, chemical and temperature sensors, all feeding into cloud-based apps that have the ability to analyze and produce insights with the data. By being able to regulate things like air quality and lighting in real-time, this significantly reduces energy costs and optimizes the internal environment.

Airbnb is now well-established, with the short-term rental service being regulated and enforced at the municipal level. As Vancouver is facing a housing affordability crisis, it was believed that placing restrictions on eligibility by requiring a valid business license, and a home that can only be a principal residence, it would protect existing long-term rental housing and increase inventory. 

In the valuation space, companies like HouseCanary are making in-roads to creating alternative valuation products. Image recognition is becoming mainstream, with the ubiquity of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, mostly built on top of scalable and cost-effective Amazon Web Services. With a quality score generated based on photos of a property, it could potentially eliminate the need for a physical inspection, using algorithms to greatly increase accuracy, reduce cost and turn around time for financial institutions.

On September 17, 2019, a new appraisal threshold for residential real estate loans was set, which brought the amount from $250,000 to $400,000. The increase effectively exempts 72% of the eligible transactions from requiring an appraisal, opening the door for a wave of new financial products, so long as they are consistent with safe and sound banking practices.

I have worked remotely since 2012 in both real estate and technology startups. The infrastructure we have at our disposal nowadays significantly reduces the cost of starting a business to a fraction of what it once was. Tools like AWS, AngelList, Slack, Basecamp, and Github enable anybody with an internet connection to build disruptive technologies, with access to talent around the globe. 

The distributed work environment was pioneered by the likes of Gitlab, Basecamp, and Automattic, to name a few. Companies that also produced iconic frameworks, in Ruby on Rails and WordPress, as well as communities like WWR (We Work Remotely). Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson's latest book, It Doesn't Have To Be Crazy At Work, is mandatory reading for modern-day companies that wish to remain calm, yet prioritized, and empathetic towards the well-being of everyone involved in an organization by creating the ideal culture. Asynchronous communication encourages breathing room for your thoughts and places emphasis on effectiveness over productivity. 

Wishing you a prosperous New Year,

Adam