BuildCasa

With the election a few days away, the housing affordability crisis for the 95% of Americans who want to own a home has never been more top of mind. Today we’re launching TurboHome, a flat-fee buyer’s agent service offering homebuyers full-service representation for 80% less cost than traditional agents. We’ve supercharged our in-house, salaried agents with AI tools, giving buyers a fast, streamlined, and affordable way to purchase a home without compromising on service quality. Put simply, paying a 3% buyer’s agent commission when many buyers find the property on Zillow and doesn’t make much sense anymore.?TurboHome started as an internal tool for BuildCasa's brokerage, but following the NAR settlement we decided to launch the service publicly following a surge of interest in flat fee brokerage offerings. Despite the fact that transactions are at a 25 year low, we’ve already helped homebuyers win 10 properties in the past month, saving them $200K in commissions. In one case, an Oakland family secured a home despite their offer being $18K lower than the highest bid, because TurboHome’s flat fee resulted in the seller netting more in the transaction. We see TurboHome as a demand side intervention that perfectly complement's BuildCasa's BuildCasa’s supply side goal of building 100K starter homes for the middle class. The combined mission: to make the American dream of homeownership affordable and accessible for all. Check out the video to learn more or check out our website linked in the comments to connect with our head agent Kevin Kretzmer, who has personally closed over 200 transactions in the past few years. We’re live in California, and expanding to more states early next year. Thanks also to Kate Talerico from the The Mercury News for covering our launch, along with the Orange County Register, East Bay Times, and CBS News. Kate's article is linked in the comments. I also want to give a huge shoutout to the team including my co-founder Paul Steidl, Robert Baldwin, Daniel Pierson, Michael McCleskey, Bianca England, Stephanie Quan, Lucas Beard and the rest of our incredible team who made this launch possible.

Thank you to KPBS for digging into how San Diego homeowners are starting to take advantage of SB9 a few years after the law passed. https://lnkd.in/gUyAM9XA

The biggest housing policy decisions often come down to passionate debates about niche provisions in empty rooms. Last Thursday, BuildCasa co-founder Paul Steidl and Head of Development Donovan Adesoro made the case for why Sacramento should not implement a local ordinance forcing builders using SB684 to build the homes first before they receive final map approval on the subdivision from the city. Requiring this would make it impossible to secure traditional construction financing and essentially be a poison pill for SB684 in the city. Although housing policy issues can be complex, the nuances of how cities choose to implement new state laws like SB684 can be the difference between no houses getting built and delivering thousands of badly needed starter homes for the community. After a great discussion, the Sacramento Planning and Design Commission led by forward thinking leaders like Commissioner Dov Kadin, Commissioner Kendra Macías Reed, and Commissioner Robert Chase voted unanimously to delay implementation of Sacramento's local ordinance pending further discussion. If you have six minutes and want to see how the sausage gets made, I highly recommend watching this clip.

We just wrapped up our Housing Venture Lab fall retreat, where cohort members LadderUp Housing, ROC USA, BuildCasa, Appraisal Insights, Firm Foundation Community Housing and FwdSlash came together to meet their coaches, set goals for the next few months of the program, and get to know each other. For the next several months they'll work together and with Terner Labs staff, coaches and advisors to chart a course for growth. We were joined by Terner Labs founder Carol J Galante, Housing Venture Lab alumni Aishatu R. Yusuf, MPA of Impact Justice and Mark Hall of Revalue.io, and other funders and friends. Thank you all for an inspiring start to this year's Housing Venture Lab cohort!

We just wrapped up our Housing Venture Lab fall retreat, where cohort members LadderUp Housing, ROC USA, BuildCasa, Appraisal Insights, Firm Foundation Community Housing and FwdSlash came together to meet their coaches, set goals for the next few months of the program, and get to know each other. For the next several months they'll work together and with Terner Labs staff, coaches and advisors to chart a course for growth. We were joined by Terner Labs founder Carol J Galante, Housing Venture Lab alumni Aishatu R. Yusuf, MPA of Impact Justice and Mark Hall of Revalue.io, and other funders and friends. Thank you all for an inspiring start to this year's Housing Venture Lab cohort!

Thrilled to be joining BuildCasa as the Head of Development to work closely with our builder and developer partners to fulfill our mission of building 100,000 starter homes. I’ve wanted to be focused on building missing middle homes for 4 years now and Buildcasa perfectly aligns with what I’ve been working towards the past few years. To date, I’ve personally raised ~$3.5MM in equity to deploy into my Houston real estate development deals, which has allowed me to complete 51 units - with another 46 under construction. This has all been on nights and weekends on the side of my previous jobs, where in addition to being a full- time engineer and investors relations director for my day jobs for other companies - I’ve been the acquisition analyst, underwriter, architect, debt broker, policy expert, construction manager, accountant, and sales agent all- in- one on my own projects. I am incredibly excited to be working with a world- class team who are much smarter and more experienced in these areas in partnership with top local GCs allowing me to focus on managing the Profit and Loss of each project/region. Joining the leadership team and partnering with two brilliant cofounders Ben Bear and Paul Steidl, who are also equally great people, will help me grow a ton as well. Also, I am very much looking forward to moving to Oakland and not dripping with sweat when I walk out the front door in the summer. Let’s grab coffee or lunch on me if you’re in the Bay Area! Check out the comment below to learn more about what we’re building at Buildcasa, one of Fast Company’s 2024 “Most Innovative Companies”

California’s SB9, signed into law in 2022, allows homeowners to divide their property into two lots, which could theoretically mean more homes in existing neighborhoods (and a windfall for the original owner). But in practice, this process can be too complicated and daunting for the average person. BuildCasa, a 2024 Housing Venture Lab cohort member, aims to make it easier for people to take advantage of the new law, handling the nuts and bolts of splitting a lot and building a new home. They aim to build 100,000 homes in existing neighborhoods, with plans to expand into Southern California this year. Welcome, BuildCasa! ??

BuildCasa is thrilled to be selected for the 2024 class of the Terner Labs Housing Venture Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. The program offers comprehensive support for housing startups including a grant, mentorship, and access to Terner’s network of policy makers, developers, experts, and researchers. Thank you to Michelle Boyd, Kara Murray-Badal, Molly Turner, and Muhammad T. Alameldin for your support and guidance!

Great BuildCasa coverage from Michael J. Coren in the The Washington Post. Link to article: https://lnkd.in/geRafDiP

New piece from Business Insider explores the motivations behind Sacramento area homeowner Jeremy Cullifer, MBA's decision to partner with BuildCasa to monetize his extra lot space. https://lnkd.in/gCd-TAuG