Home bidding wars end, WeWork/Ashton Kutcher collab, how Andreessen Horowitz won Silicon Valley

Home buyers, Redfin has some good news for you: bidding wars are so 2011. Buyers in many markets don’t have to worry about competing offers for their dream home.

Data from the online brokerage for July showed only 11.2% of offers written by Redfin agents faced competing bids. That’s a massive reversal from last spring. In March 2018, 59% of Redfin offers faced bidding wars.

Even hyper-competitive markets like San Francisco have seen bidding wars cut in half since last year. 72% of Redfin’s SF offers in July 2018 had competition compared to only 35% this July.

Since mortgage rates are super low, this shift in the competitive landscape gives buyers more power at the negotiating table.

Speaking of major real estate shifts, the investing masters at Ritholtz Wealth Management chatted up our analysis of Amazon’s deal with Realogy on their Animal Spirits podcast. Hit the link below to listen—they talk Amazon at about the 30 minute mark.

Finally, for your daily dose of Silicon Valley excess, check out how WeWork is spending its funding. Speaking of bidding wars: they tried to rope Martin Scorsese in for a string of commercials. That didn’t work out, so they pitched NBC on a Shark Tank-style show with Ashton Kutcher. That’s what I’d do if I was running a $47 billion company, so I can’t blame them.

All this and more in today’s Linkage. Check it out.