Jonathan Miller Podcast w/ Noah Rosenblatt
A: I had the pleasure to be a guest on Jonathan Miller's Housing Helix Podcasts earlier this week that is now published. This is the first of a few appearances I'm told, so hopefully I get another invite back in the future! This interview was mostly about me, as a person and entrepreneur (thats right, I have been technically self-employed since I graduated college), and how urbandigs got started, about how I got into trading, a little about my first website venture (www.hotspothaven.com), a little about national housing markets, a little about how change is a coming to our local marketplace, a little about the fed and its money printing policies, and a little bit about the natural order of markets. We stayed away from the future of UrbanDigs 2.0 and the current state of the Manhattan marketplace, sorry, but hopefully very soon I will be invited back with no attachments to any employing brokerage to discuss these things in great detail. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and check out the bottom of this post to see what UrbanDigs was originally going to be!
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that UrbanDigs.com originally was designed and modeled in early 2004 to be a replacement for the NY Times Search Directory? I bet you didnt! Originally, my goal for UrbanDigs - before I got my re sales license in June 2004 - was to become the new and improved MLS system for NYC real estate! I had the designs all made out but startup costs were too high and I couldnt get anyone to give me money to launch it. You can see the mid 2005 dates on the image below, as this design was like the 5th revision to the idea that started about a year earlier. Here is the model of what UrbanDigs originally was to become, before I decided to make it a blog and did my first post later in 2005 - notice the model derived from the hotspothaven.com search engine design (view larger image)!
Funny isnt it!
Comments (11)
Interesting. So you originally wanted to be Streeteasy?
Posted by paul.b | June 26, 2009 10:29 AM
well, originally, yea, I wanted to urbandigs to solve the mls problem and make a search engine better for nyc. i kind of wanted to make a marketplace element, and try to get buyers/sellers together in a more efficient way. didnt have anywhere close to the $$$ needed at that time to start it up on my own
Posted by Noah | June 26, 2009 11:21 AM
Don't diminish yourself--you have been technically self-employed--not unemployed since you graduated from college! Well done.
Posted by nikkig | June 26, 2009 11:52 AM
true true! I guess that is an achievement. TY!
Posted by Noah | June 26, 2009 12:33 PM
Noah,
Great story and awesome podcast. I had no idea the 'Digs was going to be an MLS-like tool back in the day when the site was in diapers. Definately something the city needs. Keep pumping the ideas. Something will stick. In the meantime, UrbanDigs is great enough.
Posted by Scott | June 26, 2009 4:01 PM
Noah,
In regards to the podcast when you were discussing housing market rebounds outside of Manhattan, I'll add that SW Florida which was heavily exposed to speculative buyers also experienced one of the worst busts in the nation. I hold a license in FL as well as NJ and my investment group is re-entering the market for buying low. Cash flow is better than it has ever been.
My question is in regards to ARM's, the U.S is due for the reset of $8 billion per month in Q4 of 2011. Do you think this will have a major impact on the markets, or do you think people have already come to the realization that there home is a black hole and have already given up the homes with the ARM's. Basically, are we seeing most of that fallout NOW instead where it will just feel like a bug bite in 2011?
Posted by Scott | June 26, 2009 4:40 PM
Im not too concerned with RESETS in the sense that those that were set to reset this year were saved from awfully high LIBOR rates at the height of this crisis. So we avoided a mess there.
However, 2011 is way too far out to predict. I am concerned about the RECASTS triggers, esp for neg am loans and pick a pays where principal has risen, and many will see higher monthly payments from this in the next 2-4 years.
Posted by Noah | June 26, 2009 4:50 PM
Sorry, I meant "recasts" not resets. I agree that the LIBOR saved a bunch. Recasts is another story and I guess we'll have to see where that plays out in the future. As you said, hard to predetermine markets more than 6 months old.
Posted by Scott | June 26, 2009 5:42 PM
yes, I do have a concern for recasts then, but I wonder if structural changes or modifications might ease that to avoid another problem. Seems like a very high likelihood if a problem is real big and real clear across the board. nobody wants a repeat of the fear we saw in late 2008
Posted by Noah | June 26, 2009 5:47 PM
Well, You've come a long way. Congrats!
Just imagine what your site would have been like w/o the comments.
Posted by In Debt We Trust | June 27, 2009 8:41 PM
1)Dresner Kleinwort dropped from Primary Dealer list:
http://debtsofanation.blogspot.com/2009/06/
debts-of-spenders-dresdner-kleinwort.html
2) China blasting the dollar/treasury market again:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/06/
china-again-throws-weight-against.html
Coincidence? Hehehe.
Posted by In Debt We Trust | June 27, 2009 8:55 PM