The Premier Podcast for Insights on the US Housing Market

Issues, interviews, and insights into the U.S. housing market. Monthly takes on what’s happening in the housing market today, and what might be happening tomorrow. From the John Burns Real Estate Consulting team.

Meet the Host

Dean Wehrli, Principal, John Burns Real Estate Consulting

Dean manages residential and commercial real estate consulting assignments across the country and has deep knowledge of California’s Bay Area, Sacramento, and Central Valley markets as well as Northern Nevada. Dean specializes in aggregating housing market trends and conducting primary research, including consumer research, to recommend the product segmentation that will maximize price and absorption for specific target buyer profiles.

Before joining John Burns Real Estate Consulting in 2010, Dean managed market research consulting assignments for 11 years at several national housing market research firms.

Dean has a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and a B.A. in Political Science from Cal State Fullerton, and works in our Sacramento office.

Dean plays basketball when not injured, writes novels and screenplays, and almost always wins at Trivial Pursuit. Almost.

Email | (916) 647-3263

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Episode 76: Opendoor and the Future of iBuying

Buying exploded onto the housing scene a few years ago with the potential to change how we buy and sell our homes. After Zillow and Redfin exited the sector, Opendoor now controls the lion’s share of the iBuyer market. But as higher mortgage rates and the threat of economic slowdown have slowed housing in general, where do Opendoor and iBuying go from here?

On this episode of New Home Insights, Dean Wehrli talks with Alex Toth and Derek Schairer, who manage Opendoor’s home builder program, about how Opendoor plans not only to survive but thrive as they evolve.

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Episode 75: How Many Homes Are Enough?

Chris Porter, JBREC’s own Chief Demographer and co-author of Big Shifts Ahead, joins the podcast to discuss how long-term demographic trends are ultimately going to shape the demand for housing. Chris shares some insights and findings from our latest white paper, which is a deep-dive on how much the US housing market is undersupplied and what would be a reasonable amount of construction to bring the US into balance.

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Episode 74: New Home? We Will Get That Printed Right Away

Century Communities is a trailblazer in the emerging world of 3D-printed homes. Genji Nakata, Executive Vice President of National Operations at Century Communities, helped us explore this world in the latest episode of New Home Insights.

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Episode 73: Building the Perfect Place One Home at a Time

Kris Maher, Senior Vice President of Design at Rancho Mission Viejo, heads up a “creative collective” that guides their master plan placemaking. Join us for some of the lessons Kris has taken to heart, and her thoughts on placemaking—not just next year, but ten years from now.

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Episode 72: Is the Remodeling Boom about to Go Bust?

Eric Finnigan of John Burns Real Estate Consulting is a thought leader in the remodeling space. Let Eric walk you through the basics, the nuances, the future, the economics, and even the demographics, of the remodeling world.

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Episode 71: Can Arrived Homes Turn Small Investments into Big Bucks?

Dean is joined by Ryan Frazier, co-founder and CEO of Arrived Homes, a company who is taking a unique angle in the world of single-family housing investments. Arrived Homes is focused on providing a seamless experience for small time investors who want to invest in real estate, but don’t want all the operational hassle that may come along with it.

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Episode 70: ESG: A Smarter Way to Invest

DuPont is one of the biggest companies in the world and they take ESG very seriously. To help us understand why and what that means, we have on the podcast two key people at DuPont, a bigger part of the housing sector than you might think. Alan Hubbell leads DuPont’s Performance Building Solutions residential marketing team, and Shawn Hunter is DuPont’s leader of sustainable solutions for their building and construction business unit. of housing.

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Episode 69: The Great Age Reboot with Dr. Michael Roizen

Dr. Michael Roizen joins our podcast to discuss some concepts from his new book, The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow. Dr. Roizen presents his thesis around the human lifespan increasing, and what it means for the future of housing.

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Episode 68: The Student Housing Sector Proves Its Resilience

This episode features Fred Pierce, President and CEO of Pierce Education Properties (PEP), who discusses how his business helped pioneer the student housing sector. With an acquisition history of more than 27,000 acquired beds, PEP is a national leader in the business of student housing, ownership, operation, and development.

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Episode 67: Is the Broken Housing Supply Chain Starting to Mend?

For this episode of The New Home Insights podcast we talked to not one but two experts. Greg Brooks with the Executive Council on Construction Supply and our own Chris Beard at John Burns Real Estate Consulting both closely monitor the building products space. Greg and Chris joined us to share their insights on housing supply chain disruptions, what’s happening right now, and what might the future hold.

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Episode 66: Renters Warehouse: Improving Efficiency and Transparency in Investment

Have you seen more open kitchens in restaurants these days? This increased transparency allows diners to see exactly what their food is “infused” with, plus they might get to see Gordon Ramsey scream at people. Transparency is one of the key value-adds Renters Warehouse offers its investors. In this week’s podcast Kevin Ortner, President and CEO of Renters Warehouse, shares how his company not only increases transparency to residential real estate investors but also increases efficiency in an industry that has historically lagged in technological advancements.

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Episode 65: Sheri Koones on What We Do with ADUs

Matt Damon was onto something in the movie Downsizing. Housing shortages, sky high prices—what’s someone without Matt Damon’s crypto money to do? Maybe you go small. Before we resort to shrinking people and entire cities in order to save on costs, let us have a listen to this week’s episode with Sheri Koones. Sheri is a journalist and author of numerous books related to smaller living. In this podcast episode, she explains what accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are and why they have increased in popularity in tandem with the small home movement.

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Episode 64: Buckling Our Seatbelts for an Interesting Ride

The residential real estate market has been speeding uphill since mid 2019, with a speed bump in the Spring of 2020. As we near the peak, anticipation of what is on the other side anxiously awaits. When will we pass the peak? How steep is the grade going downhill? Are there guardrails? On this week’s podcast episode, John Burns, Founder and CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, gives us his take on today’s housing market and what our team believes is the most likely scenario going forward.

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Episode 63: The Feverishly Hot Apartment Market with Jay Parsons

Apartment renters are not the only ones fighting hard for their place in the market. Multifamily investors also face fierce competition from other investors in this very competitive space. In this episode, we interviewed Jay Parsons, Vice President at RealPage, to learn more about what is fueling the piping-hot multifamily market.

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Episode 62: How Berkadia Stacks Up in the BFR World

A Black Friday level of frenzy is currently taking place in the world of BFR financing. Listen in on the third episode of our three-part series on build-for-rent (BFR) where Joel Kirstein, Managing Director at B erkadia, breaks down the capital world’s obsession with the BFR space.

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Episode 61: Inspiring a New Way to Rent: Branden Lombardi of BB Living

In the second episode of our three-part series on build-for-rent (BFR), Branden Lombardi, President of BB Living, joins us to share how his company has branded itself as the “best in class” within the BFR world.

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Episode 60: In It for the Long Run: Mark Wolf on Build-for-Rent Communities

Successful restaurants have great service, the right menu, and a long-term outlook. A good location also doesn’t hurt. Mark Wolf, CEO and founder of AHV Communities, has a similar mindset when executing successful build-for-rent (BFR) communities. Mark joins our podcast to discuss what it takes to execute a successful BFR community.

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Episode 59: Steve Benson and (Land) Banking on the Future

As the old adage goes, you can’t make more land. For home builders, anything that helps facilitate land deals is huge. That’s where Steve Benson and his team come in—they provide land banking services for builders. Steve is the CEO of Essential Housing, and on this podcast he walks us through the nuances of land banking, a booming method to get deals done.

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Episode 58: How iBrokers Will Change How We Buy Homes

You would not go to a second website to pay for your Amazon order, so why should you have to deal with multiple groups when purchasing a home? That is what inspired Court Cunningham to start Orchard. Orchard is providing next-level service by integrating almost the entire home buying process onto one platform.

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Episode 57: Remaining Competitive in an Overly Competitive Market

If there used to be a hot tub full of cash for build-for-rent (BFR) deals, now there is an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Demand for BFR development is at an all-time high. BFR developers can usually outbid their competitors for land. Mike Moser, CEO of Starwood Land Advisors, explains to us how his team strategically focuses their investment efforts in the BFR and equally competitive general residential development world.

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Episode 56: Jeff Adler on the Resilience of Real Estate

The last 18 months or so have been the proverbial roller coaster for the real estate industry. COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the nation but unlocked tremendous latent demand, changed where and how people lived, and left dramatically rising prices in its wake. Jeff Adler, Vice President of Yardi Matrix, has a measure of the pulse of just about all real estate sectors (retail, office, self-storage, but especially apartments and build-for-rent).

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Episode 55: Aligning Incentives for Affordable Housing

There is no arguing homelessness is a widespread issue. It is not limited to just urban markets, nor is it limited to those we see on the streets. Homelessness affects the workforce: our teachers and paramedics, our servers and service workers. Realizing traditional approaches to creating affordable housing were inefficient, Atticus LeBlanc founded PadSplit. Listen in to find out to how PadSplit acts as a creative solution to the affordable housing shortage.

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Episode 54: Putting Aloe on the Burns of a Hot Market

Today’s market trends move as fast as Allyson Felix in the Tokyo Olympics (well, maybe almost as fast). Thankfully, Jody Kahn, our Senior Vice President, surveys local home builders overseeing 15%–20% of national new home sales every month to keep a close eye on these fast-moving trends.

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Episode 53: No Pain, Not as Much Gain

In this podcast we speak with Mike Forsum, President and COO of Landsea Homes. We talk about the highs and lows of markets, what housing product are the toughest to execute, how they shifted strategies to meet new market needs, and what the future might hold. Additionally, Landsea went public recently, and Mike gives us an inside look at the perils and promise of that decision.

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Episode 52: IPOs and Mergers & Acquisitions

We speak with Tony Avila, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Encore Capital Management, about today’s M&A climate and what it takes to make a deal go smoothly.

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Episode 51: Fireside Chat with Lennar and Ring

Home technology, like Ring, has dramatically changed the way we live, making the home experience simpler and more connected. Listen to this podcast where we chat with Jamie Siminoff, inventor of Ring, and Eric Feder, Managing General Partner of LENx (Lennar’s innovation and venture capital investing arm), about the benefits of integrating technology in the home.

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Episode 50: Mortgage Market Metrics with Barry Habib

Truly the jack of all trades, Barry Habib has done everything from producing a Broadway show, to acting, singing, and one of the brightest minds in real estate, particularly when it comes to the mortgage sector. In this podcast, Barry Habib of MBS Highway explains the inner workings of the mortgage market. Please keep in mind that this episode was recorded in mid-April 2021, a little over a month before it was uploaded. Barry insights, though, are timeless.

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Episode 49: Kirsten Jordan Answers Our Million Dollar Questions

Kirsten Jordan, the newest cast member of Million Dollar Listing New York, gives us a glimpse into the luxury real estate market.

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Episode 48: How We Modify Our Homes for Today’s Needs

Our homes are so much more than just the places where we live and cook and sleep. They are a representation of ourselves. In this podcast Liza Hausman, Vice President of Industry Marketing and Community at Houzz, provides far more than a glimpse of today’s hottest topics in home design and décor.

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Episode 47: Where Has All the Land Gone?

In this podcast Greg Vogel, founder and CEO of Land Advisors, gives us a rundown on today’s hottest topics related to land.

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Episode 46: The Minds behind the Best-Selling Master Plans of 2020 (Part 2)

In this two-part podcast, we find out what makes the top master plans tick and what trends they picked up on that will be shaping the new home market ahead.

In part two we talked to:

Colleen Edwards, Marketing Director at River Islands
Laura Cole, Senior Vice President at Lakewood Ranch
Christen Johnson, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Johnson Development

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Episode 45: The Minds behind the Best-Selling Master Plans of 2020 (Part 1)

In this two-part podcast, we find out what makes the top master plans tick and what trends they picked up on that will be shaping the new home market ahead.

In part one we talked to:

Cameron Jackson, Director of Marketing at Daybreak Communities
Caitlyn Lai-Valenti, Senior Director of Sales and Marketing at Brookfield Residential
Peter Dennehy, Vice President of Customer and Market Research at Newland

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Episode 44: 5 New Home Design Stops and Starts

Jenni Lantz and Mikaela Sharp of the New Home Trends Institute join host Dean Wehrli to give us a comprehensive overview of ongoing and future home and design trends.

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Episode 43: Housing Risks and How to Combat Them

Today’s headlines are filled with stories of record home price appreciation and surging housing demand. But housing, of course, is notorious for its cycles. Though we are riding a tremendous wave, there are always risks ahead we should consider. One the sharpest minds in the industry is constantly assessing these risks, in between notes on her favorite gas station Chardonnay. In this episode, we talk with Melissa Abel of Texas Capital Bank. She provides insights on some of the things that keep her up at night—and how we might solve them.

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Episode 42: The Invisible Kitchen: Whirlpool’s Consumer Trends before and after COVID-19

The kitchen is widely seen as the heart of a home. It is the place where families begin and end their days together and where hosts entertain their guests. If you want to know more about how this critical space is evolving, you need to listen to our latest podcast where Dan Clements and Jessica McConnell of Whirlpool joined us at our recent New Home Trends Institute Design Summit.

Since we recorded this prior to the pandemic, stay tuned for the post-COVID follow-up with Dan which begins around the 22 minute mark.

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Episode 41: 2020’s Boom, Mini-Bust, and Boom

John Burns Real Estate Consulting’s own Senior Vice President, Jody Kahn, and Senior Manager, Devyn Bachman, take us on a quick history trip from the pre-COVID past to the up-to-the-minute present. They trace a market that went from boom to bust to a bigger boom.

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Episode 40: Successful Brand Partnerships

Minto Communities’ President of Latitude Margaritaville Bill Bullock will inspire you to think outside the box to partner with an iconic brand. Minto’s partnership with Jimmy Buffett has resulted in roughly 400 home sales per year each of the last two years in Daytona Beach—the second highest number of sales for a single-builder master plan in the country.

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Episode 39: The Home Depot’s Amazing Run

Jordan Broggi, Vice President of Finance (Merchandising) at The Home Depot, shares what the company has learned from their recent 23% surge in revenue.

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Episode 38: A Great Time to Be Delivering the American Dream

Steve Hilton, CEO of Meritage Homes, shares his thoughts on the cultural transition he went through, the ups and downs of 2020, and the strategic importance of Meritage’s pioneering investments in energy efficiency.

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Episode 37: How Apartments Can Adapt and Thrive as the Market Shifts

Dean Wehrli and Greg West, CEO of ZOM Living, discuss short-term and long-term trends in the apartment market.

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Episode 36: Investing All over the Place and All the Time

Jason Keller, Oaktree Capital’s Managing Director in charge of residential investments, shares his thoughts on high-yield investing in 2020.

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Episode 35: Design Changes for Life Changes

Bill Ramsey, a Denver-based architect at KTGY, shares how COVID-19 is changing what we want from our homes and which of these changes might outlast the pandemic.

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Episode 34: Record Sales Aided by Technology Investments

In this podcast, Jim Van Kirk discusses how several technology investments enabled Smith Douglas Homes to achieve their best sales week ever in the one ending May 3, 2020. The company sells 1500+ affordably priced homes per year throughout the Southeast.

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Episode 33: Inspiration for ‘When the World Goes Upside Down’

In this podcast, Emile Haddad, CEO of publicly traded land developer FivePoint Holdings, describes how these experiences as well as bankruptcies at two prior employers, helped him prepare for the next black swan event—and helps him guide his team through these difficult times.

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Episode 32: Successful Online Marketing Strategies during the COVID-19 Crisis

Dean Wehrli interviews Zach Williams from the digital marketing agency Venveo to learn what strategies are working best today.

Episode 31: March 19, 2020 Housing Survival to Date

John Burns and Dean Wehrli recorded this podcast episode on March 19, 2020, right after our second weekly client webinar amidst the Covid-19 crisis. They discussed some of our market conclusions to date and our best estimate of some of the changes we believe will occur.

Episode 30: Building the Best Masterplans in the Business

If you want to know what makes a great master-planned community, you need to listen to Bob McLeod of Newland, one of the biggest and best master developers in the nation. Bringing 50 years of experience and having sold tens of thousands of homes, Bob shares some of his priceless lessons learned.

Episode 29: Designing with More Confidence

Nino Sitchinava shares an update on design trends, all backed by the qualitative and quantitative research done by her team at Houzz.

Episode 28: The Trends That Matter

Susan Yashinsky, the VP of Innovation Trends at Sphere Trending, helps us separate the trends that will go nowhere from the trends that will dominate the future.

Episode 27: Unique Perspectives from Taylor Morrison’s CEO

Sheryl Palmer, the CEO of the sixth-largest home builder in the country, joined our podcast to share her unique view of the housing cycle and her company’s thoughtful approach to consumer research.

Episode 26: Gaming Tech Comes to Home Building

Dean Wehrli talks “gamer estates” with architect Eric Zuziak, partner and president of JZMK Partners, to learn more about how his firm is using VR and AR.

Episode 25: The Biggest Checkbook in Home Building

Adrian Foley, Brookfield Residential’s president and COO (or “Brookfield’s hero” as podcast host Dean Wehrli calls him) shares Brookfield’s very thoughtful view on how America will live in the future.

Episode 24: Mortgage Market Education

Despite the fact that the mortgage pays for about 90% of all housing revenue for every participant in the housing industry, we rarely see industry executives at mortgage conferences. So we are bringing the intelligence to you in this podcast. We don’t know anyone more knowledgeable on the mortgage market than Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s leader of the 35-person Economic and Strategic Research Group.

Episode 23: Top Design Judge in the Country Shares Her Insights on Design Trends

Lisa Parrish, who has led the industry’s design awards judging for the last 30 years (along with her husband and her father), provides a wealth of information in this podcast. At this year’s Gold Nuggets Awards show alone, she reviewed more than 600 applications in 49 categories.

Episode 22: Successful Pivots as the Housing Market Runs Out of Steam

John Burns explains why he believes new home sales and construction have “run out of steam” at levels many deem to be too low. Dean and John also discuss successful pivots some companies have made this cycle.

Episode 21: Don’t Miss the Middle

Dan Parolek from Opticos Design shares his insight on a term he coined, “missing middle housing,” which he defines to be the range of housing types between or in the middle of detached single-family homes and mid-rise buildings.

Episode 20: The Monumental Disruption of iBuyers

Dean Wehrli interviews Offerpad co-founder Jerry Coleman to understand why the new, highly disruptive home-selling option known as iBuyers (instant buyers) has emerged so quickly.

Episode 19: Time to Reboot Your Housing Rental Strategies

Lesley Deutch and Ken Perlman join host Dean Wehrli to discuss the huge shifts occurring in the rental market.

Episode 18: Spring 2019: ‘Is This the Last Breath?’

The spring 2019 selling season is here. Enjoy Jody Kahn, Devyn Bachman, and host Dean Wehrli as they bring you the most insightful clarity on new home sales you will find anywhere. For those of you who are not clients, enjoy this taste of what our clients receive all year long.

Episodes are released bi-weekly

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