Month: September 2021

Scrolling through homes on Zillow is basically a pastime for many Americans, to the point that fantasizing about home buying was parodied by Saturday Night Live last season. But one viral video forced the company to address its business practices this week following some considerable outrage.

A TikTok made by a Las Vegas real estate agent named Sean Gotcher went viral this week that pitched a theory about an unnamed company utilizing user data about popular markets and their relative values to scoop up houses for themselves and essentially fix prices on the market.

What Gotcher lays out is relatively simple: a company that has data on what homes are worth could, in theory, buy up a bunch of homes at market prices to establish a baseline, then intentionally overpay for a home in that same area. With that new baseline for value, they could then sell those houses at the new price they intentionally overpaid for and profit tremendously from that market inflation.

“What that just did is create a new comp,” Gotcher says. “So when they go to see these other 30 homes, that extra $40,000, that you can say this one just sold for $340,000, just made them $1.2 million.”

The video is fairly captivating in its own right, especially with a very funny interruption of a small animal happening offscreen. But the implications are particularly nefarious, and though the company went unnamed by Gotcher it’s pretty easy to conclude that it’s an iBuyer like Zillow he’s talking about.

What the TikTok addresses, a listing company purchasing homes rather than simply being a vehicle for others to purchase homes, has been reported on extensively in recent months. So there’s some truth to the fact that it’s happening. And the video — which got more than 2 million views on TikTok and went viral in its own right on Twitter — caused enough waves that both Zillow and competitor Redfin pushed back significantly against those claims this week.

As Inman detailed, Zillow’s CEO issued a statement denying the business practices despite never being explicitly named in the video.

In a statement emailed to Inman Wednesday, the company characterized the video as an example of “misinformation and falsehoods.” The statement continued, saying “the simple truth is that through our services and tools, home shoppers have more power than ever before at their fingertips when buying, selling or renting their home because of the information we make available to them.”

“We pay market value for every home we purchase,” the statement added. “When we looked at homes that sold traditionally after they declined a Zillow Offer, we learned that on average, those selling traditionally sold for only .09 percent more than the Zillow Offer. And on every home that Zillow buys and sells, we are transparent: the purchase and re-sale prices are publicly displayed on the property page on Zillow.com.”

And Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman responded to the video on Twitter as well.

Kelman was also adamant that Redfin “would rather sell the home without owning it,” but it’s all fairly alarming developments in a real estate market that’s soaring despite all the other economic uncertainty out there. As Inman noted, iBuyers like Zillow, Redfin and Opendoor own as much as five percent of housing markets like Phoenix, Arizona. So there’s certainly a lot of power out there that these companies wield, and judging by how much noise a single video made it’s clear many are worried it isn’t being used for the good of regular people.

[via Inman]

Texas has passed a number of controversial laws in recent weeks that have made national headlines, but Donald Trump is apparently looking to add to that list in his futile attempt to never admit that he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.

Trump, who lost in the electoral college and encouraged a riot in Washington in January 6 that got him impeached for a second time, has spent the months since he left office adamant that he was cheated out of the presidency despite losing by millions of votes and in the electoral college. Both he and his followers have chased down every possible explanation other than that he, you know, actually lost. And that delusional departure from reality now apparently includes the need to audit results in states that he actually did manage to win.

According to the Texas Tribute, Trump wants the Lone Star State to add to legislation the state will pass that allows them to do an audit on the results in Texas, even though he carried the state and there is absolutely no evidence of voter fraud.

In a letter published Thursday, Trump said, “Texans have big questions about the November 2020 Elections,” and time is running out to conduct an audit of the “2020 Presidential Election Scam” because paper ballots are kept for only 22 months after an election.

“Governor Abbott, we need a ‘Forensic Audit of the 2020 Election’ added to the call,” Trump wrote. “We’re quickly running out of time and it must be done this week.”

Abbott, a Republican governor up for re-election, is now put in a very awkward position to either go through with a needless audit of paper ballots at Trump’s behest or face being put in the proverbial crosshairs of his supporters. Which is something many Republicans are trying very, very hard not to do even with the former president in exile in Florida.

This summer, Texas Republicans passed a voting law that they said would make it “easier to vote and harder to cheat,” even while opponents said it would make it harder for communities of color to vote. Texas officials said they had confidence in the 2020 elections but wanted to address concerns from some voters about election security.

Trump continued to stoke those flames by writing to Abbott that Texans “don’t trust your election system, and they want your leadership on this issue, which is the number one thing they care about.”

But by far the funniest outcome of an audit, of course, would be that somehow thousands of votes for Joe Biden were discovered and he actually won the state. What will happen, though, is probably a big waste of time and money with the same result: Trump winning Texas, but not enough votes to actually win the election he absolutely lost.

[via Texas Tribute]

Brintey Spears used Thursday to look back at some highlight moments in her music career. This includes the singer’s iconic performance at “I’m A Slave 4 U” during the 2001 MTV VMAs.

“I will tell you this … before I went on that night I was feeling kinda out of body with nerves … I mean … I was in a cage with a live lion !!!!! I will never forget the moment before I went in the cage !!!!” she wrote in her Instagram caption. Later on in her message, the singer revealed how Justin Timberlake helped calm her nerves prior to the performance.

“Justin saw I could hardly talk so he held my hand and gave me a 5 minute pep talk which obviously worked!!!!!” she wrote. This moment came when the two were dating, a relationship that began in 1999 and concluded in March 2002. The note also comes after Timberlake voiced support for Britney’s battle against her conservatorship earlier this year.

“After what we saw today, we should all be supporting Britney at this time,” he wrote on Twitter. “Regardless of our past, good and bad, and no matter how long ago it was… what’s happening to her is just not right. No woman should ever be restricted from making decisions about her own body.” He added, “No one should EVER be held against their will… or ever have to ask permission to access everything they’ve worked so hard for.” He concluded, “We hope the courts, and her family make this right and let her live however she wants to live.”

You can check the throwback and read the singer’s full message in the post above.

Earlier this month, Beyonce hit a milestone age after she turned 40 on September 4. The singer previously spoke about the new decade of life in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar last month.

“My wish is for my 40s to be fun and full of freedom,” she said before later adding, “I want this next decade to be about celebration, joy, and giving and receiving love. I want to give all the love I have to the people who love me back.”

Less than three weeks after she celebrated her 40th birthday, Beyonce chose to close out Virgo season with a thank you note to her fans.

“As Virgo season comes to an end, I hope my fellow Virgos had great birthdays,” she wrote in a handwritten letter she shared on her website. “I’m so thankful for every inspiring human who took the time to send me all the beautiful messages. I cried tears of joy and was covered in chilly bumps. Your videos, your posts, your countdowns, your playlists and your well wishes, I will cherish forever,” she added. “I’m grateful to everyone involved, especially the fans, for the time and level of detail it took to organize such beautiful tributes. I admire and respect all of you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

She continued, “This is the first year that I really understand what it means to be alive and to live in the moment. It’s the first time that I have an understanding of how fragile life truly is, how hard life can be at times, and therefore how important it is to stop and smell the roses during the good times.” Beyonce later reflected on turning 40 as her letter came to a close.

I thought I knew that at 21 or 30 … but I didn’t. The more mature I become, the more I understand and the deeper my joy grows. There’s a freedom and liberation knowing that I’ve made it to the other side of my sacrifice. I’m finally giving myself permission to enjoy the seeds I’ve worked so hard to plant my whole life

Whoever tried to condition women to feel that we are supposed to feel old or unhappy when we turn 40 got it ALL THE WAY F’d UP.

This has absolutely been the best I’ve felt in my life. I’m so grateful to be GROWN, GROWN!

Most of y’all met me when I was 15, and we have grown up together. You bring sooooo much joy into my life. I hope my art can continue to bring a little joy into yours.

Beyonce ended the letter by writing “I Love You” followed by “done” written 40 times before signing off with a drawing of a bumblebee.

You can view the letter on her website here.

Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey is one of the NFL’s best playmakers and, in the fantasy football community, he is widely considered the game’s most valuable player. In the early portion of the 2021 season, the 25-year-old McCaffrey has displayed that off-the-charts value, racking up more than 320 total yards in just two games and serving as the centerpiece of an intriguing Panthers offense. However, McCaffrey’s 2020 season was marred by injury and, in the first half of Thursday’s Week 3 tilt against the Houston Texans, the former All-Pro running back suffered a hamstring issue that will sideline him for the rest of the evening.

McCaffrey had five touches for 40 yards before leaving in the second quarter, and at this juncture, it is impossible to know how long he will be out of action. After appearing in every single game over his first three seasons in Carolina, McCaffrey missed 13 of 16 games last season with injuries to his ankle, quadriceps and shoulder. As such, the hamstring was not an issue last season, which could be encouraging, but soft tissue injuries can significantly hamper skill-position players that need to be explosive in space.

With McCaffrey sidelined, the Panthers can turn to Chuba Hubbard, a rookie from Oklahoma State, or veteran Royce Freeman. Hubbard is the only running back other than McCaffrey to have a carry in the first two weeks, and he was a highly productive player in the Big 12. Still, it would be unreasonable to expect anyone to replicate the production of McCaffrey, and Panthers fans will be holding their collective breath until a diagnosis emerges.

Rich The Kid and Lil Wayne have both been quite active in the hip-hop world over the last couple of years. Rich The Kid dropped his Lucky 7 EP earlier this year after collaborating with Youngboy Never Broke Again for their 2020 joint project, Nobody Safe. Lil Wayne returned with his thirteenth album Funeral last year while also delivering deluxe reissues for the 2020 effort as well as his 2018 album, Tha Carter V. Now, for the rappers’ latest act, they’ll be joining forces for a new joint album titled Trust Fund Babies.

The project was announced on Thursday through Rich The Kid’s social media pages. He also unveiled the album’s cover art which depicts drawings of the two rappers as cartoon babies. The rapper also confirmed that fans would not have to wait too long to press play on it, as it’s set to release on October 1. Young Money’s president Mack Maine, who has been beside Lil Wayne for the majority of the rapper’s career, previously confirmed that Wayne and Rich The Kid were in the studio together working on a project together.

Maine also confirmed that fans can expect more projects from Wayne in the near future. They include I Am Not a Human Being III and Collegrove 2 with 2 Chainz.

You can view the announcement for Trust Fund Babies in the post above.

Trust Fund Babies is out 10/1 via Young Money/Rostrum Records. Pre-order it here.

Nintendo Online is one of the more frustrating online offerings out there. Despite costing $20 for a full-year package, the benefits of it feel very underutilized. For example, one of the coolest features is the ability to play from a selection of NES and SNES games at any point. They’re all emulated straight from the console and it’s a very neat feature. The problem is these libraries aren’t updated all that often and while they do feature some of the heavy hitters, like Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda, when it does update it will frequently feature really obscure titles.

It’s possible that Nintendo Online will soon be receiving a huge shot in the arm, however. During Thursday’s Nintendo Direct, it was announced that Nintendo Online would be adding not only Nintendo 64 titles to their online service, but SEGA Genesis games as well. This means games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Star Fox 64, Mario 64, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will soon be playable all from your Nintendo Switch. To sweeten the deal, Nintendo even announced that all these games would feature online multiplayer. GoldenEye 007 multiplayer anyone?

Now for the inevitable downside to all of this. Remember when we said that everyone is kind of disappointed with the current Nintendo Online offerings? Well, these new features will only be available in an entirely new online plan that’s going to be a tier higher than the current one. So anyone that is already shelling out the $20 a year for the current online package will now have to pay even more. The price gets even steeper for players that want to play on the authentic controllers that Nintendo will be offering.

The good in all of this is that this means that some of our favorite games ever are going to be available on the Switch. The addition of multiplayer is amazing and it feels like yet another reason to buy one. The problem is that Nintendo’s history of how it handles Nintendo Online, and really the internet in general, doesn’t create confidence in spending more money on their online service. The SNES and NES Online features, while cool, have new games added to them at a drip pace. If the Nintendo 64 Online and SEGA Genesis Online features come out, and both of them have extremely limited libraries, it’s going to feel like yet another example of Nintendo making big promises for online without backing it up. Hopefully, that isn’t the case this time, because it would be awesome to launch it on day one and see a full library of great games to play.

Matt Amodio’s dominance on Jeopardy! continued on Thursday as the Ph. D student won his 27th game. Amodio is inching closer to the $1 million mark in winnings, and if he can manage a few more days behind the podium he’ll become one of the most decorated champions in the show’s history.

Amodio’s run has come amid a series of scandals involving the show’s now-former host, and many fans have pointed out that his time as a contestant lasted far longer than several guest hosts, let alone Mike Richards. But apparently not everyone is impressed with his win streak just yet.

Fellow Jeopardy! champion and Greatest of All Time contestant James Holzhauer loves to joke about the show on Twitter, even when it’s about the troubles the syndicated game show has seen in recent weeks. And as Amodio’s streak starts to creep closer to his own 32-game run, Holzhauer decided to make it clear they’re not in the same territory just yet.

“When you order something online vs. when it arrives,” Holzhauer wrote on Twitter, showing an image of himself and Amodio as 23-day champions. The difference here, though, is the monetary difference between those streaks. While Holzhauer racked up more than $1.7 million in that time, Amodio won “just” $825,000.

Holzhauer is just kidding here, of course, as both have been incredibly successful on the show and are excellent champions in their own right. But he does make a good point here: while Amodio may beat Holzhauer’s win streak in the coming days, he’s likely to need a lot more games to reach his total winnings of more than $2.4 million.

Did you know that a Mario movie is being made? It’s actually been in the works for quite some time and it’s potentially going to be the first of many.

Well, during September’s Nintendo Direct, we finally got some more information about this new movie such as a release target and the casting. However, some of the casting choices were…peculiar to say the least. Chris Pratt as Mario, in particular, was one that rubbed many people the wrong way because it felt like such a weird decision, and of course, because the internet is the way it is everyone had to start memeing it.

However, while Pratt’s reaction received mainly confusion, there was a lot of excitement over the rest of the casting choices. Everyone thinks Charlie Day as Luigi is a genuinely funny choice to play Mario’s younger brother and it led to plenty of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia memes.

Some weren’t even about Day, just Always Sunny.

Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong was a spectacular choice because everyone immediately wanted to hear his laugh as DK.

Then there were plenty who have suggestions for alternative casting choices, with one important question in particular: Who is going to be Wario and Waluigi?

Also, we got a Super Mario RPG reference which was definitely the most important meme of the entire night.

In conclusion, the internet really wants to find a way to get Danny Devito in this game.

When Nintendo made the jump from 2D to 3D they brought along many of their mascot characters with them. Mario, Link, Samus, Donkey Kong, and others all got huge 3D experiences with massive worlds to explore. One longtime mascot however didn’t get quite the same treatment, as everyone’s favorite little pink puffball, Kirby, continued to live in the 2D space. While Kirby got an experience that used polygons with Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards it was still a side-to-side linear experience. While Mario and Link’s worlds got bigger, and Samus re-imagined the FPS genre, Kirby stayed true to a formula that was very successful. However, Kirby’s biggest fans always had one wish of giving them a 3D experience just like the one Nintendo’s other IPs received.

On Thursday, Nintendo made an announcement that finally gave everyone what they had been asking for. Kirby is getting a 3D experience and the world looks massive. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is coming to the Nintendo Switch in Spring 2022 and it looks fantastic. Obviously, it’s just the first trailer, so we don’t want to put too much stock into it, but the early signs pointed to an experience that was exactly what everyone had been asking for. It still looks and feels like Kirby, but the game is set in a 3D world. It’s a simple wish, but a wish Kirby fans are finally having fulfilled.

As for the trailer itself, it begins with Kirby awaking on a beach somewhere, which sure doesn’t look like his usual world of Dreamland. Not only that, but the setting looks very post-apocalyptic, which is a surprising change of tone and direction for the usually upbeat Kirby games.

Considering the title “Forgotten Land” we might be seeing Kirby transported to an entirely new world to explore. One fully of mystery to explore and understand. That’s exciting! They’ve already done the plots around Dreamworld to death already so marking his first true 3D experience with an entirely new world to explore is a fun idea. We can’t wait to learn more in the upcoming months as new information comes out about the game.