Ribbon CEO on prizing cash offers and the future of real estate

What shifts happening in real estate today will change how homes are bought and sold? And which disruptions will be forgotten five years from now? For this episode of Houses in Motion, part of HousingWire Daily, HousingWire real estate reporter Matthew Blake posed those questions to Shaival Shah, the CEO of Ribbon, a New York City company that, up to now, has been giving cash loans to prospective homebuyers in half-a-dozen southern states. 

Ribbon is a “power buyer,” meaning that they facilitate a consumer making a cash offer on a home. Shah contends that cash consistently stands out to sellers weighing offers. 

Ribbon’s business model raises a few big-picture questions. One, will we continue into the indefinite future with a high-demand real estate market that requires extraordinary measures like an all-cash offer? Also, is Shah right that there is a growing legion of single-family home investors hoarding inventory? And where do traditional intermediaries, namely the real estate agent, fit into Ribbon’s plans?