@BenBear
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Cofounder, CEO @_TurboHome and @BuildCasa. Tweets about housing, policy, and startups. Prev CEO @ Spin (acquired by @Ford) + VP Revenue @ Vungle (Nasdaq: LFTO)
Oakland, CA
Joined December 2009
- Tweets5.7K
- Following1.7K
- Followers8.2K
- Likes46.5K
Existing real estate apps like Zillow are great for searching for homes, but homebuyers can't actually take action because their business model involves selling leads to agents. We built @_TurboHome so that we control the entire transaction which allows us the redesign the experience from first principles with the homebuyer at the center.
Today we're rolling out our new buyer app which gives our customers direct access to world class AI tools with their expert real estate agent in the loop for the entire journey. A few things you can do with 1 click:
- Find properties
- Run a valuation
- Schedule tours
- Query live MLS data for insights
- Draft offers
- Chat with your agent
Available on web, mobile, and iMessage at app.turbohome.com
Ben Bear retweeted
experimenting with the first Jev powered websites
1. Ploy looks through your site data, conversion rates, enriched visitors, etc.
2. Finds what's working and where specific types of users are dropping off
3. Comes up with hypotheses for how to align messaging to those user groups
4. when a page is loaded, JEV selects the right copy AND design for each individual part of the page to align to that audience segment
5. tracks the results in realtime and improves the hypotheses
... in 25ms with no real impact to LCP 🤯
Ben Bear retweeted
PSA for my hard tech founders and VCs (and tenant rep brokers):
Will shortly have ~40k sq ft of industrial space with good power and decent parking available on Lairport St in El Segundo.
If you or someone you know needs space, pls reach out.
Ben Bear retweeted
This one got to me
Perhaps because he’s not an anon, but the favorite to win statewide office in Texas.
Perhaps it’s because the kids in the picture could have been me 25 years ago.
I just donated to his opponent and hope you’ll join me
secure.actblue.com/donate/ro…
Ben Bear retweeted
wow... 👀
Last week I had a missed call from a NYC number asking for an urgent call back.
It turned out that a producer Newsmax had seen the NY Post article on TurboHome and wanted to do a segment on how AI was changing real estate.
When I showed up at 7 AM the next morning, I realized that the segment was a debate between me and a traditional realtor.
Our view is that traditional realtors will always play an essential role for some buyers. If you want the same agent to do every tour with you or your realtor family friend finds an off market property, that's probably worth 3% commission.
If you're among the 80% of buyers who are comfortable researching homes themselves online, we think buyers should have an option where they benefit from the efficiency AI unlocks in the transaction.
How did I do?
Full clip linked below
Last week I had a missed call from a NYC number asking for an urgent call back.
It turned out that a producer Newsmax had seen the NY Post article on TurboHome and wanted to do a segment on how AI was changing real estate.
When I showed up at 7 AM the next morning, I realized that the segment was a debate between me and a traditional realtor.
Our view is that traditional realtors will always play an essential role for some buyers. If you want the same agent to do every tour with you or your realtor family friend finds an off market property, that's probably worth 3% commission.
If you're among the 80% of buyers who are comfortable researching homes themselves online, we think buyers should have an option where they benefit from the efficiency AI unlocks in the transaction.
How did I do?
Full clip linked below
Prediction: AI agents will cause email marketing effectiveness to decline dramatically.
Most consumers have thousands of unread emails from all the marketing emails they get.
I’ve been able to setup 3X daily sweeps with Instinct that get rid of anything I don’t need to read or keep like a receipt.
Ben Bear retweeted
Of all the issues @Arnold_Ventures works on, increasing the supply of housing is in the most demand. It's also the area where we see the most bipartisan collaboration, both in states and Congress.
graphic via @mercatus
Ben Bear retweeted
We are seeking new contracts for all of San Francisco’s homelessness services, prioritizing accountability and results. This effort will shift all contracts to an outcomes-driven model and incorporate performance metrics. We are also seeking feedback from the community and providers throughout this process.
Our administration is fundamentally transforming how the city tackles homelessness and addiction. We are not just getting people off the streets—we are helping them get on the path to recovery and stability.
But that work can only succeed with a system that is built to deliver results, with accountability when the outcomes aren't good enough. We are not going to continue spending $1 billion of taxpayer money on a failing system—we're fixing the system so we can deliver the safe and clean streets every San Franciscan deserves.
San Francisco’s effort will shift homeless services provider contracts to an outcomes-driven model that will incorporate performance metrics into how city funding is spent. sfchronicle.com/sf/article/h…
Ben Bear retweeted
5 new homes coming to Menlo Park in 2027! First projects where I'm acting as principal developer.
AI renderings below.
🤖 Made with AI
Ben Bear retweeted
All (few!) investors but one on the Brandy cap table are from Twitter
If you angel invest and are a human I'm connected to here, I'd love to chat.
Looking for a couple more of you 😎
Ben Bear retweeted
It is an honor for Esmeralda to be covered by the Congress for New Urbanism (@NewUrbanism)
CNU has been a huge inspiration for me 😊
As AI models continue to improve, technology will continue to play a larger role in the homebuying process.
Our view @_TurboHome is that as the process gets more efficient, homebuyers should directly benefit in terms of lower fees and better access to information.
As of today, we've officially crossed $500M in lifetime transactions while putting ~$10M back in the pockets of homebuyers compared to traditional commission.
Our new buyer app allows homebuyers to take direct action on home search, tours, market research, and offers.
This frees up real estate agents on our platform to focus on what they do best: offer strategy and negotiation.
Despite charging consumers lower fees, we haven't churned a single real estate agent since launching in late '24.
Thanks to @arielzilber from the @nypost for taking a look and speaking to real homebuyers.
Our new buyer app is designed to let buyers take direct actions like:
1) Setup listing alerts for off market properties
2) Run a valuation using real MLS data
3) Schedule a tour with no annoying phone calls
4) Chat with your human agent and AI in one workspace
5) Draft an offer
Check out the app for free here: app.turbohome.com
We're live in CA + TX with more states coming soon.
Ben Bear retweeted
This is nuts.
The whole thing about a housing crisis is that you don't have enough houses for all the people doing the jobs. I joke sometimes that people who cheer job growth but boo housing additions apparently assume that people who work prefer to not sleep in houses.
Expediting the jobs part of California Forever while cutting out the housing part is like turning my bad joke into policy.
