Offerpad Solutions Inc. (NYSE:OPAD) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Brian Bair: One other thing, I’ll just jump in on there. The seasonality over the last couple of years because the lack of supply has not been what we’ve seen traditionally. The lack of supply, we haven’t seen — we’ve seen some seasonality but not near the seasonality that we would see maybe a few years ago. So the lack of supply is definitely is throwing a little bit of different range at the seasonality side. But again, it’s something that we’re watching closely. But yes, December is definitely one of those months.

Jawad Ahsan: Yes. John, this is Jawad. I wanted to weigh in here as well. Look, it’s been a challenging year. I wasn’t here for it, but I love the way that we responded. I saw us take really difficult decisions and make tough decisions and actions to right-size our cost structure, and what I see now is a business that has fundamentally rightsized and gotten its costs and infrastructure position to grow profitably from here. And so for me, it’s not just profitability, but cash flow. So we’re — we gave our guidance on profitability, but we’re also laser-focused on getting that cash flow positive as well, and that’s something that we’re going to drive very hard towards. There’s still a lot of uncertainty in the market. Brian mentioned volatility in mortgage markets. And for sure, there’s still some uncertainty, but I feel really good about how the company’s positioned to go from here.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Jay McCanless with Wedbush.

Jay McCanless : The first one I had, in terms of the people who are selling homes to you, Brian, is it typically primary homeowners, family selling? Or have you seen an uptick in people who maybe thought they could be a landlord, couldn’t pull it off and/or some of these Airbnb owners we’ve heard that are starting to bail? And if you could maybe talk about that supplier base on your homes now versus maybe where it was a year ago or 2 years ago.

Brian Bair: Yes. I think fundamentally, it’s a great — I was actually going to throw in the Airbnb when you said that I was thinking about that because there’s definitely a little posit that’s happening right there. I think fundamentally, just as where interest rates where they’re at. There’s definitely the story of people locked into their 3% or 4% mortgage. And so there’s not a lot of people that are moving because of — they want the nicer kitchen or nicer cabinets or wanted a bigger backyard right now. So most people are moving for a purpose. Majority of the people that were buying the homes from are owner/occupants that are living in the home, a vast majority of that. But in saying that, we are seeing a lot of — a lot more action that we’ve seen with short-term rentals and even some of the long-term rentals on that end of it.

So we’re seeing — we’re definitely seeing volume from that end of it as well. And to your point, I think there was a rush for the short-term rentals and the Airbnbs and those of the world. And I think those are — they’re having — whatever, we’re just seeing more activity on that end as well. But definitely, the vast majority are people that are owner/occupants that are selling us their homes.

Jay McCanless : Okay. That’s great. And then my second question, you kind of unpack what you’re talking about with mortgage rate volatility, Brian. Is there a — is 8% too high even at these new spreads and sticking around the median price? Which sounds great. I think that’s the right approach right now. But is there a ceiling where if mortgage rates, 30-year rates go above it, then the underwriting doesn’t work for what you’re buying and what you’re trying to sell right now?