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Airbnb Faces Survival Fight in NYC
RE/MAX Enters Mortgage Business
Home-sharing website Airbnb faces a fight for its life in Manhattan as New York governor Andrew Cuomo prepares to sign a bill that would in effect end the company’s business in the Big Apple. Governor Cuomo must decide whether to sign the bill. If it becomes law, it would impose fines of up to $7,500 on any host who advertised short-term accommodations through Airbnb. The online home-sharing website, which connects owners of homes with short-term renters in cities around the world, has often clashed with regulators which accuse the company of operating an illegal hotel business and reducing affordable housing stock. Like other Silicon Valley start-ups that have disrupted traditional business models, Airbnb remains one of Silicon Valley’s most successful start-ups, with a valuation of $30 billion. San Francisco-based Airbnb is also locked in a bitter lawsuit in its home town of San Francisco, which wants to fine Airbnb hosts who do not register with city authorities.
Real estate brokerage RE/MAX Holdings Inc., based in Denver, Colorado, announced it is launching Motto Mortgage , a mortgage brokerage that the company plans to roll out nationwide. “RE/MAX disrupted the real estate industry when it was created more than four decades ago,” said Dave Liniger, RE/MAX CEO, chairman and co-founder in a statement . “Today we are extending our core competency of franchising into the mortgage origination market by introducing Motto Mortgage.” Ward Morrison, RE/MAX’s vice president of regional operations and business opportunities, has been named president of the new loan brokerage. Each Motto Mortgage franchise will be independently owned and operated, with the opportunity to be paired with existing RE/MAX real estate brokerages.
SOURCE: RE/MAX
SOURCE: Financial Times
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