The Rentish Podcast

Zillow + ChatGPT, and Gen Z’s New Housing Reality

• Zach and Patrick • Season 2 • Episode 32

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Pat and Zach are back with another Real Estate Rundown episode, breaking down two stories shaping the future of how we search, rent, and buy homes:

Zillow + ChatGPT: The Future of Home Search
Zillow just became the first real estate app integrated directly into ChatGPT — letting you ask for homes or rentals by chat and see live listings instantly. The guys discuss what this means for agents, buyers, and how AI might change real estate search forever. Read more: Zillow Group announcement

Gen Z’s Housing Shift
Gen Z is rewriting the rules of homeownership. With sky-high prices and limited supply, more young adults are choosing long-term renting, co-buying with family, or embracing flexible living over traditional ownership. What does that mean for the housing market — and the future of the American dream? Read more: Newsweek — How Gen Z’s Lifestyle Shift Could Change the U.S. Housing Market

The guys unpack how AI, affordability, and generational change are reshaping real estate from home search to home life.

Follow and subscribe so you never miss the latest in real estate trends, insights, and a few laughs along the way.
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SPEAKER_00

What's going on, everybody? Welcome to season two of the Rentish Podcast. I'm Zach here with my co-host Patrick.

SPEAKER_01

We're two rookies chasing the dream of real estate investing. In this podcast, we'll talk about property management, wild stories, and everything in between. We don't know it all yet.

SPEAKER_00

But that's the point. We're learning as we go, just like you. We'll bring in the experts to educate and inform us and we'll figure it out together. So let's laugh, learn, and dive into real estate side by side. Patrick, no funny business. We're down to business. I'm messing around today. Not messing around. We're on a time crunch. This is what we call the expedited experience over here. That's what we're gonna call it. Expedited experience. I'm timing this. I'm trying to ride the vibe of this espresso shot that I just took. So we've got T minus 20 minutes until I start to check out. So we're just gonna go right on into this one. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Rentish Podcast. We talk about real estate property management stuff. If you like the podcast, be sure to like and subscribe. Hit the notification bell if you want to be alerted when new episodes come out and follow us on socials at the Rentish Pod or email us questions at the Rentish Pod.com. If you have a question, topic idea, conversation starter, or just a movie that you want us to watch. I don't know. We're open to whatever. Yeah, I'll take movie rex. We'll respond to anything. If you email us, we will respond to you. And if you want to as well, you can leave a comment on the episode on Spotify. That's a new thing. So there's like comments on the episodes. Let us know what your favorite part of the episode was.

SPEAKER_01

See that come up?

SPEAKER_00

Really? Yeah, yeah. Shout out to the people. Producer Muse was talking, but he still doesn't have a mic. So what's the status on getting that repaired? How is that going? Oh got the tracking number? Is it in the mail? One month. We got one month until Musse can talk again. So sorry everybody. You guys are just gonna have to deal with not hearing his sultry tones. Uh but we're gonna go ahead and keep on rolling. Pat, today we've got real estate rundown. Yeah, you want to hit us with that.

SPEAKER_01

What does that mean? Is that the news segment one?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's the news. We're gonna talk about the news.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so we've gonna talk about uh article one is Zillow plus ChatGPT. We're gonna talk about how Zillow just launched inside ChatGPT, letting users ask for homes, see listings, photos, and prices, and even book tours, all in a chat conversation. House hunting just got a major tech upgrade. Fascinating. And then article two uh is Gen C in the housing market. It's a uh an article from Newsweek, and only about a quarter of Gen Zers own homes, and many are choosing to rent long term. This generation is prioritizing flexibility, shared ownership, and experiences over traditional milestones like buying a house or starting a family. Very cool. Yeah.

Zillow + ChatGpt

SPEAKER_00

Sounds like a lot of educating stuff that we're going to do. They might say that. They might say that. I didn't really ask, how's your day going? You all you are good over there. Thanks for asking. How's the energy on your side of the room?

SPEAKER_01

Everything cool over there? I'm good. Yeah. The half-life of this caffeine hasn't worn off yet, but I'm chilling. Yeah. Chilling. Chilling.

SPEAKER_00

I think it might be a combination of a busy work week and just the rain and gloom outside. Yeah. It's just like, man, I just want to lay under a blanket and watch Gilmore girls. But I can't. Yeah. We have to do the podcast. I guess we can have to do this podcast. That's what we have to do at this point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

No, yeah. The Ray-Day vibes is uh I'm definitely looking forward to like being home in a blanket.

SPEAKER_00

Yep, me too. All right. Well, that's enough jibber jabber. Want to talk about news? Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01

Um, yeah, so as mentioned, we're gonna be talking about um Zillow integrating chat GPT into their their uh functionality. Um there's an article from Zillow Group uh called The Future of Home Search. But basically they launched an official Zillow app inside Chat GPT, so now you can literally ask show me homes for sale in Denver under 600K, or like find me a two-bedroom rental in Seattle, and Chat GPT instantly pulls up Zillow listings with like the photos, maps, prices, unless you click straight to Zillow to book a tour, contact an agent, etc. I don't know. I mean this this seemed kind of pretty like an obvious next step to me. And it just kind of sounds like like to me, it just sounds like a chat GPT integrated with Zillow filters. So instead of having manually put in the filters, you can just ask it in conversation form.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Uh I don't know like what your thoughts are.

SPEAKER_00

Not seeing it right off the bat. I was gonna try and pull it up on my uh on my Zillow app and try and like do it live on the show, but I don't see where it's integrated in. So maybe it's like they're rolling it out for like specific people. Let me see. Or maybe my app isn't updated. I'll check that too.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it might be the app updated. I haven't I haven't personally tried it yet. Okay, but basically, why it matters over 800 million people use chat GPT weekly. That's kind of crazy. 800 million? Holy cow, 800 million? That's like there's go ahead.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01

That's like a lot of people. Well, because there's like 8 billion on planet earth, right? So that's like 10% of planet earth. Am I doing there? That's crazy. It's uh are you one of those people? I don't use it weekly, no. Okay. I'm a daily user. Really? Okay. Nearly daily, yeah. No, I maybe use it like once or twice a month.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, AI is an interesting conversation. I mean, and that you know, I don't know how down that rabbit hole we want to get because I know we want to focus it more on the real estate and property management aspects of everything. But I'll just say, as a personal tool in my life, like whether it's like managing personal finances or travel plans, or I find Chat GPTs sometimes more useful than Google search results recently because it gives you more of a detailed breakdown and sources information from all these different websites, and it just seems a bit more intelligent doing it. Like I don't trust Gemini at all. Anytime I search something on Google, I'm like, okay, what does Gemini say? And then then I have to scroll down to find exactly what I'm looking for specifically. But I feel like Chat GPT has been very accurate. And the thing, the thing that I really love about it is it can take data, change it, distill it, or like spit it out into a different form. So if I give it like a gro like groceries or a bill, it can help like personal finance, like list everything like down, find a budget for you. Um, right now I've been doing a lot of wedding planning. No one cares about that on the pod, but I like that has been a very useful tool. That thank you, Pat. That's been a useful tool for like budgeting and like like everything and getting everything in a spreadsheet, RSVPs, deadline, things like that. So it's like it's it is a tool that I use on a nearly day-to-day day. Writing emails, writing text messages. Um it's it's indispose. It's it's like unbelievable. Right.

SPEAKER_01

Wow, okay. I yeah, the main thing that I would like try to use it for is because I chose trivia is helping with trivia questions. It is so bad. It's so like it the questions are either yeah, it's either they're either wrong or they're not, it doesn't get no matter how many details I give it about what exactly I'm looking for, it doesn't understand what a good bar trivia question is. I don't know, like I've just had so many frustrating experiences with it. It's really good for me at helping to reword things. Like if I have the answer and I have the general idea, can you rephrase this into a question? It's really, really good at that. And that's like the main thing I I would say I use Chat GPT for. But helping to actually come up with like the content for like that specific thing uh is really unhelpful. I like Reddit, like Reddit to me is really good. Like I go to Reddit, either Google or Reddit for like if I'm looking for stuff because like Reddit's like real people who and like there's a subreddit for literally anything. Like there's people, like it's just crazy. Like if you're looking for something, it's like there's people who are like really knowledgeable about this niche stuff and go directly to the source, you know.

SPEAKER_00

So you're saying you trust in human capacity more than AI capacity.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, to a certain extent, I mean I don't know about trust because obviously humans are not, but like AI is just taking that data from what people have done.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so then how do you feel about it being implemented in real estate and searching for property?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, back to this. This makes total sense. I mean, because obviously, like the data that they're that they're using within the Zillow app is stuff that already exists in Zillow. So if they're just using the Zillow data to just jet make it like kind of modernize with the AI thing. And I totally totally get it. I mean, it seems like the next step. If you can just like instead of like using the rigid filters, if you can just say what you want to say into like a text, it'll it'll save time. I don't think it's like this huge groundbreaking thing personally.

SPEAKER_00

Right off the dome, first really useful use case of Chat GPT integration with Zilla that I can think of is you hit the microphone button and verbally say, Hey Zillow, I'm looking for a house that has three bedrooms and two baths. I would like it to have a fenced-in yard with a like blah blah blah blah. If it can have a basement that's finished, that would be great. I would also like it to be in a neighborhood that's kind of walkable and you could literally just list out everything and kind of be more emotive and like detailed with what exactly you're looking for. Right. And if it can smartly, which I think it I think ChatGPT is pretty impressive a lot of the times, it does screw up, obviously it's a robot, but like it you can if it could distill that information into a more personalized search. To me, I think that just because there's so there is so much crap on Zillow. Like, yeah, oh well, not I mean that sounds strong, that's a strong word to say, but like there's a lot of stuff that I'm not interested in. Yeah, right. So it's like even though I have my filter set to like, okay, I'm looking for a home that's less than this amount of money that has two beds, three baths, or whatever it is, and you do that filter, there's still gonna be stuff that comes up in that search that I'm like, I don't care about this. I don't want that, that's not what I'm looking for. This is not the exact kind of house that I want. This isn't the exact location. And it's like you can manually do a lot of stuff to make it come down there, but if like if the AI can kind of learn what you're looking for and then help suggest or push the the things that are closest to what you're looking for to the front, that seems like a cool time saver.

SPEAKER_01

No, that makes sense. It it really seems rather than like brand new functionality, it seems like a time saver. So I don't know. Personally, in the in the world of like AI, I don't think this is anything groundbreaking, but it makes sense like that this is our this is happening with I mean this is gonna be a reality with any app.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Is there any app that you use on a day-to-day basis that can start to integrate some form of machine learning tool to like streamline the experience, having it kind of learn a little bit about you and about and about your tastes and everything like that? I I can't this is gonna just happen across the board. Like I'm waiting for the AI integration and friggin' like Gmail. Like you know, it's definitely gonna be happening.

SPEAKER_01

Or any app in terms of what's next, some future updates that are coming are new construction listings. Okay. Um immersive 3D tours, which I know these kind of exist already, like depend if if you want to add it to your listing, but I'd be interested to see like what they mean in terms of like throwing like chat GPT and AI in the in the mix with that. Like, will it just will AI based on like photos or floor plans or whatever, will AI be able to like do a whole walkthrough like as if they were in the property? Because that that would be really cool.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it would be cool, but it'd be also a little concerning because it's like if a robot's showing me a fake 3D rendering walkthrough of a house, like what if there's actually ghosts everywhere?

SPEAKER_01

That's what you that's what your brain went to. What about the ghosts?

SPEAKER_00

That was the first thing I thought of. I was I get the point. I was trying to think of like a like a like a bad like proper. I was like, what if there's cracks on the walls? What about the ghosts? You never know. You never know. You never know.

SPEAKER_01

I I see what you're saying though. Like if there's any if it's like could be falsified, right?

SPEAKER_00

It's like it's like showing you, it's like uh it's like you're on Tinder and it's an AI person. Yeah, you can catfish by a fake property, but it's in digital.

SPEAKER_01

No, that makes that makes I could definitely see, yeah. I don't know what they mean by that. The immersive 3D tours. And then also coming new soon is more personalized AI tools.

SPEAKER_00

Real real vague, there.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, like here's the thing is that like Zillow is already the app to find property listings. It's like that's the one that comes to mind when most people think about okay, I'm gonna look for an apartment for rent, I'm gonna check Zillow, I'm looking for a house, I'm gonna have Zillow. Right. It's like Zillow home alerts is like a commonly used term in my age demographic. What where can they go next? You know what I mean? It's like, okay, so obviously Chat GPT integration was the next thing to build out the Zillow app, but it's like there's only so many more places, there's so many more things you can do. It's like it's like The Simpsons meme. It's like, stop, stop, he's already dead. It's like that's Zilla with all other like listing sites, basically. It's like they've just kind of like taken the cake and ran with it.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I got some questions for you. Okay, some discussion questions. All right, I got a question. What does this mean for real estate agents?

SPEAKER_00

It certainly makes their job a little less important, at least on the front end. Like, I mean, obviously, you still need an agent to meet you at the place, show you the property, but theoretically, this might open the door more for mom and pop people to not have to need that kind of experience. Like, yeah, if you can integrate with if you can use Zillow to list your home for sale and then have an AI basically like be the the the concierge between them and you, and then they can like organize a showing or organize a whatever, and then it's like you might remove the need for a lot of those people, maybe.

SPEAKER_01

Hmm, yeah, that that that would be interesting because I I didn't even think about it in terms of like the agent. I was I was more thinking about this as like a a more streamlined filter, but yeah, yeah, I guess you're right. If there's like agents who are helping you find like the exact house or property that you're looking for, and then AI can just do that part for you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. If you can like you start a conversation on the Zillow app, and it's like, hey, what's up? I'm Zilly, the Zillow AI agent or whatever. It's like I'm gonna be your personal, personal real estate agent. What kind of home are you looking for? And then it's like I like this home. It's like, and then it's like dot dot dot dot dot dot. It's like, all right, we've contacted the landlord, the the owner of this property and asked if you they'd be willing to schedule a tour and blah blah blah. And then it's like basically you just remove the real estate agent's entire job.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but I feel like a lot of times when I've toured properties, it has been with the agent.

SPEAKER_00

So if a mom and pop could just do it, why not? Yeah, right. No, that's a good idea. If they're available too. Right, right, right. As you're probably saving because how much money do you pay in a real estate like uh like an agent? It's a percentage, right? Yeah, yeah. You can just avoid that entire spend.

SPEAKER_01

No, that's that's an interesting thought. I'd be interested to see how like this all shakes out in the next like couple years. So the bottom line is Zillow's new chat GPT app makes home searching conversational. It blends real data, AI, and simplicity, letting your next move literally start with a chat. So yeah, that's that's all I got for for this article. Okay. Pretty I mean, pretty straightforward, but it's I think it's a noteworthy, you know, step in in the AI direction that humanity seems to be going.

Gen Z's New Housing Reality

SPEAKER_00

As a famous, as the famous kip once said from Napoleon Dynamite, I love technology. Is that a direct quote? Yeah, it was, right? Don't they say he sings that to his his the his wife at the end of the movie? Oh, does he? I love technology. I've been chatting with babes all day online. That's a good line to see. No, I love talking about tech. I think it's fun. I think chat GPT and AI is certainly the the buzzword of the 2020s so far in terms of tech. So curious to see where it goes in the second half of the decade. All right, Patrick, you ready for the next article? Yeah. All right, well, I'm gonna read this one, and uh it's appropriate because there's nothing Gen Z likes more than having a millennial talk about their generation. So perfect uh perfect logic for me. Yeah. So how Gen Z lifestyle shift could change the U.S. housing market. This comes from Newsweek from October 5th, 2025. Gen Z in the housing struggle. Those born between 1997 and 2012, they're trying to break into the housing market, but the progress is kind of stalling. So about 26.1% of Gen Zers own homes in 2024, which was basically a flat number from 2023. Among the oldest Gen Zers, just 33% own homes, compared to about 40% of their parents at the same exact age. Uh so like kind of like comparing and trusting the age rates from the same time. Rising prices, high mortgage rates, and tight supply are making homeownership harder and less appealing. Yeah, they're kind of starting to redefine what home means and kind of how they get there as well. So I don't know, Patrick, our resident, you would technically fall into the Gen Z bracket.

SPEAKER_01

Uh yeah, very much so.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. So I know we probably covered this on other episodes of the Rentish before, but it makes sense to kind of just do it here since we're talking about the news before we get into some statistics and stuff. Where are you with the home buying process?

SPEAKER_01

Haven't started yet, and I'm not particularly interested for the next I live in the city, in an apartment in the city. I don't want to buy a home until I'm like moving out of the city. Okay. And then like I then I'll like I I really do plan on buying a home probably in the next three or four years. I do have friends who've bought houses, and I think it this seems to be more of like a renting versus buying thing. But I think a big thing with Gen Z is living at home, like after college, or like saving, like being living with your parents rent-free, saving up for a house, and then just buying a house for people who want to go into the home buying without having to pay the high rents. Like I have multiple friends who've kind of taken that route. Like living, like I have I have a buddy actually in Buffalo who's been living at home, saved up, and then now just bought a bought a house, but like just skipped the renting altogether. But most people I know at this point are still renting and not home buying.

SPEAKER_00

I think you're right. I mean, I definitely think that that seems to be the pattern. And I mean, that was something that, like, not to get all existential about millennial life versus Gen Z life, but it's like something that was like kind of like an idea that was like pounded into your head when you're in high school for my age range, like graduating high school, going to college was like you were flu fluing the coop. Fluing the coop, flying the coop, whatever the whatever the terminology flying the coop. It's like you're you're leaving the nest. You you like when you turn a certain age, you graduate high school, you go to college, that is you leaving and going away. That is you becoming an adult.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So it was like for my generation, I feel like, and for my age range, it was like we left our parents' homes in high school. We went to college, we we lived in dorms, then we lived in apartments, and then we graduated college and it was on to the real world with a big boy job, quote unquote, where you get a job, you get an apartment, you you maybe you have a significant other, you live with them, or you live with other roommates, you save up, you get a house. And the idea of kind of moving back in with your parents after kind of like that next stage in life of going from high school to college was kind of looked down upon in my age range, which is kind of, you know, now it seems so simple, right? It's like hindsight being 2020, where it's like, sure, if I would have had that opportunity to not pay rent and live at home and it wasn't gonna be like frowned upon, I would have certainly done that because I probably would have been farther along in my personal finances now. Yeah. But at that time it seemed like such a anti-you don't do that. Like you're a quote unquote loser that if you move in with your parents, like that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01

I I feel like that stigma has gone away. Like just speaking as a Gen Z person, like that's not really a stigma as much. I personally don't did not want to live back with my parents. Like, and I I know a bunch of other people who were in the same boats. It's like I like I don't care if it's gonna cost more money. I want to kind of be a little bit independent, not have to share a space. Just like I genuinely like just was ready to like kind of be on my own after college, even though like you know, obviously paying higher rent and whatnot than paying free, you know, rent, no, no rent with living with my parents. I just kind of wanted to like get the city experience and like get my own apartment and own space. But yeah, I mean, I I know a lot of people who are just like, yeah, I'm I'm living at home. And it's not kind of like a ooh, like, you know, why are you living? Like, I've got like a friend who's like a software engineer, like making a lot of money, like still living at home, because he's just like trying to buy a buy a house and doesn't really is not particularly interested in and that and I'm saying I completely agree that stigma is gone because now as a 31-year-old dude, I hear that and I'm like, genius.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I would so much rather not be paying rent. I would be so much farther along in my finances that I could probably afford a much nicer house if I was looking to buy. So maybe that you know that all kind of goes into this whole thing with Gen Z kind of like being a little bit slower into the game. But yeah, so mortgage rates rising above 6%, prices still high. Most Gen Zers are choosing to rent instead of buy. So the people that are moving out that are deciding to get into real estate, they're they're the renter side, they're not the buyer side. Yeah, right. In 2024, they made up about 47% of recent movers in the rental market, which is the biggest share of any generation. Makes sense. Finally getting to that age range where it's surprising. Yeah, uh, by 2030, Gen Z is expected to become America's largest renter group. That also makes sense. Also makes sense there. Survey data got some numbers for you. More numbers. 74% of Gen Z say renting is smarter than buying right now.

SPEAKER_01

See, that's an interesting one. That is fascinating. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, maybe they're just more educated about the cost of the market. Like right now is, I mean, it's never what we've learned from a lot of our guests, it's never a the perfect time to enter the real estate market. But you have to imagine that just like everything else in this world, everything's gonna continue to get more expensive. Right. So it's like there's no time like the present. It's fascinating that 74% of people say that now is a bad time when surely it's gonna be now is the cheapest it will ever be because it's always gonna get more expensive. Right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I'm I'm surprised by like 74% think it's it's smarter versus I'm like, does that mean smarter for like my financial situation right now, or just like smarter in general? You know what I mean? Like if you're able to rent or buy, maybe like because I think a lot of Gen Z people are like restricted into like just renting. Sure. Right. And like I if you're like restricted into renting, are you are you still gonna say it's smarter? Because like at that point, like, yeah, I mean, if you can't afford to buy, then like obviously it's not smart to buy.

SPEAKER_00

I would be curious as to what there's a lot of nuance there, so I don't I don't know that we don't have that nuance in the percentages, but I got a couple more for you. 59% view renting as a long-term choice, not just a step toward ownership. And 83% say it gives them more freedom to save for experiences, not just assets. I get that. So all makes sense. Flexibility is key. Renting allows them to move for jobs or lifestyle changes, but the catch is that nearly 59% of Gen Z renters are rent burdened, spending too much of their income on housing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so that's the interesting one. Like, I I totally, totally agree with the flexibility part. It's like, yeah, I mean, if I don't want to own a home right now, I I like the flexibility of I'm able to live in the city or I'm able, I don't have to pay for maintenance and all this stuff. It's super nice. At the same time, it it would be nice for that to be like a choice and not feel like like, oh, I I have to rent because I can't afford to buy, and rent is so expensive that it's taking up like over a third of my expenses, or or like whatever the case might be. I feel like both of those things are different sorts of reasons.

SPEAKER_00

Um so um 50 uh the 50 what is it, 50 3020? Isn't that the 50-six? Well, that's like the 50-3020 would be like, well, you shouldn't spend more than what? Is it 20? Is it 20%? So so 20%?

SPEAKER_01

Well, 50-30-20, 50 is needs, 30 is wants, 20 is savings. That's the oh, that's what I'm thinking of. But then the the that's just like a basic, like just rule of thumb as one plan of budgeting. The the general rule of thumb with renting is is rent should be no more than a third of your yearly income. Yeah, of your income after taxes. Okay, yeah. And and like if it's over a third, I think, of your income after taxes that you're paying toward rent, then I think you're considered rent burdened. I think is how they calculate that. I could be wrong, but got it.

SPEAKER_00

Couple more things here. Fewer homes, fewer families. Experts say the affordability crisis in is changing not just housing, but actually family life as well. So starter homes are scarce. In fact, that word doesn't exist anymore, in my opinion. It's like that terminology you might as well just throw out the window because there's no house that is affordable. Exactly. This this starter home now is a like a like a one-bedroom, one-bath condo for a hundred thousand. Right. Uh, starter homes are scarce, family-sized homes come with steep premiums. Since 2019, the median home price is up 36% and the price per square foot up 51%. That's insane. Many older homeowners are holding on to big homes, creating a housing log jam. I've never heard that sentence before, that blocks younger families from moving up. So bit difficult there. That that basically is pushing Gen Z to delay marriage, kids, and household formation, because if you don't have space to do it, can't do it.

SPEAKER_01

It's interesting because like the kids in household formation make sense. I like I've been feeling like Gen Z's been getting married earlier than millennials have.

SPEAKER_00

You mentioned that before.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it really feels that way. But I mean, everyone who's like married, that a lot of people I know who are married as Gen Z, they're still renting and still are not planning on having kids anytime soon. So I like maybe like the traditional view of like what you do, which is get married, buy a house, have kids, like in that, you know, the all within a short time frame. Like, even for my friends who are getting married, it's that's not what's going on. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I I can't say you're the only Gen Z person I know, so Oh really? You're the only Gen Z person I hang out with and talk to on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_01

Oh thanks. I guess so. You're not married, so I guess you know. I just got uh I have some friends who just got engaged and they asked, they said that I'm on the shortlist to ordain their wedding. So that I'm super.

SPEAKER_00

That's an interesting thing to say. I don't know. You revealed the shortlist. I mean, they're basically saying bribe us so that you can be the number one.

SPEAKER_01

No, they they pretty much they said I'm the short list, and I was like so honored. I'm like, I'd be so happy to do it. And I said who else is on the list, and they're like, it's just me as of now.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm so I might so then it's not a short list. Then you're you're their current front runner.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. They they were calling it a short list, which made me think I had more competition than I did.

SPEAKER_00

That's what I was thinking, is like, hey, we've did we've narrowed it down to three people that we want to ordain the wedding. So what are you gonna do to the deal?

SPEAKER_01

That's what I thought it was at first, but my odds are looking good.

SPEAKER_00

Can you imagine Patrick as an ordained?

SPEAKER_01

I'm so unbelievably excited.

SPEAKER_00

Uh we're gathered here today. Uh when you get up to the pulpit, you go, what up? All right. Economists point out that owning a home often triggers family formation, stability, space, and predictability. All these matter, and without that, many young adults are putting life plans on hold. So, what's the trend going? Trend towards smaller homes and co-ownership. This is interesting here. Developers are responding to affordability pressures by building smaller homes and flexible living spaces. The average new home has shrunk 10 square feet per year over the last five years, and co-ownership is on the rise. So 25% of Gen Z homeowners have bought houses with their parents, helps shoulder that burden. Yeah. And 22% bought with siblings, which was double of last year's rate.

SPEAKER_01

Double is crazy.

SPEAKER_00

That's pretty crazy. I would never own a home with my brother. Uh, if you're listening, Lucas, never. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. That would not happen in a video.

SPEAKER_01

Also, flexible living spaces is such like a nice way to put smaller houses. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it's like how every every negative real estate term has to sound not negative. That sounds like a politician. It's a flexible real living space. It just means it's a broom closet. You put a pillow up, you'll be fine. Builders are adding designs with separate interests, more bathrooms, and ready rental-ready layouts to support roommates or shared ownership. So a lot of these new developments are just coming along with this expectation that people might be buying properties in a shared capacity, which is fascinating. Would you consider doing this with a friend or a family member? Like purchasing a house. Purchasing a house with somebody else. With somebody else. That's not a partner. A partner. Because it does it doesn't specify it says 25% with parents, 22% with siblings. It doesn't give a specificity.

SPEAKER_01

I would do it, I would I would do it in a heartbeat for like an investment property, for like a rental property, and just split, like split the you know, it's like less less money in, like and maybe less yields, but like it kind of makes it more affordable for everybody. Sure. Like I would go, I would go in with one. But like for a house that I'm living in, like buying for myself to live in, I I would like to own that with my partner and not not have like a family member, like you know what I mean? Like, so that that that would be my stipulation.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I got you. That makes sense. I I agree with you. So is Gen Z redefining the American dream or just adapting to the economy? Patrick, you're our resident Gen Z expert. So answer the question.

SPEAKER_01

Are we what's the question?

SPEAKER_00

Is Gen Z redefining the American dream or just adapting to the economy?

SPEAKER_01

I think it's adapting. I mean, I think to a certain extent, like I think renting makes a lot of sense. That maybe like, and I think there's there's less of a like you said, less of a stigma, like don't do this because it's not socially acceptable. Like what you have to do is this, this, and that. And I don't think Gen Z like cares about that kind of stuff as much. So on the one hand, there is some redefining, but I also think that with the current real estate market being like pro like the tightest that it's ever been, like, it doesn't mean like we're like redefining everything because like it's like we have all these options and we're like choosing to, you know, I think it is very, very restrictive at the same time. So I think the two things are kind of happening at the you know.

SPEAKER_00

I kind of I agree with that from an outside perspective. I do actually think that there's a lot of kind of rewriting of what like the American dream is such a phrase that is so nebulous now that like you know that I if you had asked me 20 years ago what is the American dream, I would have said house, 2.5 kids and a white picket fence in the suburbs. You graduate, you go live, and you go have this property, and you have a nine to five job and you have a small family, and that's what you do. That's the that to me. If you had asked me that 20 years ago, that's the American dream. But now it's like so many people. People want so many different things in this country, and it's so stretched thin across all spectrums that I just think that what the American dream is is no longer definable. So I think that like this is helping change that for sure. It's just funny, it's like 20 years ago. If you asked somebody that no one would have said, I'm gonna live with my parents for five years after I graduate college and then buy a house.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm and I'm not gonna get married yet because I can't financially support children or like another person.

SPEAKER_01

It's like or according to this article, what was it like 59% renting long term, like renting forever.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. You know, like oh just rent. Yeah. Like someone moves some there is someone today that is leaving their house either with their parents' house that is moving to like Manhattan for a job. And they're probably thinking to themselves, like, I may very well rent for my 20s and 30s and just live in Manhattan. It's like I don't think anyone would have said that that was the American, quote unquote, the American dream 20, 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_01

No, it's like my mom, it's kind of unrelated, but my mom, Jen Gen X, um she was saying she she recently bought a house and she really likes the house, but part of her is like, like, I don't want to have to deal with all this maintenance stuff, and the property taxes are outrageous now that she's paying. And she's like, part of me is just like, let me just have all of this money that I spent on this house sitting in a bank account and let the interest pay for just monthly rent. She's like, that sounds really nice to me. And she's like, not necessarily having regrets on doing that, but is like that's a very viable option for her at this point and just like not having to deal with all the taxes and all the stress of maintenance and whatnot.

SPEAKER_00

Well, the bottom line, Patrick, Gen Z's lifestyle shift toward flexibility, renting, and shared living could definitely reshape housing demand for decades to come. They're prioritizing freedom and experiences over traditional milestones. But with more homes being built, affordability will not improve no matter how creative the next generation gets. And that's another episode of the Rentish Podcast in the books. Patrick, did you learn something today? I did. Do you want to know what I learned? No, if you learned something, that's really all I care about. Well, I hope you all out there learned and listened and had a good time listening to us talk about real estate, property management, chat GPT, technology, and Gen Z people. It's been a fun ride. And check us out on your podcast platform of choice. Follow The Rentish Pod everywhere you can. Socials at the Rentish Pod. Email us with your questions or topic suggestions to questions at the rentish pod.com. And then, you know, keep up with us online. We're available there. Hit the notification bell if you want to be notified when new episodes drop on your favorite podcast service. Give us a five-star rating or uh like whatever your podcast service offers. Just do it to the maximum amount. Thank you all for listening and hanging out with us. Until next time, I've been Zach. That's been Patrick, and we'll see you guys next time. The Rentich Podcast is recorded in Cincinnati, Ohio, hosted by Patrick Giro and me, Zach Rotello. Produced by Mousse Gabermesco and Charlene Mulcindani. Edited by Elliot Mongenis. Theme song by me, Zach Rotello.