A 36-year-old chess prodigy built a software to speedily buy homes from afar for big investors, beating out everyday buyers. Now he's Atlanta's top broker.
"While record-high home prices are problematic for individual homebuyers, they're one reason why investor demand is stronger than ever," Redfin economist Sheharyar Bokhariin response to the growing trend."Investors buying up a record share of for-sale homes is one factor making this market difficult for regular homebuyers."
The high-tech broker credits his success in the real estate game to a childhood spent training as an international chess champion. Steigman earned atitle by age 13 and was ranked the #1 US player in his age group for eight consecutive years, according to Steignet's website. "Just like a chess supercomputer can obliterate 50 Grandmasters, if you build a very powerful system you don't need to have a large headcount to be able to do it," he added.
Steigman said there's not one key characteristic that differentiates his algorithms from competitors,' comparing the process of designing the software to Elon Musk building a rocket.