The Future of Low-Cost Housing

Colin’s note: In today’s video issue of The Bleeding Edge… I’m coming to you from Northern California where I’m doing some boots-on-the-ground research.

There’s a small startup out here that’s developing an innovative way to address the issues stemming from steadily rising housing costs in the U.S.

California has one of the lowest rates of homeownership in the country with about 54% of residents owning their homes – only trailing behind New York and Washington D.C.

This startup has created a fully modular, weatherproof, cost-effective housing solution. I’ve been calling it “the Ritz-Carlton of geodesic domes.”

You can take a tour of one of these homes with me by clicking the image below. Or, if you prefer, you can read through the transcript below, which my team has edited for flow.

Affordable housing is one of the biggest issues that we face here in this country.

And some experts believe that due to high housing costs, you’re seeing a lower formation of families and therefore a lower birth rate. So solving this issue is actually paramount to the success and longevity of this country.

And perhaps no other place here in the United States is suffering more from high housing costs than right here in California.

Today, you are going to visit a startup looking to solve this problem not only with an innovative product… but with an innovative manufacturing process. And maybe more importantly than that, there’s a way to invest in this company.

And I’m going to show it to you all today.

Here we are in Northern California. It is beautiful this time of year up here. You’ve got the beautiful fall leaves, but behind me is a geodesic dome.

And this thing is very impressive. I’ve been meeting with the founders. This thing is manufactured all in one piece with minerals that you can get out of the ground. It’s waste mineral. So none of this material here is any rare raw material.

It’s very cheap, it’s very affordable, and it is all put together. It’s all fused. There are no screws or fasteners. It’s a fascinating dome. I’m calling this the Ritz-Carlton of geodesic domes. I’ll take you inside right now.

This is one of the smaller units that they have here. The idea here is this can be modular. So you’re actually able to connect multiple of these geodesic domes together. So if you wanted a larger one or if you had a large family, you could connect multiple of these together.

But all of these panels are all the same. And that’s allowing this company to manufacture these at such a low cost. So something like this, this dome here would probably be in the right around $200,000 range, which out here in California is extremely affordable for this type of structure.

All of these panels are fused together using the same minerals, and so you get this very tight bond. This thing is waterproof, it is fireproof, and it is just an incredible experience to be here.

It’s a relatively small dome, but because the ceilings are so high and you have this openness with the windows, it feels very airy and much more spacious than it would if say something like this was your traditional boxed house.

So the other exciting part about this, is this is going to be potentially an investment in our Day One Investor portfolio.

Over at Brownstone Research, we have the Day One Investor where we come out here on site, we vet with the CEOs, and we talk with the management team. We’re going to go back and look at the manufacturing process. We’re going to do all the due diligence for you on this type of deal.

Now the thing is, with these types of private deals, you have founders who are very, very passionate and mission-driven.

And look, you can go out here and do these private deals on your own. You can go to the crowdfunding websites and vet these deals on your own.

But what I have found is you’ve got to come out here and you’ve got to touch the ground. You’ve got to touch the product. And more importantly, you’ve got to sit down and have a long conversation with the founder and see if they want to exit this business.

Because the only way you’re getting your money out of these deals is if the founder is going to grow this business and take it to an IPO, or maybe sell it to another company.

And some of these founders are very passionate about their products. They are all-in on what they’re doing.

From a company perspective, that’s not necessarily the best thing. If you’re investing in these crowdfunding sites, you want that exit. You want that big payday at the end of the day.

And coming out here and talking to the founders, you get a very clear scent what their mission is. Are they trying to change the world? Are they trying to change the environment? Or are they trying to do both of those things but also have a huge return for investors?

And when you have the recipe for those types of things with a great product, you have a great day-one investment. So those of you out there who are subscribers to Brownstone Research’s Day One Investor, this could potentially be a pick in the future. If you’re interested in hearing more about our day-one opportunities, you can go here to learn more.

Glad for you to be with me today here in Northern California, and we’ll see you again soon.

Regards,

Colin Tedards
Editor, The Bleeding Edge