In November 2021, the Company completed an offering of common stock, which resulted in the issuance and sale by the Company of 1,750,000 shares of common stock, at a public offering price of $25.00 per share, generating gross proceeds of approximately $35 million, of which the Company received approximately $32.5 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and other offering costs (the “2021 Equity Offering”).
COVID-19 and Other Risks
Our business is dependent on the economic conditions within the markets in which we operate. Changes in these conditions can have a positive or negative impact on our business. The economic conditions influencing the housing markets primarily include economic growth, interest rates, unemployment, consumer confidence, mortgage availability, and supply and demand.
In periods of economic growth, demand typically increases resulting in increasing home sales transactions and home sales prices. Similarly, a decline in economic growth, increasing interest rates and declining consumer confidence generally decreases demand. Additionally, regulations imposed by local, state, and federal government agencies can also negatively impact the housing markets in which we operate. Finally, national and global events, including geopolitical instability, that impact economic conditions and financial markets, including interest rates, can adversely impact the housing market.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, was identified in Wuhan, China. This new coronavirus has caused a global health emergency and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020 (“COVID-19’’ or the “Pandemic”). In an effort to contain and slow the spread of COVID-19, governments implemented various measures, such as, ordering non-essential businesses to close, issuing travel advisories, cancelling large scale public events, ordering residents to shelter in place, and requiring the public to practice social distancing. In most states, real estate has been considered an essential business. The emergence and spread of the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19 or other more transmissible variants may extend the impact of COVID-19 on our business.
We are continually monitoring the affects COVID-19 could have on our business. We believe that in the states and regions in which we operate the social and economic impacts, which include, but are not limited to, the following, could have a significant bearing on our future financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations: (i) restrictions on in-person activities associated with residential real estate transactions arising from shelter-in-place, or similar isolation orders; (ii) decline in consumer demand for in-person interactions and physical home tours; and (iii) deteriorating economic conditions, such as increased unemployment rates, recessionary conditions, lower yields on individual investment portfolios, and more stringent mortgage financing conditions. In response to COVID-19, the Company implemented cost-saving measures early on to include the elimination of non-essential travel and in-person training activities, and deferral of certain planned expenditures.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, and the six months ended June 30, 2022, due in part to the widespread availability of multiple COVID-19 vaccines, the effects of the COVID-19 on business worldwide lessened. However, the continuing impact from COVID-19, as well as the Ukraine conflict, including inflationary pressure in the U.S. and world economies due to supply chain and other issues, including recent increases in interest rates, is not fully known and cannot be estimated as the U.S. and global economies continue to react.
The impact of COVID-19 to the Company for the year ended December 31, 2021, and for the six months ended June 30, 2022, has been minimal. Despite the ongoing Pandemic, the Company’s transactions and base of agents increased during 2021 and the first six months of 2022. However, while the Company believes it is well positioned in times of economic uncertainty, it is not able to estimate the effects of COVID-19 on its results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity for the year ending December 31, 2022 the six months ended June 30, 2022 and beyond. If the Pandemic continues, it might have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition, liquidity, and future results of operations, as would the economic policies enacted in the United States and other countries in response to the Pandemic, as well as world conditions resulting from the Pandemic.
Real Estate Agents
Due to our low-overhead business model, which leverages our proprietary technology, we can offer our agents the ability to keep significantly more of their commissions compared to traditional real estate brokerage firms. We believe we offer our agents some of the best technology, training, and support available in the industry. We believe our business model and our focus on treating our agents well will attract more agents and higher-producing agents.