—Laura Tobin, a TV weather presenter, tells the Guardian about her intense emotion at reporting deadly record-breaking temperatures in the UK last summer.

The big story

House-flipping algorithms are coming to your neighborhood

April 2022

When Michael Maxson found his dream home in Clark County, Nevada, it was not owned by a person but by a tech company, Zillow. When he went to take a look at the property, however, he discovered a huge water leak had eroded walls and flooded the neighbors’ yard. Despite offering to handle the costly repairs himself, Maxson discovered that the house had already been sold to another family, at the same price he had offered.

During this time, Zillow lost more than $420 million in three months of erratic house buying and unprofitable sales, leading analysts to question whether the entire tech-driven model is really viable. For the rest of us, a bigger question remains: Does the arrival of Silicon Valley tech point to a better future for housing or an industry disruption to fear? Read the full story.