It's hard to imagine more than a handful of outlier sellers wanting stock shares over cold hard cash
Every few years a new asset class arrives and someone asks whether it can be traded directly for a house. Bitcoin had its moment. Pre-IPO stock is having one now. The answer has been the same each time, and the reasoning behind it is not complicated.
A seller is usually not looking for an investment. They are looking to fund the next thing, which is often another home, sometimes a retirement, sometimes a business. Taking shares instead of cash means accepting a lockup, a valuation nobody outside the company can independently verify, and a tax picture that belongs to the buyer's employer rather than to the seller. Most people who have just spent months preparing a home for sale do not want any of that.
There is a mechanical problem too. Restricted stock generally cannot be transferred before it vests or without company approval, so a number of these proposed deals cannot close even when both sides are willing.
Where AI wealth is actually reshaping this market is one step removed from the headline. Employees sell shares through tender offers and secondary sales, convert to cash, and then buy with that cash. Nothing exotic about it, just a very strong conventional offer, and we are seeing it constantly.
If you are a seller and someone proposes shares as part of the price, the question I would ask is not whether the company is a good bet. Ask instead what happens to you if you cannot touch that value for three years. If the answer is that your own next purchase falls apart, the offer is smaller than it appears, however large the number on the page.
