Should I Sell My House To Opendoor

Are you looking for the easiest way to sell your house? Maybe you want to avoid showings altogether because you have young children or pets. Maybe you are in a hurry and want to sell quickly, but you still want a competitive price for your home. Opendoor offers sellers a streamlined process to sell homes with no showings, in record time at a competitive price, and a closing on your timeline. You might find yourself wondering should I sell my house to Opendoor? Is this too good to be true? In my experience, Opendoor is too good to be true.

Opendoor is a real estate tech startup that has recently moved into the Houston real estate market. You can also find them in Las Vegas, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Atlanta, Sacramento, Charlotte, and a handful of other cities. The model is pretty simple, sellers or listing agents can go on the Opendoor website, enter some data about their home or listing, and get an offer. Opendoor employees do not visit the home to evaluate the condition or value. They simply use an algorithm based upon public and private data to reach a value. Texas is a non-disclosure state; so, there isn’t very much public data to use. One of the only pieces of public information available is the tax appraisal value, and if you protest your taxes, it’s likely you want more for your home than the tax value!

The Opendoor offer takes into account repairs, holding costs, market risk, buyer broker costs, and finally a service fee. The service fee in Houston has been pretty steep; I’ve seen a service fee as high as 8.5%. For comparison, when I list a home for sale, my listing fee is 6%. From the get go, my fee is lower than the Opendoor service fee of 8.5%. On top of this service fee, Opendoor also charges a 3% buyer broker costs fee. Now the Opendoor fee is up to 11.5%! How is that better than listing with a REALTOR®?

The Opendoor business model is to buy properties and quickly turn around and sell them for market value. In order to sell for market value, and earn a profit, they have to buy properties at below market value. It’s just simple math, and you shouldn’t sell your house for below market value! There are situations where someone may need to really get out of their home quickly, and taking a loss makes sense to them. If you’re one of these sellers, see if Opendoor might work for you. If you want top dollar for your home, and want to minimize your fees, contact me today!