Let me tell you the ugly truth about OpenDoor here in Austin, Texas.
Now, OpenDoor is one of those companies that has come into our market like gangbusters. I think that they are mailing multiple postcards to every homeowner in Cedar Park, Texas; Leander, Texas; Georgetown, Texas; Round Rock, Texas; Pflugerville, Texas; Lakeway, Texas; and AUSTIN, Texas.
In other words, in our Central Texas market OpenDoor is sending a postcard to every homeowner saying “We will buy your home for cash and close quickly. Give us a call to find out what your home is worth.”
OpenDoor is spreading across the nation. They are one of these so called, I buyers (Instant Offers). That is, “We will buy your home for cash and close quickly.”
And, a lot of people are getting SUCKERED in to dealing with companies like OpenDoor.
So, what is the truth about OpenDoor? Let me tell you about two recent experiences with some of my clients and what I’m hearing in the market.
I just listed a property in Cedar Park, Texas for $400,000. The Client also wanted to get an offer from OpenDoor.
OpenDoor came in, offered them only $335,000 for their property because their property was in good condition. Now remember that for a moment.
The client said “Nope, not gonna go with OpenDoor”. I listed their home for $400,000, now have it under contract eight days later and almost for exactly the list price.
Scenario number two. I had another client. Their home was worth $375,000. That was the price that I was looking at listing the home for and OpenDoor came in and offered them 375,000.
They felt, we’ll just go with OpenDoor and we don’t have to put the property on the market. We don’t have to list it. We don’t have to have all these showings, and they’ll close in three weeks.
So then OpenDoor came in, had a home inspection on the property and came back with thousands and thousands of dollars of requests for a credit from the Seller.
In other words, a BIG discount. OpenDoor was even requiring the seller to paint most of the interior of the home and also to replace the carpet. The carpet was not in perfect condition, but it didn’t need to be replaced.
In both of these incidents….the final offer from OpenDoor was about 17 percent below the market value of the property.
If you just do a little bit of Internet research, you will find that this is the method of operation for companies like OpenDoor. And that is, they want to buy homes at a BIG discount. That discount appears to be about 17 percent below market value.
Yelp Reviewer says, ““Selling through Opendoor was the single most horrific experience I could imagine.”
So look, if you want to sell your property quickly, you want to give them a 17 discount…. In other words, you want to give away tens of thousands of dollars, as opposed to listing your property with a great agent like me, then I mean, by all means, go ahead and go with those companies. But if you want top dollar and if you want to get the best price from the market, then you need a strong agent with a powerful marketing plan, which I have.
Reddit Article: Seller beware! Open Door Sucks
So that’s the truth about OpenDoor. Now you know. You decide. Thanks, Dan Forbes Forbes Property Group RE/MAX 1.
