Opendoor: Reviewed and Explained

Opendoor reviews | Opendoor fees | Competitors | What is Opendoor? | How does Opendoor work? | Locations | Is Opendoor legit? | FAQs

iBuyers are a great option if you’re looking for a fast, convenient home sale — and we think Opendoor is currently the best iBuyer out there.

Compared to its competitors, Opendoor generally pays the most, is available in the most cities, and has lower fees. 

Of course, Opendoor won’t be an option for most sellers: even if you’re in one of the 45 U.S. cities it operates in, most homes won’t qualify due to its strict purchase criteria.

Requesting an offer from Opendoor is free with no obligation, so there’s no risk in signing up to see if you qualify and how much you could get for your house.

If you do qualify, you’ll likely be trading convenience for price. While Opendoor usually pays more than other iBuyers, you’ll still probably walk away with less than if you sold with an agent on the open market.

» COMPARE: Opendoor vs. selling with a realtor: Which is right for me?

What is Opendoor?

Opendoor is a large real estate company that’s best known for making instant cash offers on houses — also known as iBuying.

You can request an offer by submitting some basic information online. If your home qualifies, Opendoor will make an initial offer within 48 hours.

Next, Opendoor will conduct a virtual inspection of your home and then make a final offer that includes deductions for repairs and its 5% service fee.

If you accept Opendoor’s final offer, you can close in 14–60 days, depending on what’s best for you. 

After you’ve moved out, Opendoor fixes up your house and resells it on the open market for a small profit.

Since launching in 2014 as the first iBuyer, Opendoor has expanded into 45 markets, with plans to reach 100 U.S. markets by 2023.¹Source:Opendoor Investor Presentation. https://www.opendoor.com/w/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Opendoor-overview-investor-presentation.pdf

Additional Opendoor services

Besides Opendoor’s core iBuying business, the company also has a variety of other real estate services, including:

• Home loans: You can use an Opendoor home loan in select markets to make a competitive offer backed by Opendoor’s cash, which is more appealing to sellers because it’s less likely to fall through. 
• Home trade-in: Opendoor’s home trade-in service, Opendoor Complete, lets you sell directly to Opendoor, make an offer using Opendoor’s cash on your new home, and coordinate closing dates.
• Buy from Opendoor: You can purchase a home directly from Opendoor by yourself or with the help of your own agent.

Opendoor fees

Opendoor’s fee is 5% of your home’s sale price, which is slightly lower than a conventional real estate commission of 6%. However, the service charge isn’t the only cost you incur if you use Opendoor. The total cost ranges from 7–10% including closing costs and repair deductions.

For example, if you sell a $300,000 home to Opendoor, your total selling costs (including the service fee) will be $21,000–30,000. But you won’t need to spend any money out of pocket since all of these fees are deducted from the proceeds of the home sale. 

Opendoor vs. realtor costs

If you use a real estate agent to sell your home, you’ll end up paying about 6% for listing agent commission, 1–3% for seller concessions, and another 1–3% for closing costs. This works out to about 8–12% vs. 7–10% with Opendoor.   

However, selling on the open market could mean having multiple potential buyers driving up the price with competing offers, potentially leading to higher net earnings from your home’s sale.

You pay an iBuyer like Opendoor for a quick, reliable offer. You pay a real estate agent for their expertise and marketing skills to sell your home for as much as possible.

How does Opendoor work?

Selling to Opendoor | Buying from Opendoor | Trading-in with Opendoor

You can sell your home to Opendoor using the company’s iBuying service, but you can also buy an Opendoor home or even trade-in for a new home using Opendoor Complete.

Selling to Opendoor

You can request an offer on Opendoor’s website by simply providing your address, a photo of your home, and some basic information about your property’s size, condition, and features.

Opendoor then evaluates your home. If your property qualifies, they’ll provide an offer based on their formula for pricing homes and input from local pricing experts. Typically, Opendoor delivers its offer within 24 hours.

To fine tune your offer, Opendoor will ask you to set up a virtual walk-through of your home via video call, then schedule an exterior inspection. Once these are complete, you’ll receive a final offer that includes deductions for repairs. 

You can negotiate with Opendoor over the offer, but it’s not likely they will update the offer unless they missed a big selling point or made an error in the local market valuation. If you accept the offer, you’ll sign the purchase agreement and pick a closing date within 14–60 days. You’ll receive cash for your home within a few days of closing. 

Not all homes will receive an Opendoor offer. The company’s typically only interested in buying homes that meet specific criteria. 

Opendoor will not present an offer for your home if it is a mobile/prefabricated home or located in a flood zone.

Buying from Opendoor

If you find a property you like after viewing homes on the Opendoor app or website, you can arrange a showing any day of the week between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Opendoor uses lockboxes that allow you to do an independent, unassisted showing, although you do have the option of scheduling a showing with a tour assistant, if you’d like. 

Once you settle on a property, you can choose between using Opendoor Home Loans, the company’s in-house mortgage lender, or you can find your own lender. If you have time to shop around for a mortgage, you might be able to lock in a better rate than you’d get with Opendoor Home Loans.

You can make an offer online, through the app, or through an agent. If you decide not to work with an agent, Opendoor will help you navigate the closing process. Finally, you can choose a closing date within 14–45 days.

Opendoor Trade-In

For a 5% fee, Opendoor’s home trade-in program, Opendoor Complete, helps you avoid paying two mortgages. Unlike other home trade-in programs, Opendoor will buy your home directly from you.

Opendoor requires you to use one of its agents when you trade in using Opendoor Complete, so this service is only available in the limited markets where Opendoor has buyers’ agents. By contrast, other home trade-in services like Knock let you use whatever real estate agent you like.

You can use Opendoor Complete to make an offer on your next home using Opendoor’s cash, which could be an advantage in a competitive market because you’re making things easy for the seller by not asking for contingencies like waiting for the sale of your old home to close. 

You can either list your old home once you have moved or sell it to Opendoor, just like you would using their standard iBuying service. Opendoor Complete allows you to use the company’s in-house lender or a mortgage company of your choice. If you’re listing your home, you must work with one of Opendoor’s in-house agents.

Opendoor Home Loans

Opendoor offers financing to home buyers in select markets. With Opendoor Home Loans, you can make a competitive offer using Opendoor’s cash and there are no lender fees.

You don’t have to buy a home from Opendoor or use an Opendoor agent to qualify for an Opendoor Home Loan.

Visit the company’s website to learn more.

Where does Opendoor buy homes?

Opendoor currently purchases homes in 45 markets across the country, including:

• Phoenix
• Atlanta
• Houston
• Los Angeles

Even though Opendoor is active in 45 markets, it doesn’t offer every one of its services in every market. You can see a complete list of markets and the available services here.

Is Opendoor worth it?

Opendoor’s fair offers, low fees, and convenience make the company worth considering if you’re selling a home in a market where it operates.

Selling to an iBuyer comes with some potential drawbacks. When you sell a home in the traditional way, it’s likely you’ll have interest from multiple buyers, which can drive up the price, sometimes dramatically. When you sell to an iBuyer, this competitive aspect is completely absent; Opendoor’s offer is final and static.

That said, Opendoor offers are generally in line with fair market value. In fact, during early 2021 when homes were selling quickly, Opendoor paid a median of 107.7% of a house’s estimated value, according to real estate analyst Mike DelPrete. 

Even in a hot market, you’d be getting less than you might get if you sold with an agent, but it’s not a lowball offer like you might get from other cash buyers.

If price is a concern, one option to consider is a full-service agent that offers a lower commission fee. We’ve partnered with Clever to offer top-rated agents who work for 1% or $3,000, depending on the price of your home.

With these agents you’ll sell for top dollar and save money along the way, resulting in the highest net profit possible.

Is Opendoor legit?

Yes, Opendoor is legit.

Opendoor’s fees represent their carrying and resale costs; after all, their business model is to turn around and sell your house. Every day Opendoor owns a home while it looks for a buyer costs money in taxes, marketing, utilities, and other expenses. 

Opendoor purchases homes at much higher volume than its competitors: In 2020, it bought nearly twice as many homes as its nearest competitor, Zillow.²Source:Mike DelPrete. Offerpad and its More Profitable Flavor of iBuying. June 9, 2021 The company’s sheer size means it can afford to extend the fairest cash offers, since it can make up in volume what it may leave on the table in individual transactions.

Opendoor is a modern, tech-savvy company with national reach, and is much more legitimate than the companies who put up “We Buy Houses for Cash” signs on telephone poles.

Comparing Opendoor to its competitors

Sellers who want to bypass the traditional market have plenty of options. Since Opendoor pioneered the iBuyer industry, dozens of competitors have appeared.

So how does Opendoor compare to the competition? Let’s look at the main differences between Opendoor and some of its main competitors.

Opendoor vs. Offerpad

Offerpad is probably the iBuyer most like Opendoor. It uses a similar business model, providing cash offers within 24 hours, requiring an inspection and (possibly) repairs, and offering a fast closing. But there are a couple of important differences.

Both have overall positive reviews, but Opendoor’s average rating is slightly higher — and the company has many more customer reviews online — than Offerpad. 

Another thing that sets Opendoor apart from Offerpad is the ability to walk away from an offer. You can check out an offer from Opendoor risk-free, but Offerpad charges a 1% cancellation fee.

Opendoor vs. Knock

Knock isn’t an iBuyer, but a home trade-in service that can simplify moving from one home to another, much like Opendoor Complete.

Both Knock and Opendoor Complete give you the negotiating power of cash-in-hand to buy your next home. This is a huge advantage in a competitive market because you don’t need to ask a seller to wait for the closing on your current home or for your financing to go through. 

The major difference is that Knock doesn’t buy your old home like an iBuyer would — it simply uses the expected proceeds from your current home to pre-underwrite your loan for your new home. 

With Knock, you’ll still need to list your home with an agent, hold showings, and negotiate with potential buyers. Once your home sells, you’ll have to pay back everything Knock covered, including the old mortgage, the down payment for the new home, and any repair costs. 

Knock charges a 1.25% fee on top of closing costs and agent fees. But you won’t have to worry about coordinating your closing dates or paying two mortgages at once. And you can potentially sell for more on the open market with Knock, instead of the take-it-or-leave-it offer from an iBuyer like Opendoor. 

» READ: Our full review of Knock’s home trade-in service.

Opendoor vs. Zillow Offers

Zillow Offers was similar to Opendoor, but it exited the iBuyer business in November 2021. There were some differences between Zillow Offers and Opendoor — a few of them quite small, and some of them quite substantial.

On the surface, Zillow Offers operated similarly to Opendoor. Zillow gave you a cash offer within a short time frame, completed an inspection, then asked the seller to choose a closing date.

However, there are two key factors to point out with Zillow Offers’ service:

• Zillow Offers took slightly longer to extend an offer: two days, compared to Opendoor’s one.
• Zillow Offers charged more, averaging a fee of around 2.5% plus 6% in selling costs, compared to Opendoor’s 5% fee.

The bottom line: If you were looking to close quickly and save money on fees, then Opendoor was a better option than Zillow Offers. 

» READ: Why Zillow Offers shut down.

Opendoor reviews from real customers

Most Opendoor reviews from customers are positive, with an average rating of 4.3 / 5 across 2346 reviews.

We found that many positive reviews focused on the speed and simplicity of selling to Opendoor. Other reviewers found the closing timeline convenient. 

Some reviews, including ones that were mostly positive, mentioned a lack of communication between Opendoor and the customer. Other complaints included complications with third-party companies, like the escrow service used for closing. 

Fred from Charlotte, N.C. found that the time savings and convenience of Opendoor’s process was well worth it.

Ted was pleased with the hassle-free selling experience, but said dealing with the third-party escrow company could have gone more smoothly.

Amy K. loved the convenience of coordinating the sale of her home with the purchase of a new house, but said a lack of communication later in the process led to unnecessary stress.

Opendoor complaints

Opendoor has received 95 complaints through the Better Business Bureau website, which is a moderately high number, compared to Offerpad’s 63 complaints and RedfinNow’s 42 complaints.

Surveying the complaints, some recurring themes are from buyers who:

• Find allegedly sub-standard repairs in their new home
• Claim their sale fell through at the last minute
• Used the Opendoor app and claim their information was sold to third parties
• Generally complained about high fees.

Opendoor seems very communicative in their responses, and willing to resolve problems, even when those problems result from buyers or sellers who may have failed to read the fine print. Before you enter into any transaction — with Opendoor or any other company — make sure you fully understand the terms and fees.

Finally, it always pays to know how much your home might net on the open market. Clever’s partner agents come from top brokerages like RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, and Keller Williams. It’s free to get matched with a local agent in your area who can tell you how much your home is worth and whether Opendoor makes sense for your sale!

FAQs about selling to Opendoor