Tag: iBuyers

Redfin Shuts Down Its iBuyer Unit. Will Opendoor and Offerpad Survive This Down Market?

The big news in real estate last week was the announcement by Redfin that it was shutting down its fix-and-flip unit called Redfin Now and has terminated 13% of its employees.

The end of the seller’s market has left iBuyer outfits like Redfin’s with homes they paid too much for and can only sell for a loss. A good example of that is Opendoor’s listing at 2090 Braun Drive in Applewood, which I mentioned in my column on August 11, 2022, under the headline, “Looking for Good Deal? Opendoor Is Slashing Prices to Clear Its Inventory.” As the MLS chart below shows, Opendoor purchased that home on Sept. 3, 2021, for $638,300, tried to flip it 4 months later for $652,000, and had already reduced its price to $620,000 by August. That home is still sitting on the market in November, now priced at $562,000 — $76,300 less than Opendoor paid for it over a year ago.

Opendoor currently has 165 unsold listings on REcolorado, the Denver MLS, and the median days on the MLS without selling is 115 — nearly 4 months. Once a home has been active without selling for about a month, Opendoor starts reducing the price, and pretty soon, their profit margin has disappeared.

In the last 30 days, Opendoor has closed on 68 listings, and the median days on the MLS for them was 90.  That median listing that was unsold for 3 months was purchased by Opendoor for $692,700, listed at $760,000 and sold for $650,000, representing an even bigger loss when you factor in the co-op commission paid to the buyer’s agent, renovation costs, and staff costs, not to mention the carrying cost of their investment in the property, property taxes, and more.

The company reported a $928 million loss for the third quarter ($573 million of which was from revaluing its unsold inventory), laid off 550 workers, and saw its stock price fall to just above $1. If it falls below $1 for a month, it will be delisted from NASDAQ.

How much longer can Opendoor and Offerpad, its one remaining competitor, (whose stock price is already under $1), sustain such losses? We’ll see, won’t we?

Looking for a Good Deal? Opendoor Is Slashing Prices to Clear Its Inventory

I wrote about Opendoor last week. They’re one of the “iBuyer” companies that buys off-MLS listings and flips them for a profit. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work, but too many homes haven’t sold, and they drop their listing prices twice each month until they sell. For too many of their listings, that means they will be getting far less than what they paid for them.

As I write this on Sunday evening, there are 446 unsold Opendoor listings on Denver’s MLS, and the median days on the MLS is 58!  It’s apparent that they bought many of these listings during those heady days before the market softened and now they can’t sell them for a profit or even at the price they paid for them.

To keep it manageable, I studied only the 45 Opendoor listings currently active in Jefferson County. The median days on the MLS for those listings is 75!  That’s three times the median days on the MLS for all active listings in Jefferson County. All but two of those listings have been active for at least 12 days, and all 43 of those have had their prices cut to try to clear the company’s inventory. They’re going to lose money on most if not all of them.  Here are some examples:

They purchased 11022 Trailrider Pass, Littleton, for $631,400 on Dec. 2nd and listed it on Feb. 17th for $820,000.  Nine price reductions later, it’s now listed at $643,000 and has yet to go under contract. At the current price, they will pay their usual 2.5% buyer agent commission, netting them about $5,000 less than they paid for it. Presumably they also had some repairs, repainting and other expenses during the two months between buying and listing.

Opendoor’s oldest listing, 2090 Braun Drive, Golden, was purchased last September for $638,300, and is currently listed for $621,000 after one failed contract and three subsequent price reductions.

4740 S. Tabor St., Morrison, was purchased for $500,500 in December, listed for $612,000 two months later, and after nine price reductions and no contracts, it’s listed at $527,000. Depending on how much money they spent dressing up that listing during those two months, they might break even.

Here are some of the Jeffco listings on which Opendoor will lose a lot of money:

Unsold Jeffco listings priced as much as $50,000 below what Opendoor paid for them:

6384 Newland St., Arvada ($579,000)

7076 Parfet Street, Arvada ($626,000)

6975 W. 63rd Ave., Arvada ($577,000)

12463 W. 68th Ave., Arvada ($693,000)

7155 Fenton Circle, Arvada ($568,000)

9010 W. 5th Pl., Lakewood ($594,000)

289 Marshall St., Lakewood ($657,000)

10112 W. Dartmouth Ave., Lakewood ($379,000)

10946 W. Texas Avenue, Lakewood ($558,000)

11266 W. Kentucky Dr., Lakewood ($575,000)

5645 S. Zang Street, Littleton ($481,000)

6309 W. Fair Dr., Littleton ($649,000)

10679 W. Cooper Place, Littleton ($776,000)

7782 W. Alder Dr., Littleton ($786,000)

6230 W. Maplewood Place, Littleton ($666,000)

5683 W. 118th Place, Westminster ($556,000)

11526 Marshall Street, Westminster ($495,000)

10012 Holland Court, Westminster $464,000)

10063 Flower Street, Westminster ($723,000)

9679 Teller Court, Westminster ($576,000)

6280 W. 45th Avenue, Wheat Ridge ($573,000)

Of the 177 Opendoor listings (in all counties) which closed in the last 90 days, only 18 sold at or above their original listing price. More than half sold for at least 5% below their original price.  In the same 90-day period a year ago, 55% of Opendoor’s listings sold at or above their original listing price.

One could argue that the iBuyer model is still valid and that the company just suffered from the abruptness of the change in the real estate market. Meanwhile, it is also reported that although the market has slowed, prices are still increasing, so perhaps there are some bargains to be had among Opendoor’s “stale” listings.

Although Opendoor Brokerage is difficult for brokers and buyers to work with (they are managing 446 Colorado listings from their office in Tempe, Arizona), my broker associates and I would be happy to show you any of their listings and see if we can get you a good deal!

Let’s Hear It for the Multiple Listing Service: The Best Tool for Buyers & Sellers  

We hear a lot about “off-MLS” sales of homes, particularly by investors. Investors love to buy homes off the MLS, but they turn to the MLS to sell the homes they bought. Prospective sellers should read that sentence again, because it says everything you need to know about the value of the MLS: Buyers can pay less if the seller doesn’t put their home on the MLS; and sellers net more money by putting their home on the MLS.

Investors know they would pay “market value” for MLS listings, because that’s what the MLS is — it’s the market! Investors know they’ll be competing with other buyers if the home is on the MLS. That’s why they find the homes they buy by soliciting homeowners who do not have their home on the market.

They make an appealing pitch — no showings, no open houses, and a quick cash closing. Remember, investors are in business to make a profit, and the only way to make a profit is by paying you less than your home is worth by buying it off the MLS, and then selling it on the MLS.

Now, if money doesn’t matter that much to you — for example, you’re the personal representative of an estate, but you’re not a beneficiary — that’s probably an attractive pitch. After all, it’s not your money! But, if it’s your house and your money, just know that you’ll make more money from the sale of your house if you let a professional like one of the agents at Golden Real Estate expose your home to the full market — which is only accomplished by putting the home on the MLS.

I have written in the past about “iBuyers,” such as Open Door, which buy homes off the MLS, then flip them with minimal improvement by listing them on the MLS. You can find columns on that topic dated Jan. 2, 2020, and Aug. 22, 2019, at JimSmithColumns.com, where all these columns are archived. In those columns I point out that the iBuyer companies typically convince homeowners to meet with them by offering a high sight-unseen price, which is thousands above what they finally offer the seller. It’s a bait and switch approach, so beware!

The essence of the MLS is “cooperation and compensation.” Sellers hire a listing agent for a negotiable commission — currently averaging under 6 percent — which is large enough for the listing agent to compensate another MLS member for producing the buyer of that listing.

There’s an understandable misconception that the seller pays both the listing agent and the buyer’s agent and that somehow that’s unfair — that the buyer should pay his or her own agent.

But, although it may look as if the seller is paying both agents — because it is taken from the seller’s proceeds at closing — in fact, as I said above, the listing agent is paying the buyer’s agent out of his or her listing commission.

As shown in the graphic below, the MLS is at the heart of making the real estate market work efficiently to expose listings to the full universe of buyers. No other industry that I can think of works as well as the real estate industry, because no other industry has an MLS.

Last year, the National Association of Realtors introduced the Clear Cooperation Policy to make the MLS system work even better, telling participating Realtors, in effect, that if they want to be a member of the MLS, they must commit to giving fellow members a reasonable opportunity to find and sell their listings.

That policy has yet to achieve its goal because some MLS members find a way around it so they can sell their listings without sharing their commission with other MLS members. Golden Real Estate’s agents, however, are in full compliance.

As Real Estate ‘Disruptors’ Abound, Let’s Hear It for the Traditional Brokerage  

Disruption is happening in every industry, spurred on primarily by internet-based technology. Amazon is disrupting brick and mortar retail. Uber and Lyft have disrupted the taxi industry. Tesla disrupted the auto industry’s dealer model. Travel agents have suffered from online ticket sales by airlines, cruise lines and related businesses.

Now companies like Zillow, Open Door, and OfferPad are disrupting the real estate industry with their “iBuyer” model.

But those and other disruptors have not killed off the older business models. They are grabbing market share, but of an increasing market. You can expect to see brick and mortar retail stores, taxi companies, travel agents and, yes, traditional real estate brokerages such as Golden Real Estate thriving for years to come.

We ourselves have not suffered from these disruptors. Indeed, while 2020 and 2021 have seen huge growth by these new real estate enterprises, they have also brought record growth for our brokerage and other traditional brokerages, and it is easy to see why.

Buying and selling a primary residence is typically the biggest financial transaction we all deal with. Yes, buyers increasingly utilize the internet to search for homes, but they end up calling us to see them. Sellers also use the internet to monitor the market — many taking advantage of the MLS alerts that we set up for them — but they want someone they know and trust to bring their real estate savvy to bear in listing and marketing their home when it’s time to sell.

The “full-service” real estate agent is being redefined, and I like to think that my broker associates and I epitomize that evolution. Some of the services we provide can not be obtained from those other companies.

Full service goes beyond providing our free moving truck, moving boxes and packing material, which we’ve been doing since 2004. Here are some other services you can expect from us.

We have an in-house handyman who can help with preparing a home for market, such as repairing drywall damage, washing windows, and doing light plumbing and light electrical tasks such as installing a new toilet, faucet or light fixture. He’s also there to address many of the issues which arise from the buyer’s inspection. And he’s also there if needed to drive our truck for moving, or even for a dump run or for taking a load of possessions to Goodwill or Arc.

We also have a certified home stager who provides our sellers with a free consultation to help their home show its best.

You’re familiar by now with how we create narrated video tours of each listing, including drone videos, but we also serve out-of-state buyers by shooting videos of other agents’ listings that interest them. Last June I did that for a Minnesota couple who felt they had “seen” an Arvada home well enough through my narrated video tour of it to go under contract, not visiting the home in person until they came for the inspection.

Speaking of inspection, experienced agents like us from a traditional brokerage can be counted on to recommend a good inspector who has a track record with them. Other specialists we know and trust — giving our clients the comfort to employ them — include estate sales companies, structural engineers, electricians, plumbers, HVAC companies, and more. The real benefit from these trusted vendors is that they will make sure you’re satisfied with their work, because they want to be referred to future clients.

“Full service” also implies availability and responsiveness. My broker associates and I are available 7 days a week, and we answer our cell phones on evenings and weekends. Although I have associates who can be my “boots on the ground” when I go on vacation, I take my cell phone (and laptop) with me, and I answer it when it rings.

Often we provide service for which we don’t expect or receive any compensation. For example, this past Sunday I got an inquiry from a man who had inherited his mother’s house and wanted an appraisal for tax purposes. I explained that only licensed appraisers can do appraisals but offered to do a free market analysis, which he happily accepted.  He may call me about listing it later on, but that’s not the point. I’m happy to be of service.

I follow a policy that I came to embody many years ago: Concentrate on giving and the getting will take care of itself.

Zillow’s Offer to Buy Your Home for Its ‘Zestimate’ Price Is a Brilliant But Devious Strategy

I’ve written in the past about various “iBuyer” players — look for my August 22, 2019, and January 2, 2020, columns archived online at www.JimSmithColumns. com.

Basically, iBuyers such as Opendoor and Zillow Offers attempt to lure homeowners in-to selling their home for what appears to be a good price but which is literally intended to net the seller less than if they exposed their home to the full universe of potential buyers.

Literally intended? Yes, all you need to know is that if a company wants to buy your home in order to resell it, it’s because they will make a profit from doing so. Wouldn’t  you want to keep that profit for yourself?

Now Zillow has weaponized its much criticized “Zestimate” for the purpose of getting their “foot in the door” with you. Let me share with you a few points to ponder before responding to Zillow’s pitch.

First of all, you and I both know that the Zestimate is a computer-generated number that is by definition not particularly accurate. (Zillow’s estimate on my own home is at least $100,000 over its true value.)

To facilitate their iBuyer program in Colorado and elsewhere, Zillow made big news recently when they opened brokerages and started hiring brokers. They have opened an office in Centennial and, as of this week, have 15 broker associates, 12 of them members of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. The others belong to an out-of-state Realtor association.  So far that brokerage has put zero listings on REcolorado, our MLS, whether active, pending or closed. Presumably those 15 broker associates are busy responding to homeowners who responded to Zillow’s pitch about buying their home for the Zestimate price. How will those meetings go?

First, the broker associate will do a true market analysis and explain that the Zestimate was computer generated and overstated their home’s value. “Here’s what we will offer you, now that we know the true value.”

If the seller accepts the lowered price and signs a Zillow purchase contract, it will have the following provisions, assuming it’s similar to the contract from Opendoor that I was able to study.

First of all, the seller will have accepted a 7½% “service fee” in lieu of a commission. Next, they will have agreed to an inspection or  “assessment” of the property, which will be followed by “adjustments” to the purchase price based on “needed repairs,” including, for example, a new roof, a new furnace or water heater based on age — whatever can be justified. The example I cited in my August 2019 column mentioned $38,563 worth of “repairs found in assessment.” 

That contract had an escape clause for the seller, which Zillow’s contract probably does too, allowing the seller to terminate at any time, which is what that buyer did.  The combination of the “service fee” and the reductions to cover supposed “repairs” was so great that they called me. I listed their home for the right price and sold it above asking price due to multiple offers, netting the seller more than they would have netted under their contract with Opendoor.

I got the seller more money, because, as I said above, the only reason for Opendoor or any iBuyer to purchase a home is to sell it at the market, which requires them to purchase the home below its market value.

In the iBuyer marketplace, Zillow clearly has the advantage, because virtually every homeowner is already being dazzled by the Zestimates they get routinely by email, whereas Opendoor and other iBuyer competitors have to canvass and cold-cold homeowners about selling their home “without putting it on the market or paying a commission.”  Zillow enjoys what every brokerage wants — sellers calling them! All the Zillow brokerage has to do is employ enough agents to answer the phone and arrange those in-home “selling” appointments, which are really for the purpose of listing the home for sale once it is owned by Zillow.

It’s a great business model — for Zillow, but not necessarily for the homeowner. That is, unless the homeowner is willing to give up thousands of dollars in proceeds in return for the “convenience” of selling without any showings or other intrusions.

For some homeowners, that convenience is worth the loss of proceeds, and there are probably enough such homeowners to make the iBuyer model successful. What bothers me is that for some it will feel like a “bait and switch” situation. After all those “adjustments” have been made, they might be un-able or unwilling to exercise their right to terminate the contract because they have made life plans based on the expectation of selling their home for an acceptable price. 

Some will have already signed contracts for a new home or at a senior community. They will have already packed some of their belongings or put them in storage, and they may have told their friends that they are selling and moving. For these persons, it may be psychologically difficult or financially costly to reverse course when they discover they have been fooled into selling their home for less than its worth.

If you have responded to the Zillow pitch and would be willing to share your experience, I’d like to hear from you. My email address is Jim@GoldenRealEstate.com.  I’ll share what I learn in a future column.  Subscribe to this blog to get alerts about future postings on this or another topic of interest.

If You Don’t Put Your Home on the MLS, You May Not Get What Your Home Is Worth

A reader wrote me last week complaining that some homes in her subdivision are being sold privately for less than they should, without putting them on the MLS. It bothered her because doing so creates lower comps that could affect what she is able to get for her own home when she sells.

Just as important, there are buyers who would like to move into her neighborhood who are frustrated when a home is sold before they can submit their own offer for it. And, of course, sellers are not getting the highest possible price for their home, as I’ll explain below.

Among the culprits are fix-and-flippers and “iBuyers” such as Open Door and Zillow Offers, who convince sellers to take a cash offer, claiming to save them the cost and inconvenience of listing their home on the MLS. More about them below, as well. (See my Jan. 2, 2019 and my Aug. 22, 2019 columns about iBuyers.)

If anyone offers to buy your home for cash without listing it, there’s one thing you can be certain of: they’re going to pay you a price that leaves lots of room for profit. That is money that could be yours if only you exposed your home to the full market by putting it on the MLS.

The worst thing you can do in a “sellers market,” which is what we have now, is to sell your home off the MLS. The next worse thing you can do is, after putting your home on the MLS, to sell it to a buyer who quickly offers you full price. If someone offers you full price on day one, you can be sure that there are other buyers who’d be happy to pay even more. Four days should do it.

But there is something worse than both those scenarios, and that is to put your home on the market at a price which does not attract any offers. I tell my sellers that they can overprice their home, but they can’t underprice it, because a low price can trigger a bidding war. An experienced Realtor like myself can help you set the perfect listing price. Just remember not to accept the first offer — unless that offer comes long after you put your home on the market, because you overpriced it.

What I see all too often is sellers putting their home on the market at a wished-for price, then lowering the price reluctantly over several weeks, and ending up getting only one offer, not multiple offers, at a price that’s lower than what they might have gotten if they had priced the home right initially.

It’s tempting, I know, to accept an unsolicited offer to sell a home without paying 6% commission, but I can’t even remember the last time I charged 6% commission. Remember, 2.8% of any listing commission goes to the buyer’s agent. Typically, sellers who try to sell “by owner” end up paying that 2.8%, so they only save the difference between 2.8% and the full listing commission, which is 5.6% on average. At least that is what I charge, and I reduce it if I sell the home myself, and I reduce it further when I earn a commission on the purchase of the seller’s replacement home.

If you factor in the totally free moving which I provide (locally, of course) when you sell and buy with me, it’s hard to justify not putting your home on the MLS with Golden Real Estate, thereby exposing it to all those bidders in this still-hot seller’s market.

Our Denver MLS, REcolorado, is now enforcing a new rule called “Clear Cooperation,” which was voted into being by the National Association of Realtors last November. It requires MLS members to put their listings on the MLS within 24 hours of promoting their listings in any way.

The rule is very simple: If a listing agent promotes his or her listing in any way — with a yard sign, tweet, Facebook post, or newspaper article, etc. — the listing must be on the MLS, either as “Coming Soon” or “Active.”  If it’s “Coming Soon,” the sign must say so, and it can’t be shown, even by the listing agent himself. Once shown, it must be changed immediately to Active status, making it available for showings by all members of the MLS. Prior to Sept. 1st, REcolorado only issued warnings, but fines are now being levied for violations.

So, yes, there can be off-MLS sales, but not involving an MLS member unless there was no marketing at all, not even emails to his/her clients. With “pocket listings” now banned, the focus now turns to the iBuyers, companies like Open Door, Zillow Offers and others which directly solicit homeowners to purchase their homes, charging a 7% “service fee,” with the intention of flipping the home for a profit.

Only time will tell whether this new rule, with fines being levied, will make a big difference, but it surely will make some difference.

New Brokerage Offers to Help You Buy Before You Sell

Perhaps you’ve wondered about those TV commercials by a new brokerage called Orchard offering to help you buy your replacement home without selling your current home first. Golden Real Estate has been successful at that, too, although not using the same business model. (See my previous columns on April 25, 2019 and May 11, 2017 and Sept. 17, 2015 and Mar. 12, 2015.)

The company, which came to Denver in January and has closed 14 purchases and 17 sales so far, was formerly called Perch. If you scroll to the bottom at Orchard.com, there’s a link to their reviews, which I suggest clicking on. The 7 negative reviews give an insight that the positive reviews don’t provide.

Basically, the company, based in New York, is “vertically integrated,” meaning that they have their own mortgage company, title company, etc. They are backed by a venture capital firm which provides the working capital to purchase your home if they don’t sell it first.

They operate like the iBuyers I wrote about in two previous columns (Jan. 2, 2020 and August 22, 2019 ). They make a market-based offer to purchase your home, then reduce that offer based on inspection, and they charge a 6% fee (in lieu of a commission).

Also, you pay rent for your new home, which you don’t actually buy until after your home closes. If it doesn’t close in 90 days, Orchard will buy it at their low-ball price. Note: Their agents work on salary, not commission, which is unattractive to the really successful agents.

Learn the True Cost of Selling Your Home off-MLS to an iBuyer Like Zillow

Perhaps you’ve heard the pitch from an iBuyer firm such as Open Door, Zillow Offers, or another firm with the word “Offers” in their name.

These companies are promoting the convenience of selling your home quickly for cash, without putting it on the market or having buyers traipse through your home, or worrying that their financing might fall through.

But what is the cost of that convenience?

My column on Aug. 22nd reported on the “true cost of selling to an iBuyer,” but you can’t know that cost personally until it’s your home. So let’s talk about your home!

The next time you get a solicitation to buy your home direct for cash without putting it on the market, go ahead and ask them for a quote.  Then call us and we’ll analyze the offer for free, with no obligation whatsoever.

Here’s what you need to know about the offer you’ll receive.

1)   They will tell you that you won’t pay a commission, but the contract will deduct a “service fee” which, in the case of the Open Door contract I wrote about in August, is 7%.

2)    There will be an inspection contingency. They’ll tell you that you don’t have to make any repairs, but the company will do an “assess-ment” and come up with a dollar figure they will deduct from the purchase price to cover “necessary” repairs. It could amount to tens of thousands of dollars–$38,563 in the case of the Open Door contract I reviewed in August.

3)   The good news is that you as seller are given the right to terminate the contract at any time prior to closing — at least according to that Open Door contract I reviewed.

Most of all, you need to know that these iBuyer firms are only buying your home because they expect to make a profit when they resell it. They will entice you with an offer that is reasonable, but in the following weeks that offer will be eroded by other provisions such as I’ve mentioned above.

Perhaps the convenience of selling a home for cash to someone who will resell it at a higher price makes sense for some sellers. My point is that you should know how much that convenience is going to cost you.

An “iBuyer” is nothing more or less than an investor who makes money by buying low and selling high, with or without making any improvements. For years I’ve been advising homeowners who receive unsolicited offers for their home to treat such an offer as the “opening bid,” and to talk to me or another Realtor about seeing how much more they can get for their home once it is exposed to the full market. That is only accomplished by putting a home on the MLS.

It’s all about maximizing exposure. The more potential buyers who learn about your home, the more offers you are likely to receive. I’m saddened to see how many homes are sold with zero days on the MLS.  Those homes were sold without entering them on the MLS, and the listing agent only puts the home on the MLS after closing as a courtesy to other agents (for market analysis purposes) and/or to receive credit for the sale in terms of personal sales volume.

Consistently over the past three years, between 60 and 160 homes per month in Denver & Jeffco have been entered on the MLS only after they sold. The majority of them sold at or below the listing price, because the home was not exposed to additional buyers, and a high percentage of them were “double-ended” by the listing agent, meaning that the agent doubled his commission by not giving other agents with willing buyers the opportunity to earn their half of the listing commission. 

Our policy at Golden Real Estate is to avoid selling a home before it has been on the MLS at least 3 or 4 days, during which all potential buyers have had a chance to see the home and consider making an offer. This is consistent with our responsibility under state law to put our sellers’ interest ahead of our own.

This policy is an expression of the value statement that appears on our yard signs — “Hometown service delivered with integrity.”

In my Aug. 22 column, I quoted a report on iBuyer transactions by Collateral Analytics. The final paragraph in their report is worth quoting again:

“In all, the typical cost to a seller appears to be in the range of 13% to 15% depending on the iBuyer vendor. For some sellers, needing to move or requiring quick extraction of equity, this is certainly worthwhile, but what percentage of the market will want this service remains to be seen.”

Call me or any of our broker associates at 303-302-3636 before accepting an off-market offer for your home. And remember: even if you are already under contract with an iBuyer, you may have the right to terminate the sales contract.

New Report Reveals the True Cost of Selling Your Home to an ‘iBuyer’

Perhaps you’ve heard about the new concept in home selling called iBuyers. Open Door, Zillow Offers and OfferPad are offering this way of selling your home. Basically, these firms use their own cash to buy your home and then re-sell it for a profit.

If you’re a seller who needs to sell quickly and you’re not worried about getting top dollar (or paying less in fees), the iBuyer model is an option that may not otherwise be available to you. You avoid the uncertainty of not knowing how long your home will sit on the market — or whether it will sell at all.

A company called Collateral Analytics has published a study of 4,000 iBuyer transactions in Phoenix which outlines the costs to sellers and the earnings vs. risks for these iBuyer companies. The report’s title is “iBuyers: A new choice for home sellers, but at what cost?”  It was released two weeks ago. To read the full report, click on this link.

   The last paragraph in the report is a good summary of their findings: “These preliminary empirical results suggest that sellers are paying not just the difference in fees of 2% to 5% more than with traditional agencies, and a generous repair allowance, but another 3% to 5% or more to compensate the iBuyer for liquidity risks and carrying costs. In all, the typical cost to a seller appears to be in the range of 13% to 15% depending on the iBuyer vendor. For some sellers, needing to move or requiring quick extraction of equity, this is certainly worthwhile, but what percentage of the market will want this service remains to be seen.”

In May I got a call from a couple which was under contract with OpenDoor for $548,500, but with a 7% “service charge” and $38,563 for “repairs found in assessment.” This way of doing business annoyed them enough that they terminated with OpenDoor and listed with me at $498,000, selling for $507,000, which netted them more.

Above is one of 3 charts in  the report. The analysis is from Phoenix, where OpenDoor began buying homes in 2016, because they didn’t come to Denver until 2018.

I’ve written in the past about companies which will buy your home “as is” for cash without putting it on the MLS. Then they flip the property to a new buyer for a profit — profit that you gave up  by doing business with them. The same is also true with iBuyers.

Bottom line: Unless money is no object for you, you’ll do better listing your home with a full-service traditional brokerage like Golden Real Estate. Call any of us at the phone numbers below!

Have You Used an iBuyer Firm? Tell Us About Your Experience

Perhaps you have heard about this new trend in real estate. Best known for this are Zillow Offers and OpenDoor. 

I’ll be writing about this topic in the near future, and I’d like to hear from readers who have any experience with this new real estate business model.

I already have an example. One of my current sellers (now under contract)  entered into a listing agreement with OpenDoor but had second thoughts about it, got out of the agreement and called me to list their home.

I’d like to have more input before I write about this topic.