Reviews (1)

I, like many other,s had heard the radio advertisements and received offer letters in the mail.

I feel I got an acceptable offer in the end, although not full market value.

Also below the significant price range in their offer letter. Although most agents told me our home could get $15-30k more through traditional sale, it was not enough to risk losing out on a purchase close to work in an area where prices are rising faster than a traditional sale could support.

You do pay a traditional 6%, minimum, 'experience" commission on top of what they make on the markup of the home. Thankfully by the 4th offer there was no longer a Market Risk percentage tacked on and we decided to proceed. There are always closing costs to consider as well. A bit higher than what my home purchase was charging, but not wildly.

Then comes the army of inspectors. This is where the negative reviews and horror stories of others really started to sink in. I was worried about how bad were they going to nit pick and fleece me out of my equity. I was frightful of the idea that I may have to abandon my hope to move to my new home as every dollar of the deal had a purpose toward making my purchase and move happen. However, it ultimately turned out well.

Most of the items were small and inexpensive in the grand scheme. However, I did about drop dead from the request to pay to paint the inside of the house to the tune of nearly $4,000. Especially after had just spent the prior 2 days repainting and touching up the whole house.

It turned out this was due to one inspector noting they smelled smoke in the house. My response was to the tune of, “No kidding, they are going to smell smoke when all of them leave the doors open and someone is on the front porch smoking.”

After explaining no one has ever smoked in the house and inviting the local OD rep to give the house a sniff-test, they agreed to remove all but $500 of the paint charge.

However, I still felt even that amount should have been removed. Even with that still in, all-in-all, the total repair requests came out to less than $2k. Everything else in that figure was fairly expected, except for the garage door opener that decided it was a good day to die after the first inspector tested it and was fine, then the second inspector tested and the motor froze. Not OD's fault, just dumb luck.

The only other surprise that I had to pay for a new land survey, even though I had provided the original and nothing had changed. Thanks again to all the gloom and doomers out there, I was still extremely nervous all the way until closing and through my lease-back that some last minute whammy was going to hit and leave me in a bad situation.

Thankfully it was all smooth sailing, my reps were very considerate and responsive and even made the final walk through a breeze. So much so that I almost felt disappointed when they refunded my lease-back deposit and didn't need me to meet them for final.

This was after a spent a whole day of my lease-back time being very thorough about fixing every nick and scuff on the walls and anything else I could find that may be discounted.

All too easy and nearly nothing like the negative experiences that have been reported. I think one of my favorite parts of the process was that from the beginning we were told not to worry about cleaning the place, no need to fix nail holes, and that they pay to replace carpet without question. Only wish they provided the movers as part of their deal, that part was nowhere near as smooth, but at least we didn't need to clean!

The ultimate thing to remember about using them is that the offer they give you is based on the home being in best possible condition. If your house has not been maintained, has unrepaired systems or damages, contains appliances in poor condition, or is your yard and landscaping is torn up or dead, etc., you have to expect they will deduct for the cost to make the house presentable and sellable.

The money you saved by not doing things over the years will haunt you when it comes to inspection time. This is not just an Opendoor thing, this is a selling your home thing as many buyers are going to request credits or completed repairs during the buying process unless you are selling your home far enough below market to accommodate the repair/remodel expense.

Some things are unavoidable at any sale price such as a house must have flooring, working smoke detectors, major structural and safety defects must be resolved for the majority of buyers using a mortgage to finance their purchase.

FHA borrows have even stricter condition requirements. Before getting upset that your selling price or offer is being chiseled away, step back and take a good hard look at your home and truthfully ask yourself if it is in the best possible condition to command full market value. If you are uncertain, take the time to invest in your own inspector ahead of time to do a thorough check of your home and point out the things that may be deficient about your house.