I came across this phenomenon a couple weeks ago when neighbors a few doors up from us disappeared one day and the next was a sign in their yard For Sale by Open Door. We live in the DFW area.

The concept is pretty interesting- they buy my house and then list it. When you are ready to look at it, you come up and contact the local rep and they let you in via remote to explore the house on your own and on your schedule. Pretty cool. Or so I thought.

My experience thus far having viewed 5 homes and noting price/sf on several others is it seems they are not understanding the nuances of each neighborhood (some more desirable b/c of age of home or school ratings) nor are the homes, in my opinion, move in ready. They often need a good cleaning and all certainly need paint. Despite these deficiencies they are listing the homes at top dollar value, in our case around $155/sf for a 2 level that has not been touched or updated in almost 20 years. 

Is anyone else seeing these pop up in their area? Are you experiencing the same? What is their business model? Surely the carrying costs have to be astronomical.

Gerald, one year later, what is your take on Open Door?   I just learned of them, and I have a flip that I want to sell real fast.

Do you think it would be worthwhile to contact them?

Hi @Tom Parris , I have submitted several clients homes on their website to see what their initial offer would come up as. All of my clients have passed because they charge service fees that are 6.5-7.5% and they do not purchase at market rate. If you need to sell quickly and don't mind that, then it is worth a shot. I know they don't purchase homes that are older than a certain year, and they also are not in every market as of now. 

Originally posted by @Tom Parris :

Gerald, one year later, what is your take on Open Door?   I just learned of them, and I have a flip that I want to sell real fast.

Do you think it would be worthwhile to contact them?

 I would suggest you have them give you a number.

It might be close to what you'll get a from a realtor with a lot less work.

The fees are probably similar to what you would pay in regular agent fees.

Thanks to both of you.   I will keep you posted.

As it turns out, Open Door does not get involved with ANY house that has a value of more than $300,000 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Tom, they exited the over $300K submarket here in DFW last year because that market has been in a shift, and they must not want the exposure. The reason to sell to them is if you are, for whatever reason, more concerned about the speed of the transaction than what you net, and your home isn't attracting investors. However, they are still home investors like us. If you want to sell the home fast and net the most, you must be priced right and on the MLS. I've never been beat by them for a listing. I've always demonstrated to the Seller why the numbers work better for them by using me.