Hey everyone - I’m newer to the forums but a long time podcast listener here in Iowa. I’m a realtor, and was talking to a former client today who moved to Austin,TX and works for a Real Estate startup called Opcity. Just started looking into them a bit tonight. Maybe there’s tons of companies out there like this already, but their model (based on their site) looks like no up front lead cost, vetted warm leads sent to you via phone call. They take 35% when you close. Don’t exactly love giving away a chunk that large, but I’ve been abnormally slow lately so I was thinking of giving them a shot. I probably will regardless since it’s free, but just wondering if anyone has used them and what the lead quality has been like? Thanks a lot!

We're using them in Iowa at my brokerage. In the months we've been using them I think one agent has closed a deal. All of my leads haven't gone anywhere and most of the people aren't pre-qualified and most have low budgets.

There are several SFBA small brokerages using that model. Not sure where they get the leads, server out seeing social media postings?  It is one way to stay busy screening recycled leads? I suggest you try for 6 months see if it works for you. Most internet leads are someone looking at a ridiculous low priced home thinking they can get it. But they have no money. 

they a scam

I just had a conversation with a mortgage loan originator this morning about OptCity and she had positive things to say about their mortgage leads. The downside being the cost.

We have used Opcity for 4 months now. They are horrible leads, especially for the cost of them. They have bogged us down with crap and mostly people who are unqualified, or the house price is 50k or less once you get on the phone with the client. Corporate seems to be a revolving door as well. I would say to avoid them at all costs. 13k spent and one loan closed!!

Keep away from Opcity. I have a brokerage of 165 agents. Opcity send leads to my agents and Opcity own the lead for 2 years if the agent moves brokerages. They still consider the original broker responsible for the payment even if the agent moves brokerages. I can no longer open my company to this risk. 35% is too much for good agents to pay. Good agents do not use this referral system. Keep away from this company. They are more agressive since they have recently been bought out for $210,000,000

It's offered to us to participate as a new agent. used it for about 3 months. No one they've connected me to has been "vetted" to be qualified. Nothing over $100,000. My concern: Its owned by realtor.com who gets their info from the MLS that we agents pay for, not sure what they pay. Anytime someone is interested in a house on Realtor.com, Opcity gets the lead and then sends our to realtors, who, upon closing a deal, pays 35%. But Realtor.com also sells zip codes to agents to have their name listed as a referral. But at the same time, they're intercepting it through Opcity! Am I correct in my understanding of this?

Although this is a post from 2018 I can tell you that I have sold $10.8 million using OpCity so I don’t mind pay 30-35% referral - it’s been a great resource for me!!!! When you first sign up you get leads that are lower in price but once you have closed one or two you do get bigger and better leads. 

Originally posted by @Anna Boucher :

Although this is a post from 2018 I can tell you that I have sold $10.8 million using OpCity so I don’t mind pay 30-35% referral - it’s been a great resource for me!!!! When you first sign up you get leads that are lower in price but once you have closed one or two you do get bigger and better leads. 

Anna,

Im a new agent in South New Jersey and just signed up with Opcity. I would love to connect and talk more about your experience with Opcity. I also sent you a friend request on FB 😊

We use them as a lender and it works.  But the realtors signed up don't last long, they are a revolving door of new people.

You get a ton of lower property stuff but like most leads you just weed them out and go after the better ones.

My firm uses them. A lot of good reviews from the other agents. I signed up yesterday and have received one call about a owner financed house in a ghetto. Not too promising yet.

I am a new agent, I signed up at my first brokerage.  The leads were in a very low price range, but I was happy just to talk to people about real estate, it gave me reason to be in my mls and to become acquainted with quickly moving inventory.  I moved and my second brokerage does not offer it-- highly disappointed. Being brand new in a town where I know no one is a very difficult beginning.   In an attempt to find my right fit, I have switched brokerages (3 days ago).  The new brokerage uses opcity. I've not gotten a ping yet, but I did hear one lady in the office say she has closed quite a few opcity deals.  I AM HOPEFUL.  <3

We use them and your right it’s a chunk but better than nothing. The lead flow is not a lot and they also rate you. We haven’t closed a deal with one yet so can’t say much more than that.

In the beginning, it took me a lot of conversations with first-time homebuyers and those who could not get pre-qualified, but every once in while, it panned out. It's true that you get better quality leads once your ranking score goes up (esp. with closings). You can also release the leads you can't, or won't help, back to Opcity.

I have received around 50 referrals from Opcity now. Zero deals.

When your not busy Opcity is great because its referral based opposed to monthly or flat fee service...  What I dont like is the response time required... When your busy, its hard to click and talk when your showing property or on a listing appt... I'm dropping it because two of my team members are now using it..

I started to use Opcity from April 2019 till Today 02/09/2020.  When signing up, I asked Opcity about referral fee and Opcity didn't disclose how much referral fee they charge and they asked me to contact my broker.  I searched its website and I saw one page said their referral fee is 20% -35%.  When I asked my broker, my broker said it could be 35%. So I had the reply which verified each other based on two sources: my broker and Opcity Website at that time (now their website was linked to Realtor.com and that page of 20-35% referral fee is gone.  Since our brokerage's policy regarding referral fee is that Agent negotiates and determines the referral fee amount or percentage with Agent's client or vendor, so I said to myself that I would negotiate that when the deals closes.    Mid January 2020 my deals got closed and I contacted my broker and Opcity to determine the broker fee.  I found out from my Broker that Opcity was non-negotiable with its fee at 35% with my Broker. Opcity's rule is for deals below $150K, they charge 30% and for deals over $150K, they charge 35%.  For the NYC market, there is literally nothing below $150K.  So now Opcity took 35% referral fee from my Broker without my participation.  I got to know it after they took it.  I let my Broker know that I would not have signed up with Opcity if its website was factual about their referral fee schedule at 30% (deals below $150K) or 35% (deals above $150K).     ON the signup agreement between Opcity and Agent, there is no language concerning referral fee schedule either in dollar amount or percentage. Now all of sudden, they took money away from my share.   I feel I don't have a say in the money I have earned and the money slipped away.   I told my Broker before that I would be OK to pay 25% referral fee which is industry standard.  Although my Broker didn't do everything correct by standing behind its agent, and it is seriously in dereliction of asserting its rights to include its agent in negotiation, Opcity's fault lies in bait and switch the agents coming in by its website, and not showing the referral fee on the Opcity-Agent Agreement, and forcefully demanding 35% based on a referral fee schedule not suitable for NYC market.  Today they disabled my Opcity account which doesn't bother me at all since I already consider this company an indecent company short of professional ethics.   Leon 

Further to my previous posting about Opcity, I would like to welcome any other BROKERs to shed some light on your referral fee percentage in your location.. 

They create leads, we use them some leads are good some not so good.  Once you get going you should be able to change your values, so just set your number higher as far as price per home.  If your not jamming no harm to try.  We have close one listing and two buyers.. you have nothing to lose. 

We have used Opcity for about a year in my office, and we have all gotten a LOT of leads from them.  As most everyone has said, the overwhelming majority of the leads are garbage.  You have to treat each one of the leads just like you do any other.  You have to weed out the bad leads from the good ones.

I just closed my first Opcity lead this morning.  Not a huge deal, only a $57,000 sale.  But, it's a sale.  I'm also currently working with an out of state Opcity referral that looks to be about a $300,000 sale.  Yes, Opcity will get a chunk of my commission.  But, I may not have had either one of these sales, if it weren't for Opcity.  I've always been of the opinion, that a little bit of something, is a whole lot better than a lot of nothing.

I agree with some of the other posters here.  Opcity should adopt a flat rate 25% referral fee, which seems to be the industry standard.  However, in all fairness, there is someone out there that is well known in the real estate, and financial, arenas, that is charging 35% referral fees to be an endorsed local provider.  So, Opcity isn't the only one charging above industry standard referral fees.

Does the brokerage take a portion of that 35% Opcity is receiving, on top of the 20% (or whatever) they usually get of the agent's commission?

Seems to me if you were to sign up as an agent and considering any listing takes around 90 hours (from pre-listing appointment due diligence through post-closing thank-you's.....), it would only make sense on $300k+ closings, which equates to around $50/hour (at 3% commission on the listing side), which I'm sure most agents wouldn't want to dip below.........

I've been signed up with Opcity for a little over a year.  For the most part, the leads from Opcity haven't been all that great.  Most of the leads were people looking for properties priced $60,000 or less.  Any leads that were of any real quality have almost always been claimed by the time they came through to me.  There have been rare occasions when I have been able to get a decent quality lead from Opcity, but they have been very few, and very far between.  By the time it's all said, and done, I end up with about half of the commission that is paid to the brokerage.

Is it worth it?  If you're not very busy, and have time to devote to developing the leads that come through Opcity, it is probably worth it.  If you're an established agent, giving up 35% of the commission may not be for you.

We started with Opcity shortly after our agency opened, and we were looking to get our business established, and grow our clientele.  We still use Opcity, however, I have recently changed my notification settings to only receive referrals that are for properties over $60,000.  Since making the change, I have received very few referrals from Opcity.

The no up front cost is a big incentive to give Opcity a try.  But, when you factor in a 35% referral fee for anything over $150,000, it becomes questionable whether it's worth the expense.  That's an individual decision, one each agent has to make for themselves.