iBuyer Opendoor is now making cash-backed offers available to customers, the company announced on Wednesday.
That cash advantage could help buyers double their chances of winning in a bidding war. According to Opendoor’s data, buyers who made offers with the program had an average acceptance rate that was 50 percent higher than offers made without cash backing.
Through the new program, buyers will be able to present a seller with an offer backed by Opendoor’s cash reserves, giving the seller more confidence that the deal is on solid footing, without having to wait in limbo on things like financing, appraisal or home sale contingencies.
To begin the process, buyers will need to get pre-qualified with Opendoor Home Loans or another mortgage company. Then, the brokerage arm of the company will pair the buyer with a real estate professional in their market to help them present the offer to the seller.
Tom Willerer
“With this new offering, we’ve made cash-backed offers more accessible, enabling customers to compete in hot markets, and in a radically simpler way,” Opendoor Chief Product Officer Tom Willerer wrote in a blog post. “Buying a home with Opendoor is managed fully online and through our app, which is the preference of 75 percent of homebuyers we surveyed. But, the added benefit is that you have a team of experts behind you every step of the way.”
The company’s cash-backed offers are currently available in Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; and Riverside and Los Angeles, California. Cash-backed offers will be made available in Sacramento, California as well, later in March 2021.
Opendoor, which was founded in 2014, began publicly trading on the stock market in December. In February, it launched two new markets in San Diego and Asheville.
