[wtvanhest]

It is a nuance.

Opendoor: Targets sellers that want to sell quickly without any hassle.

Flippers: Targets sellers that want to sell quickly without any hassle. Some of them are distressed. Some of them are just in a hurry.

There really is no real distinction. How they make money is clearly laid out on their website. They buy for low, sell for higher than the bought. I believe they also cut out realtors.

[amorphid]

There's inherently wrong with wanting to sell quickly. If grandma died, leaving me her house 3,000 miles away from where I live, the last thing I'd want to be saddled with is trying to sell it. I know nothing about selling (or owning) a house, the real estate market in that area, etc. A fair enough price ASAP is what I'd be looking for.

[brianwawok]

Why not make one call to a local agent and have it sold for 5% more money?

I'm all for paying $2 for convenience if coffee on the run. Not sure I would pay $20k to save a few hours work around selling a house.

[psadri]

Also, real estate agents are just as incentivized to sell the property as quickly as possible. Selling a property at say $1M in one week (3k commission) > 1.05M in three weeks (only $150 more for two more weeks of work).

I wish real estate agents commissions where tiered. 1% for selling at market rate but 10% for anything over the market.

[BadCookie]

Agents are not free! Around where I live, you can expect to pay 3% to each of the two agents involved. Selling the house for 5% more doesn't help you if you have to give 6% of the sales price to the agents. I wonder how much of what Opendoor is trying to achieve involves removing or reducing the agent involvement.

[brianwawok]

I never said they were free.

If getting an agent on your own cost 5%-6%, and opendoor is charging 12%... you are losing 6-7% by using opendoor. That is a LOT of money.

[amorphid]

Correction... "There's nothing inherently wrong..."