BAM Key Details:
- Opendoor and eXp Realty have partnered up to give homeowners incentive to sell by providing certainty of a sale via Opendoor’s cash offer solution.
- Opendoor will become the primary cash offer solution powering eXp’s iBuyer platform, ExpressOffers. And eXp Realtors will be able to participate in the Opendoor for Agents Rewards Program.
- With Opendoor’s integrated API tool, eXp Realtors will be able to request an Opendoor cash offer directly within their eXp dashboard and present it to their client alongside the option of listing their home on the open marketplace.
Thanks to its new partnership with Opendoor, eXp agents can now request a cash offer on qualifying homes directly within their eXp dashboard and present the offer alongside the option of listing their client’s home on the market.
The goal of the Opendoor-eXp Realty partnership is to give sellers more certainty in an uncertain market—at least when it comes to selling their homes.
Empowering the nearly 90,000 trusted eXp Realty agents at America’s largest independent brokerage with on-demand, integrated access to an Opendoor cash offer will empower their millions of clients. This partnership gives sellers a simple and certain option, supported by their eXp Realty agent and backed by an Opendoor cash offer. It’s also the first step of a broader relationship that gives us a trusted partner for future opportunities to better serve our customers.
This partnership with eXp is the latest among Opendoor partnerships with industry-leading real estate companies—including Zillow, Realtor.com, and Redfin.
Read on to learn how this partnership will work, who will benefit most, and who might be a little salty about it.
How this partnership will work
Opendoor and eXp Realty aim to solidify the partnership and make this option available throughout the country. With their integrated API tool, Opendoor will become the “primary cash offer solution” on eXp’s ExpressOffers platform.
In the coming months, eXp’s roughly 90,000 agents will be able to request cash offers on qualifying homes directly within their eXp dashboard and then present the Opendoor offer alongside the option of listing their client’s property on the open market.
Sounds enticing—with a few caveats. For one, going with option B might mean saying no to the Opendoor cash offer (if this is an either-or situation). For another, going with option A means your seller might never find out what home shoppers in their market might offer them.
On the other hand, as far as we know, nothing says the eXp agent can’t provide the seller with an estimate, based on current market data, to counter the Opendoor offer.
As for what eXp agents get out of this, they’ll be able to participate in the Opendoor for Agents rewards programs, which makes them eligible to receive a commission from Opendoor—in addition to whatever previously negotiated client commission they’ll receive from their client—for “every eligible transaction that originates and closes on their portal.”
Does this mean ExpressOffers will only present Opendoor offers?
Again, based on the wording in the original Opendoor announcement, Opendoor will become the “primary cash offer solution.” Nowhere does it say eXp will no longer provide sellers with alternative cash offers from institutional buyers.
Here’s how eXp describes ExpressOffers® on their website:
eXp Realty built a proprietary iBuying software platform called ExpressOffers® that allows eXp agents to connect seller clients with institutional buyers who buy in cash within a short time frame. Rather than providing one offer, ExpressOffers connects your clients with cash buyers across the U.S., allowing them to choose the best offer on their home. ExpressOffers is designed for sellers to more rapidly sell their homes without the hassle of listing it, staging it or holding open houses.
The new partnership between eXp and Opendoor will present the latter’s cash offer as the primary or preferred option. This may be an easy sell since Opendoor is a known entity and is presumably less likely to ghost the seller after making an offer or to make changes to an offer after the seller has accepted it. At least, one can hope.
I mean, the whole idea is to make the home-selling process less stressful for homeowners.
On the other hand, buyers out there who are already having a tough time finding affordable homes are not likely to applaud the new partnership. If Opendoor’s cash offer is enticing enough or the homeowner is in a hurry to sell, they probably won’t bother listing the property, which means buyers won’t even have a chance to see it and make a competitive offer.
That could ruffle a few feathers. After all, homeowners who have little choice but to sell right now—and to sell as quickly as possible—could mean a great deal for buyers who respond quickly when the home hits the market.
And for many buyers right now, great deals are in short supply.
It’s also worth noting that sellers who take advantage of an Opendoor offer, if they’re selling their primary home, then become buyers in a market with record-low housing affordability.
The combo plate
Sellers who are expecting to pay more for their next home will probably want to know what buyers in their market will offer. And that leads us to another bit of news involving Opendoor.
Opendoor is also expanding its joint selling solution with Zillow. Their new agreement empowers homeowners in 34 markets across the U.S. to simultaneously request both a cash offer from Opendoor and an estimate on their home’s potential open market sale price from a local Zillow Premier Agent partner.
Takeaways for real estate agents
Time will tell whether or not these partnerships make a real difference for homeowners in today’s market. Trust will be a critical factor, and that requires an investment on your part as the real estate professional.
The onus is on you to give clients a reason to trust that you’re ready and willing to put their interests ahead of your own, even if it means giving up a “bonus” commission from Opendoor to get a better offer for your seller’s home.
