Offerpad vs Opendoor: Which iBuyer site is better and why?
Selling a home can be tricky, time-consuming, and tiring. Traditionally, you needed to get a real estate agent on board, set up multiple showings for potential buyers, and wait. Wait for someone to like the house, agree on a fair price and then wait some more for all the paperwork to finalize.
Sounds rather time-consuming and draining, doesn’t it? Well, a lot of people agree that selling a home is a tiring business. That is why we have seen such a surge in the popularity of websites that promise to help you sell off your home quickly.
Offerpad and Opendoor are arguably the most popular websites to get quick, reasonable all-cash offers for your home. Both these websites have a very similar aim: they wish to make the entire process of selling your home quick and efficient. Both websites use technology to their advantage and are able to complete the entire transaction very quickly.
They cater to the following audience:
- People who wish to sell a house quickly
- People who do not have the time or money, or do not want to put in the effort, to perform home repairsĀ
- People who do not wish to involve real estate agents or listing agents
- People who want an all-cash offer
Both these websites are similar in terms of how they function. Let us try and do a point-by-point comparison of the two:
Both are iBuyer
Both Offerpad and Opendoor are iBuyer companies. They both are pioneers in their domain that deal in buying and selling residential properties and use tech to streamline the process. They use complicated algorithms to determine market conditions and figure out the value of the market. The āiā in iBuyer stands for an instant since these companies are ready to take the house off your hands almost immediately.
Fee and penalty
Both Offerpad and Opendoor charge sellers the exact same amount of service fee – 5%. The difference however is in the cancellation fee. Opendoor gives its customers a big advantage of not charging anything if they choose to cancel before closing. On the other hand, Opendoor charges a 1% penalty.
Say you wish to sell a house worth $50,000 to these iBuyers. Whether you choose Offerpad or Opendoor, you will pay the same amount of service fee – $2,500. But if during the course of finalizing things with Offerpad and you choose to not go ahead with the sale, you are out by $500.Ā
Please be mindful that closing costs will be involved in a sale with either Opendoor or Offerpad, as they are in any standard real estate transaction. These usually range between 1-3% of the sale price. Neither company covers these costs.
Time to close
A very short time to close is the number one reason people prefer to sell with companies such as Opendoor and Offerpad. This can be quite a time-saving step since closing with a traditional buyer is a long process. You need to wait for the buyer to get their loan sanctioned or the financing to come through. While the time to close is pretty short for both these companies, you get a little more flexibility with Offerpad.
Both Offerpad and Opendoor give you an offer on your house within 24 hours. While the minimum amount of time that has to pass before you close depends on the state, with Offerpad it can potentially be just eight short days. You can of course choose to take more time. Offerpad gives you up to 90 days.
With Opendoor your closing date can range from two weeks to three months, depending on your comfort and convenience.
It is important to note that these timeframes are applicable from the day you accept Offerpad or Opendoorās all-cash offer.
Repairs
Home repairs can be quite the bone of contention. They are a messy space to be in. Perhaps that is why a lot of people prefer iBuyer websites since they usually take care of the repair part. Some websites even market that they will buy the house āas isā.But are you willing to Sell Your House as is,Ā is also a major part of your home selling journey. Now, when it comes to Opendoor vs Offerpad, both deal with repairs differently. Both generally provide a cost for repairs. This ranges between 1-2 % of the houseās sale price.Ā
Opendoor reviews suggest that Opendoor simply deducts the cost of repairs from the final price of the house that they quote to you. In this scenario, you donāt need to worry about getting any sort of work done on the house.Ā
Offerpad gives home sellers a few options on how to deal with repairs.
- If it is convenient for you, you can get the cost of repairs deducted from the final offer on the house. This is exactly what Opendoor does.
- After the home inspection, Offerpad will give you a list of repairs that need to be made. Now, it is up to you how you go about them. You can hire a contractor of your choice and get the repairs done at your convenience.
- Please note that you will pay for these repairs out of your own pocket and Offerpad reserves the final say in the matter of repairs.
There is another option you as a home seller could opt for. You could decline to cover the repairs and give Offerpad a repair credit.
Services
Both these iBuyer websites offer more than just the opportunity to see your house in a quick hassle-free way.
Opendoor Home Loans helps you secure a home loan for your new home if you choose to buy one with the company. Opendoor is also in partnership with a home builder called Lennar which helps in the purchase of new construction homes.
Offerpad allows homeowners to stay in their homes for up to three days after closing. Another useful service provided by Offerpad is free to move. Basically, if you sell to Offerpad, it provides you a free local move within a 50-mile radius.Ā You can check out Offerpad reviews to confirm the same.
As we have seen, both Opendoor and Offerpad provide similar services and can be almost indistinguishable in some areas of the home selling process.
