Forgive my ignorance: does "buy and sell $1B in homes" mean your total GMV to date is $1B?
The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
61–70 of 79 posts
Re: The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Longer comment on "flipping": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13835150 . > Also, I guess I don't understand where they actually make money. Sorry for not being more clear on that. When we make an offer on a home, we present a headline price ("we think your home is worth $X"), and an upfront fee for our service (6-12% depending on our estimation of the risk, where traditional real estate fees are 6%). We try to m…
Most house flippers are not some evil group going around tricking grandmas. Their typical pitch goes like this: I will buy your house immediately. The way I can do it is to offer you a lower price than you can get if you wait to sell it. Here is my offer for 88% of what your house is worth. If they wanted to change their pitch it would be... I buy houses from people. I can close right away, but I need to charge you a…
Our average fee is below 8% total, so a 1-2% premium for selling vs a broker and we'll continue to push it lower.
If you consider holding costs of a home, prepping to sell, etc Opendoor is often at or below cost parity for a segment of sellers for a dramatically better experience.
Re: The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
#63I'm a software engineer at Opendoor- happy to answer any questions!
Can you please write an email to your Marketing Department and pass along a note? Here's the text: "While effective in your goal of creating Brand Recognition of 'Open Door' please be informed that the blitz campaign with the radio ad featuring the sound of a doorbell ringing, followed by the company name, 'Open Door,' was one of the most unabashedly Pavlovian ear-worm manipulation techniques I can recall. It almost…
I am sorry about that ad. We cut it after two weeks, and modified it after the first week to be less intrusive.
I'll take fault for letting that through review; I got your email the first time it went live. I learned a lot from it, as did the team.
Re: The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
#64Buying and selling over $1B in home is not impressive when done by a computer. If someone did it single handedly maybe. I hate when people quote numbers to impress and confuse others. At $100,000 that's 10,000 homes. Selling 10,000 items is not impressive. So why should I care what stack you used?
We purchase and sell the homes, including the inventory management (repairs, renovations, security, utilities), home visits, pricing & negotiation, mortgages, title & escrow... real estate is quite involved and the largest and most emotional transaction most people will make in their lives
Re: The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
#65[deleted]
Re: The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's defining it a bit narrowly isn't it? You guys buy homes, do a (little) work on them and then sell them for more, all in a short time frame. Maybe your innovation is in doing lots of small flips but it still seems like flipping to me.
I'm going to speak for OpenDoor here so someone from them can probably jump in, but the company I started and shut down was around financing house flippers and I have a background in both capital raising and real estate. There are many types of 'house flipping' and most of the differences are just various shades of grey. For illustration purposes: At one extreme: Focus on buying dramatically undervalued assets, putti…
Ah the beauty of the corporation. Make money while the sun shines, then when the downturn comes, wind up the company and move on to the next big idea. Preferably something counter cyclical to the housing market.
Re: The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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.
[deleted]
Re: The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
#68I wonder, if the stack would be radically different if a) interest rates increase to 'old normal', and/or b) price trend reverses in the opposite direction.
Global housing prices: http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/03/daily-c...
Re: The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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.
Correction... "There's nothing inherently wrong..."
Re: The Stack That Helped Opendoor Buy and Sell Over $1B in Homes
#70I'm a software engineer at Opendoor- happy to answer any questions!
What make and model door knobs do you use? I manage some rental houses and have wanted to automate showings go some time. Do you add a cellular Wi-Fi hotspot temoparily too?