For an experienced Phoenix seller, Opendoor was a ‘no-brainer’

Adam Leon, a family nurse practitioner, and his wife, Lori, an attorney, are accustomed to doing their homework.

A self-described “control freak,” Adam doesn’t make any decisions without learning as much as he can first.

“I do a ton of research on everything. If I’m planning a vacation, I do a ton of research before making every decision,” he says.

So when it came time to move to a larger Phoenix home, the couple weighed their options carefully. They spent months searching online and talking with family and friends.

Finding the perfect neighborhood

Adam and Lori had been married for nearly three years when they realized their current house, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, wouldn’t fit the lifestyle they wanted, which they hoped would include children.

They knew they wanted to be close to mountain trails for hiking, close to freeways but still in a quiet area, no more than 15 minutes from downtown, and less than 30 minutes away from their local family.

“My favorite thing about Phoenix is being close to the mountains, because I love to hike. That’s probably the number one thing,” Adam said.

When they found the perfect house in their desired neighborhood just steps away from Lookout Mountain, they bought it and began making some improvements to customize it to their taste. But they still owned their previous home.

Selling their old home

Adam had bought and sold homes in the past, so he was familiar with the traditional real estate process. But his boss told him about a new service called Opendoor that sounded intriguing.

“My boss initially told me about Opendoor,” Adam recalls. “To be honest, I was initially skeptical, because I’d read online about other companies — not specifically about Opendoor — but just in general how some companies come in with a certain offer and then after the inspection would want, like, $20,000 more in repairs.”

But when another friend mentioned a great experience using Opendoor, Adam decided to take a closer look.

Doing their homework

Adam had looked at comparable sales in the neighborhood, talked with the realtor who sold him his new house to get a sense of listing prices, and had a previous appraisal on his home for a mortgage refinance.

With that information in hand, Adam requested offers from Opendoor and two other companies. “We knew that if it didn’t work out, we’d lose at most a month’s time that we could have listed it on the traditional market.”

Opendoor’s offer was not only $20,000 higher than the others, it was above the prior appraisal value, and it matched what Adam’s realtor expected the home to sell for.

“It was a pretty easy decision for me and my wife, because we didn’t want to face the stress of having to show the house or have it sit on the market,” Adam said. “It really was a no-brainer.”

“Another reason we liked Opendoor is that we were able to move our closing date,” Adam said. They had the flexibility to push their closing with Opendoor two weeks later so that the work on their new home could be completed.

“That was a huge selling point for us. Rather than being at the whims of a home buyer, we could drive the process,” Adam said.

Adam says he and his wife felt secure in buying their new home, knowing that their previous house wouldn’t linger on the market waiting for a traditional buyer.

“Then, once you find a buyer, you don’t know what kind of concessions they’ll want or how long they’ll need to close,” he notes.

With Opendoor, they had a sure sale at a fair price, and they could set the timeline.

A transparent process

Above all, Adam says, he appreciated Opendoor’s transparency.

“Patrick at Opendoor did a great job making us feel comfortable,” he said. “I love the idea that even all the title fees were told to us up front. There were no surprises.”

Patrick answered all the questions the couple had, and they knew what to expect every step of the process. “It was more smooth than the process of buying our new house,” Adam said. “When we sat down to sign, everything was exactly as he said it would be.”

The bottom line, Adam said, is that Opendoor ticked every box and met his high standards.

“Compared to the old way of selling, this transaction was the easiest I’ve ever done,” he said.