Empowering More Customers to Move with Safety and Certainty

With safety as a top priority for consumers, we recently introduced new fully-digital, contact-free ways for people to sell and buy homes in Phoenix and Raleigh-Durham. Today, we’re announcing that these options are now available to even more home buyers and sellers in Dallas Fort-Worth, Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, and Tucson, with additional cities coming soon.

Safer Ways to Sell

Demand for more safety and certainty is making some aspects of the traditional home transaction obsolete. Over 90% of Realtors indicated in a recent survey that they’ve seen home sellers change their selling strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic, including stopping open houses altogether. Home shoppers are worried about visiting occupied homes, and sellers want to limit the number of visitors in their homes.

Opendoor is uniquely positioned to meet the changing needs of home buyers and sellers. And we’re focused on providing a safe and certain sale for everyone, like Tyler and Tricia Botma from Phoenix.

The Botmas found the perfect home — in a neighborhood with less traffic and closer to better schools. However, right before they went into escrow, COVID-19 made its impact known and the market came to a halt. They weren’t sure if they could sell their existing home and were worried they could miss out on their dream home. The Botmas turned to Opendoor, and were a perfect fit for Home Reserve. Opendoor won their next home with an all-cash offer, and purchased their existing home at a competitive price. They were able to safely move into their new home within two weeks.

The Botmas are like many American consumers right now struggling to move, and find safe options in a time of uncertainty. With Home Reserve, Opendoor will purchase and reserve a customer’s next home on their behalf, all-cash. This enables the customer to move into the new home and sell directly to Opendoor or safely list and sell their current, empty home on the market.

We also offer homeowners the option to sell directly to Opendoor. Home sellers can avoid open houses or showings, and receive all-cash, competitive offers. The process now includes a virtual interior home assessment, eliminating any in-person contact. This is the best option for those who need or prefer instant liquidity through a safe and convenient sale, and may not be able to wait for a buyer.

Digitizing the entire home transaction

Before COVID-19, the Opendoor customer experience was already well on its way to becoming an entirely digital one. The launch of Buy with Opendoor introduced a new way to shop for, tour and buy a home. The launch of Opendoor Home Loans integrated a core part of the home purchase directly into our other products. And our acquisition of OS National paved the way for a digital title and escrow process for our customers. We also recently introduced safer touring options with updated cleaning protocols, including the ability to unlock and self-tour vacant Opendoor-owned homes — with scheduled time slots to ensure only one buyer at a time — or request a personalized virtual tour with an agent.

With the spread of COVID-19, the adoption of digital solutions has accelerated across the real estate industry and this dramatic shift in the buyer and seller experience is here to stay. We know housing will remain a fundamental need for consumers. We know selling strategies are changing. Virtual tours and self-touring are making the shopping experience almost entirely on-demand and consumer-driven. In fact, 65% of homebuyers believe virtual tours will continue to be a great resource in the home shopping process.

We’ve always maintained a vision for a delightful and frictionless customer experience. And that experience is more important now than ever before. No matter what your housing needs may be, Opendoor is here to help you and your family safely move.

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