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Opendoor, Zillow, etc... Any experience?

COCA COLA COWBOY

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Those are my thoughts as well. I'm sure there are great real estate people and they deserve fair pay. But in my opinion they don't deserve what they're making.
A person spends years/decades paying, repairing, updating their home gaining value and a real estat person comes in and spends typically 5-20 hours on a sale and makes $10k-$25k on average houses?
In 40-50 years houses have went up 100-300% yet they are asking even higher percentage for commission.
So a agent 30-40 years ago would make $3k at 3% on an average $100k house now makes more like $18k on the same house now worth $300k at 6%.

Those are accurate numbers for an agent that just puts a home on the MLS and prays that it sells. In a large team where there are professionals of each aspect of the transaction and the home is actually marketed through all avenues possible, the return is far less to the end agent.

Average agent spends $500 on marketing a home...if that! We do things different because our company actually has a marketing department and spends money on marketing the home. On average I receive .5% from the sale of a home. I’m not getting rich, but I can attest that my clients are getting top dollar for their homes.

I just opened escrow on a home this week where the two agents that live in the neighborhood and were supposed to be experts said the home was worth $550k, the seller had offered it to a few people for $575k as a FSBO and luckily those buyers didn’t take them up on it. I spent 3 weeks marketing the home prior, generated offers before going active. In the end, we generated 15 offers and opened escrow this week at $675k, no loan contingency with an extremely short due diligence period. Negotiations did get the final number up quite a bit.
 

Ricks raft

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Those are accurate numbers for an agent that just puts a home on the MLS and prays that it sells. In a large team where there are professionals of each aspect of the transaction and the home is actually marketed through all avenues possible, the return is far less to the end agent.

Average agent spends $500 on marketing a home...if that! We do things different because our company actually has a marketing department and spends money on marketing the home. On average I receive .5% from the sale of a home. I’m not getting rich, but I can attest that my clients are getting top dollar for their homes.

I just opened escrow on a home this week where the two agents that live in the neighborhood and were supposed to be experts said the home was worth $550k, the seller had offered it to a few people for $575k as a FSBO and luckily those buyers didn’t take them up on it. I spent 3 weeks marketing the home prior, generated offers before going active. In the end, we generated 15 offers and opened escrow this week at $675k, no loan contingency with an extremely short due diligence period. Negotiations did get the final number up quite a bit.

Sounds like you're one of the good ones. I'm a free market kinda guy so whatever you can get, more power to you.
And if you find a good agent apparently you should stick with them.
Not condemning but actually curious how many hours would your team put in to an average sale of a Normal family home in the $500k range?
As you mentioned in my experiences and a contractor friend who manages/remodels vacay rentals for multiple clients who have bought over 20 in the last 5 years, the agents haven't done much and no due diligence, like not checking for permits on additions so they buy a 3 bedroom and it's really a 2, so new room has to be reverse engineered, septic may not be sufficient etc...
I don't think they have one that the agent hasn't missed something that cost them money.
 

Lunatic Fringe

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There is much more to the process if you do it correctly. If done correctly, the additional time spent in the prior weeks pays off dramatically to aid the sale in that one weekend due to the creation of competition.

I’d be more than happy to sit down with anyone in a one on one consultation to explain the process of what the number 1 team in San Diego does as it is night and day compared to the average agent that just puts a home on the MLS.

your home will be listed on Thursday, one Open House from 1-3pm on either Saturday or Sunday and you will have multiple offers on Monday, counter offer on Tuesday, in escrow by Wednesday

Your words, not mine.
 

COCA COLA COWBOY

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Sounds like you're one of the good ones. I'm a free market kinda guy so whatever you can get, more power to you.
And if you find a good agent apparently you should stick with them.
Not condemning but actually curious how many hours would your team put in to an average sale of a Normal family home in the $500k range?
As you mentioned in my experiences and a contractor friend who manages/remodels vacay rentals for multiple clients who have bought over 20 in the last 5 years, the agents haven't done much and no due diligence, like not checking for permits on additions so they buy a 3 bedroom and it's really a 2, so new room has to be reverse engineered, septic may not be sufficient etc...
I don't think they have one that the agent hasn't missed something that cost them money.

Minimum 40 hours for the actual agent.
Approximately 40 hours for the Inside Sale Agent team to do outbound phone calls to a geographic area.
Approximately 24 hours per listing for the marketing team.
Approximately 10-12 Hours for the Transaction Coordinators
Maybe 1-2 hours office staff.


The trip to the building department is fun. The records department in San Diego burnt down in the 70's so a lot of the records of past went with it. The MLS and online sources are not viable data researching options. However, the younger generations seem to believe that if it's on the computer, it must be accurate. We see inaccuracies on almost every property and with almost every disclosure. Honestly, it truly doesn't matter if you point out the negatives of properties in metropolitan areas as there are almost always multiple offers by groups that could care less about asbestos, cracked slabs, major termite issues, planes flying overhead, foundation slipping, etc. However, I am guessing, but I think newer agents rely on sales to make ends meet and may not point out all aspects of a property. I have literally told clients not to buy properties and they still buy them. It's quite amazing!
 

COCA COLA COWBOY

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your home will be listed on Thursday, one Open House from 1-3pm on either Saturday or Sunday and you will have multiple offers on Monday, counter offer on Tuesday, in escrow by Wednesday

Your words, not mine.


It's the time, energy, and money spent before the home get's formally listed on the MLS that generates the most value for the property and the client. This is a broad statement, but its the only answer I can provide without showing powerpoint presentations with facts, figures, graphs, and past transactions to explain the statement.

Biggest analogy would be Apple...Apple does most of their marketing for a new phone before it hits the shelves. Once it hits the shelves, the lines are out the doors. If they started their marketing after the phones were on the shelves, their response would be a fraction of what they do in reality.
 

pronstar

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Biggest analogy would be Apple...Apple does most of their marketing for a new phone before it hits the shelves. Once it hits the shelves, the lines are out the doors. If they started their marketing after the phones were on the shelves, their response would be a fraction of what they do in reality.

Not throwing shade, but that’s how every company operates.

In fact, marketing begins before products are even developed. Marketing identifies the need, then the product is developed to fill the need.

No company is spending money developing a product, then hoping the marketers can sell it. That’s completely backwards.


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nordic454

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We just sold our rental property in Henderson, and currently have our home on the market with the same amazing realtor. I looked into the Zillow and Opendoor route when we first decided to move to GA, and they both offered a very low number. Around $40k below market value, due to them “taking the risk”. Got offered $263k on our rental, and sold it in 5 days for $310k with our realtor. With that being said, we went traditional way this time as well.
We did however buy our new place in GA from Zillow. They went in and did some work before they listed it, and it was shitty work at that because they don’t pay their contractors well. In our case, they actually lost money on our home.
 

thetub

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another thing a good broker/realtor provides is i think a layer of liability protection ?

they should disclose everything to potential buyers and provide all the proper paperwork to cover all the potential lawsuit liability?

laws and paperwork are changing constantly

also a good brokerage/realtor would always have buyers to do an inspection by a home inspector and buyer of property so there are no surprises later on...
 
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Bobby V

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We just sold our rental property in Henderson, and currently have our home on the market with the same amazing realtor. I looked into the Zillow and Opendoor route when we first decided to move to GA, and they both offered a very low number. Around $40k below market value, due to them “taking the risk”. Got offered $263k on our rental, and sold it in 5 days for $310k with our realtor. With that being said, we went traditional way this time as well.
We did however buy our new place in GA from Zillow. They went in and did some work before they listed it, and it was shitty work at that because they don’t pay their contractors well. In our case, they actually lost money on our home.
Zillow offered 263K, was there any fees on top of that? You sold it for 310k. Was that after the realtor fees?
 
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mitch6601

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If you need a relator with loads of experience in the north valley shoot me a direct message and I will pass along her information to you. She is very good at what she does and possibly give you a RD friends discount.

Dan
 

Wheeler

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Biggest analogy would be Apple...Apple does most of their marketing for a new phone before it hits the shelves. Once it hits the shelves, the lines are out the doors. If they started their marketing after the phones were on the shelves, their response would be a fraction of what they do in reality.

And that is what we call the "2Forcefull method" :)

@2FORCEFULL
 

nordic454

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Zillow offered 263K, was there any fees on top of that? You sold it for 310k. Was that after the realtor fees?

I’m not sure of any fees associated with selling Zillow. I am assuming not, due to the fact that they are basically a cash buyer, and no realtors involved. We didn’t go with them due to the fact that we would have lost $47k in our transaction. Yes we did have fees associated with going the traditional route, but we only owed $120k on the house, and our fees totaled $12k. So we pocketed $178k all in.
 

COCA COLA COWBOY

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Not throwing shade, but that’s how every company operates.

In fact, marketing begins before products are even developed. Marketing identifies the need, then the product is developed to fill the need.

No company is spending money developing a product, then hoping the marketers can sell it. That’s completely backwards.


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Absolutely! It should also happen that way on homes! Unfortunately, it happens in very few instances.
 

Deja_Vu

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Congrats DB! Looking forward to a build thread. It’s fun at first then you get impatient but the payoff is usually amazing.

PS Hey realtors...take a hike this is DBs thread lol. Unless you’ve sold your home with open door or Zillow .

She might have to ban yer azz for threadcrapping lol
 

RogerThat99

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Zillow question: They have inaccurate details about my house. I am not looking to buy or sell at this time, and I know the Zestimates are inaccurate. What is the upside and downside of claiming the home on Zillow, and editing the details? I suspect that there is no upside, and plenty of downside. LOL.
 

Ziggy

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Zillow question: They have inaccurate details about my house. I am not looking to buy or sell at this time, and I know the Zestimates are inaccurate. What is the upside and downside of claiming the home on Zillow, and editing the details? I suspect that there is no upside, and plenty of downside. LOL.
I'd guess the upside would be more accurate "comp" values for your neighborhood. In turn this could help your homes future value as well.
 

RogerThat99

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I'd guess the upside would be more accurate "comp" values for your neighborhood. In turn this could help your homes future value as well.

I wonder what the downside is? Sales calls and such. Of course, I use a "throwaway" phone number for this type of thing. It doesn't ring, and I never check voicemail. I think it is registered to a guy named "Roger (something or other)". LOL.
 

Ziggy

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I wonder what the downside is? Sales calls and such. Of course, I use a "throwaway" phone number for this type of thing. It doesn't ring, and I never check voicemail. I think it is registered to a guy named Roger something or other. LOL.
Anyone serious can find you with county records, doesn’t matter much.
 

mesquito_creek

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I wonder what the downside is? Sales calls and such. Of course, I use a "throwaway" phone number for this type of thing. It doesn't ring, and I never check voicemail. I think it is registered to a guy named "Roger (something or other)". LOL.

Downside is providing the assessors office with more accurate data to value your home for tax purposes....
 

Cdog

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Zillow question: They have inaccurate details about my house. I am not looking to buy or sell at this time, and I know the Zestimates are inaccurate. What is the upside and downside of claiming the home on Zillow, and editing the details? I suspect that there is no upside, and plenty of downside. LOL.


It’s going to put you on the radar no doubt but that’s not always a bad thing as almost everything is for sale. Use a burner email.
 

PlumLoco

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We used Help U Sell. I think commission was under 3%. They handled all of the paperwork and my wife did her own open house. The third couple that day fell in love with it and came back in an hour with a family friend who was also an agent. That woman did her best to insert herself into the deal, but my wife and the HuS agent said no way are we paying her fees as the potential buyer found the house on her own without any more help than a sign in the yard. Closed in 30 days with zero hiccups and full asking price ($489K on a 1446 sq ft house) in the I.E.
It was a very smooth and easy process and we spent very little money for very professional representation and a lot of hand holding. They came in an make suggestions before going live, and even had a list of some local contractors, but in the end we said just sell it as is.
 

DaytonaBabe

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On a side note, I got myself blocked from posting comments on the OpenDoor FB page. Their ads kept popping up, so I voiced my experience for others to see. I guess they didn't like it when I told the truth and posted that we made over $60K more by listing with a realtor. Lol

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Bowtiepower00

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Just finished my opendoor experience, well 2 actually, my parents also used opendoor on their house in our same neighborhood while building in the same community that we moved to.

Yes, we left some money on the table, especially with the recent run in home values, but we had no negative experiences with the process.

We saved renting for 7 months, didn’t have to show our house or fix anything for the new buyer, and there were no unexpected fees or money withheld for repairs other than what we agreed to initially when we signed in February. We were able to rent back for a few days to get moved and had our security deposit returned without issue. My parents also had no issues with the process. I would do it again.
 

mbrown2

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I always love these real estate threads where people question what realtors should make .......then there are others that bitch about what an AC guy should get for changing a capacitor, then a what a pool guy should charge for a pool but they will still fly a Trump flag on Saturday even though they are arguing against the capitalistic laws of supply and demand...
 

J&k beer can

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we have bought and sold and you dont really need a realtor..
we sell AS-IS.. not giving money away when we dont have too.. if you property is priced right you should have no problem selling it..
especially last few years. lots are getting over asking price.. if buyer has a realtor you can always say your not dealing with one or negotiate fee..
those are type of careers jobs that can be negotiated.. its just want it is..

and yes this works and we have done it and family and friends have done it..(most family n friends are in title escrow mortgage brokers business)
you can also use a transaction coordinator to do the paperwork..

its not for everyone and some dont want to deal with it and rather just have some else do it.. and theres no problems with doing just that..
 

Turnup

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I've claimed a shit ton of houses on Zillow, to update info and specs etc. Never had any solicitations on any of those but when I converted the house details to FSBO or "make me sell" (make me an offer I can't refuse) that's when the solicitations happen with agents calling claiming they have buyers, why no realtor, blah blah blah..
 

Englewood

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we have bought and sold and you dont really need a realtor..
we sell AS-IS..

Terrible idea. By saying we sell"as-is" just shows that you do in fact need a Realtor. Every home in CA is sold as-is. Your previous deals may have gone smooth but without intricate knowledge of contingencies and disclosures, etc., you are opening yourself up to a tremendous amount of liability. It's a gamble at best.
 

J&k beer can

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no not a problem.. for us..

this was in my post..

(most family n friends are in title escrow mortgage brokers business
its not for everyone and some dont want to deal with it and rather just have some else do it.. and theres no problems with doing just that..
 
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