Inman

Opendoor launches in San Diego and Asheville

MontyLov on Unsplash and Airam Dato-on on Unsplash

Opendoor announced Thursday it’s launching in San Diego, California and Asheville, North Carolina, expanding the presence of its direct-to-consumer homebuying and selling platform in two states where it already has a strong, established operation.

Homeowners in the two markets can now determine if their home is eligible for the iBuyer platform — which provides a quick, certain close — by simply going to Opendoor.com, entering their address and answering a few questions about their home.

“By expanding our footprint in Southern California and North Carolina, we’re moving toward our goal of bringing a seamless, certain and fast solution to more home buyers and sellers nationwide,” Megan Meyer Toolson, Opendoor’s chief customer officer, said in a blog post announcing the news.

After inputting the address and answering a few questions, Opendoor generates a preliminary all-cash offer, which is finalized after a virtual assessment of the home. That means no cleanings, showings, repairs or strangers in the home, Toolson explained.

“Even outside of COVID-19, it removes the hassle of keeping the house clean and coordinating time for family and pets to be out of the house,” Toolson said.

Once homeowners have the all-cash offer, they can choose their timeline and control the entire process, with the opportunity to cancel anytime before close at no cost.

“When you sell to Opendoor, there are no unforeseen costs and complete transparency in the sale so you can feel confident about avoiding surprises,” Toolson said.

Opendoor’s expansion comes amid a time when the company said interest in the iBuyer platform is spiking — even as iBuyer purchases plummeted in 2020 due to a pandemic induced pause in the early days of COVID-19.

A recent report from Opendoor found that 71 percent of sellers said they would consider selling their home to an iBuyer to avoid the hassle associated with a traditional home sale.

Opendoor’s direct-to-consumer homebuying platform is now live in 23 markets, as of Thursday morning.

Email Patrick Kearns