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IBuyer Opendoor is hoping to reach more sellers by “flipping the script” and giving them the option of listing their home with an Opendoor preferred agent with an all-cash backup plan.
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Opendoor’s new Key Connections program connects partner real estate agents with high-intent sellers in their market who want to explore their options.
After pilot tests of Key Connections in 11 markets, Opendoor announced Tuesday that it’s expanding the program and will invite more vetted agents to reach sellers in additional markets.
“Today, a meaningful percentage of our acquisitions come to us through an agent who is bringing their customer to Opendoor and requesting a cash offer,” Opendoor CEO Carrie Wheeler said on the company’s May 6 earnings call.
Carrie Wheeler
“We are taking our existing vibrant partnership with agents and flipping the script, so to speak, by sending Opendoor customer referrals to embedded agent partners,” Wheeler said of Key Connections. “Those agents are able to talk through the options that a customer has to sell, from an Opendoor cash offer to a full listing.”
In pilot tests of Key Connections, Wheeler said customers have been receptive to having a local expert explain their options.
“Agents benefit from high-intent seller referrals from our marketing engine and are able to bring all options to the table in assessing the smartest move for the customer,” she said.
The program can help Opendoor improve its conversion rates, whether sellers accept a cash offer or opt to list with a partner agent, which generates “asset-light” revenue without the need for Opendoor to buy and sell the property itself.
The Key Connections program has also allowed Opendoor to deliver final, underwritten offers faster, because partner agents do an in-home assessment in their first meeting with prospective sellers, Wheeler said.
Since launching in Phoenix in 2014, Opendoor has expanded into 50 markets as of March 31 and sold more than 13,500 homes last year.
But the company has been operating in the red, racking up a $392 million 2024 net loss and cumulative losses of $3.81 billion through March 31.
The Nasdaq Stock Market notified Opendoor on May 28 that the company could be delisted from the exchange after its price per share fell below the minimum $1 per share requirement for 30 consecutive business days. Shares in Opendoor, which over the past year have traded for as little as 51 cents and as much as $3.09, closed at 53 cents Monday.
To get its share price back above $1, Opendoor will ask shareholders on July 28 to approve a reverse stock split at a ratio between 1-for-10 and 1-for-50, at the discretion of the company’s board.
If Opendoor were to execute a 1-for-10 reverse stock split, the number of issued and outstanding shares would decrease from 729 million to 72.9 million, and the company’s price per share would rise above $5, based on Monday’s closing price.
But because a reverse split would not decrease the number of shares of common stock the company is authorized to issue, the number of shares authorized but unissued would increase from 1.78 billion to 2.88 billion, shareholders were informed on June 16.
“The board believes that a higher stock price, which may be achieved through a reverse stock split, could help facilitate the company’s ability to raise new equity capital,” shareholders were told.
In addition to allowing Opendoor to land more funding — privately, or by issuing more shares — a reverse stock split could stimulate investor interest in the company and help attract, retain and motivate employees, the company said.
