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After nearly five months, Opendoor and eXp Realty revealed Thursday that their new partnership is live and available to tens of thousands of agents.
The partnership will provide Opendoor cash offers to eXp agents representing homesellers. According to a statement from the companies, agents can type their seller’s address into eXp’s ExpressOffers platform, then answer a few additional questions. They’ll then receive a “preliminary offer” from Opendoor within the platform. If they want to proceed, they’ll be directed to the iBuyer to continue with the process.
The statement adds that agents can either refer their sellers to Opendoor or represent them in deals with the iBuyer. The statement further notes that “within days of closing” agents “will be eligible for a commission and Agent Access points for additional rewards.”
Opendoor added in an email that “agents who refer or represent a qualifying seller are currently eligible for a 1 percent bonus commission when the property closes.” Of course, if the seller is also offering a commission, as is common, agents representing sellers would also be able to collect that income on top of what Opendoor offers.
The two companies first announced a partnership in early October. At the time, eXp revealed that the move represented a pivot for ExpressOffers to focus on just one partner company. When the platform first launched in 2019, it pulled offers from multiple iBuyers. However, major players in the space, such as Redfin and Zillow, have since bowed out, leaving only Opendoor and rival Offerpad as the remaining major iBuyers.
The winnowing of the iBuyer field captured the relatively hard times the sector has experienced. Though fast and tech-enabled cash offers were once hailed as the future of real estate, the higher rates, slower price growth, and low inventory of 2022 and 2023 prompted a debate within the industry about the future of iBuying.
The leaner times of the last two years have subsequently prompted iBuyers to get more creative, including by focusing on partnerships such as the one with eXp.
For its part, Opendoor reported earnings earlier this month and revealed that it lost $91 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. That was a marked improvement over the loss of $399 million one year earlier.
In Thursday’s statement, the companies revealed the launch of the partnership will make cash offers “officially available to eXp Realty’s nearly 90,000 agents.”
Ellen Pool
The companies also pointed to eXp agent Ellen Pool, who said in the statement that “once I went into the portal and said that my clients had accepted the Opendoor offer, it was the smoothest, easiest process after that.
“The Opendoor option will be part of every single one of my listing presentations going forward,” Pool added. “You never know what someone’s going to say yes to until you ask them.”
Update: This story was updated after publication with additional details about agent pay that Opendoor provided.
