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Offerpad Cash Offers are coming to Realtor.com, according to an announcement on Tuesday.
Homesellers can request a cash offer through Realtor.com‘s Seller’s Marketplace. After providing their address and answering a few questions about their property’s condition, the seller will receive an underwritten cash offer from one of Offerpad’s local market underwriters. Once a seller selects the offer, they’ll get access to a flexible closing date and free moving services.
Blake Elmquist
Realtor.com Seller Category Management VP Blake Elmquist said Offerpad is a “natural fit” for the Seller’s Marketplace and enables the portal to “meet the needs of home sellers in a dynamic market environment.”
“This will also complement our RealChoice Selling experience, which provides consumers selling options, and enables them to compare listing agents to find a trusted expert,” he added.
In an interview with Inman, Offerpad founder and CEO Brian Bair echoed Elmquist’s sentiments, saying Offerpad and Realtor.com have the same core value: bolstering consumer choice.
“As we were working on this integration together, it was a natural fit — people have the choice to list their home, get [a] cash offer, or if they want to, both,” he said. “I really, really like that. Especially where we’re at right now in this market, this day and age is, it’s really important for all of us to [meet] sellers where they’re at. [Well], sellers and buyers, but specifically sellers. That’s where [this partnership] started.”
Brian Bair
Bair said the past four years whipped up violent headwinds for consumers, who’ve had to navigate historical ebbs and flows in mortgage rates, home prices, list-to-sale speed and other key market factors.
During times of immense change, he said the real estate industry must rise to the occasion and give consumers multiple options that meet their wants and needs.
“There was somebody last week we talked to that was a dog owner. It was hard to work around their life when they [had] to go home and let their dog out for showings and those kind of things,” he said. “It’s all these different little life moments that people have where we can meet them, and so our cash offer was a great fit for them.”
As the deadline for several multiple listing service (MLS) policy changes associated with the National Association of Realtors’ $418 million buyer-broker commission lawsuit settlement moves closer, Bair said he expects consumers to take a second look at what iBuyers have to offer.
“The reason I founded Offerpad was I saw the world of real estate changing not because it was anyone’s fault … but everything just changes and people’s patience is not what it used to be,” he said. “Having more control over the transaction is important, and with the settlement that just happened, I think you’re going to start seeing little tweaks from here and there in the traditional transaction process.”
“First and foremost, I don’t think agents are going away by any means, but it’s about providing whatever the [consumer] wants,” he added. “First-time buyers would probably like to have somebody represent them, [and] someone who’s bought a lot of homes might be more comfortable dealing straight with Offerpad. We’re going to see that opportunity [grow].”
Beyond the opportunity to connect with more homesellers, Bair said the Realtor.com partnership ultimately signals a new chapter for Offerpad after a rough patch that included losing profitability, staff layoffs and almost being delisted from the stock market.
The company’s first quarter ushered in slimming losses and an uptick in buying activity and saw the addition of several new agent-focused initiatives, including a listing platform.
“I’ve been in real estate for 20 years; I haven’t seen anything like [the market] out of COVID. It’s been a lot of different challenges,” he said. “We’ve disciplined with the homes that we’re buying … we expect to be net cash flow positive by the end of the year and then continue with our rapid growth again.”
“The one thing I’ve been probably more proud of than anything else is our ability to adapt and stay flexible to all market conditions,” he added. “It really speaks to the strength of the [iBuyer] model in general and the ability of the team to remain flexible.”
