Opendoor sold this home at 3612 Newton St. at a $154,000 loss in 2022. But the company has recently been doing better on its Denver flips. (BusinessDen file)
Opendoor seems to have gotten a little more disciplined when it comes to buying Denver homes.
The “iBuyer” had a rough end to 2022 locally, selling numerous homes in the Mile High City at a loss — $154,000 in one case — as rising interest rates rapidly ended the housing market’s pandemic surge.
Two years later, however, the company is still flipping homes, and rarely selling at a loss.
As of Oct. 25, San Francisco-based Opendoor had sold 29 homes within Denver city limits in 2024, according to a BusinessDen review of public records. On average, the company sold each home for $33,500 more than the company paid for it.
Just five of the 29 homes, or 17 percent, were sold at a loss.
That’s compared to an average gain of about $1,500 on sales in 2023, when Opendoor was still struggling in part due to high prices it had paid for homes a year prior, BusinessDen found. Eighteen of the 43 Denver homes that Opendoor sold in 2023, or 42 percent, were sold at a loss.
Opendoor, like other iBuyers, purchases homes and then quickly lists them for resale, making at most minimal improvements. The company touts itself as an easy option for sellers, whom it charges a “service fee” of 5 percent — meaning the company essentially gets back $30,000 when it buys a home for $600,000.
Opendoor makes money from the service fee and potentially from the sale of the home, assuming it sells for more than the company paid.
While the company had an average gain of $33,500 on its 2024 sales there are still outliers, both positive and negative.
On the positive side, Opendoor bought the home at 3535 Eudora St. in northeast Park Hill for $487,100 in December 2023. This past July, seven months later, the company sold it for $617,000 — a gain of $130,000, or 25 percent.
The company had a more regrettable flip in the Harvey Park neighborhood. Opendoor bought the home at 2769 S. Hooker St. in April 2023 for $514,000. The company didn’t find a buyer until the following spring, and they paid only $413,000 — handing Opendoor a six-figure loss.
The above figures don’t factor in the money that Opendoor gets from the service fee, or the costs associated with light renovations or holding the property for an extended period. As of this month, the company still hadn’t sold two homes it bought in 2023, at 746 S. Poplar St. and 5040 Eliot St.
Opendoor isn’t buying Denver’s priciest properties. The 29 condos, townhomes and single-family homes the company sold in Denver this year went for between $267,150 and $710,000, with the average sale price coming in at $512,000.
Zillow, the ubiquitous real estate website, previously had an iBuying division known as Zillow Offers. But the company announced in November 2021 that it was shutting it down.
Opendoor’s performance this year hasn’t thrilled its investors. The company’s stock price is down more than 50 percent this year, and more than 90 percent of a peak in early 2021.
The data behind this story, with purchase and sale prices for each transaction, can be found at this link.
Opendoor sold this home at 3612 Newton St. at a $154,000 loss in 2022. But the company has recently been doing better on its Denver flips. (BusinessDen file)
Opendoor seems to have gotten a little more disciplined when it comes to buying Denver homes.
The “iBuyer” had a rough end to 2022 locally, selling numerous homes in the Mile High City at a loss — $154,000 in one case — as rising interest rates rapidly ended the housing market’s pandemic surge.
Two years later, however, the company is still flipping homes, and rarely selling at a loss.
As of Oct. 25, San Francisco-based Opendoor had sold 29 homes within Denver city limits in 2024, according to a BusinessDen review of public records. On average, the company sold each home for $33,500 more than the company paid for it.
Just five of the 29 homes, or 17 percent, were sold at a loss.
That’s compared to an average gain of about $1,500 on sales in 2023, when Opendoor was still struggling in part due to high prices it had paid for homes a year prior, BusinessDen found. Eighteen of the 43 Denver homes that Opendoor sold in 2023, or 42 percent, were sold at a loss.
Opendoor, like other iBuyers, purchases homes and then quickly lists them for resale, making at most minimal improvements. The company touts itself as an easy option for sellers, whom it charges a “service fee” of 5 percent — meaning the company essentially gets back $30,000 when it buys a home for $600,000.
Opendoor makes money from the service fee and potentially from the sale of the home, assuming it sells for more than the company paid.
While the company had an average gain of $33,500 on its 2024 sales there are still outliers, both positive and negative.
On the positive side, Opendoor bought the home at 3535 Eudora St. in northeast Park Hill for $487,100 in December 2023. This past July, seven months later, the company sold it for $617,000 — a gain of $130,000, or 25 percent.
The company had a more regrettable flip in the Harvey Park neighborhood. Opendoor bought the home at 2769 S. Hooker St. in April 2023 for $514,000. The company didn’t find a buyer until the following spring, and they paid only $413,000 — handing Opendoor a six-figure loss.
The above figures don’t factor in the money that Opendoor gets from the service fee, or the costs associated with light renovations or holding the property for an extended period. As of this month, the company still hadn’t sold two homes it bought in 2023, at 746 S. Poplar St. and 5040 Eliot St.
Opendoor isn’t buying Denver’s priciest properties. The 29 condos, townhomes and single-family homes the company sold in Denver this year went for between $267,150 and $710,000, with the average sale price coming in at $512,000.
Zillow, the ubiquitous real estate website, previously had an iBuying division known as Zillow Offers. But the company announced in November 2021 that it was shutting it down.
Opendoor’s performance this year hasn’t thrilled its investors. The company’s stock price is down more than 50 percent this year, and more than 90 percent of a peak in early 2021.
The data behind this story, with purchase and sale prices for each transaction, can be found at this link.
