My wife and I just finished a 100% OpenDoor process of sale/buy/finance. We sold our old home to OpenDoor, used OpenDoor to buy our new home, and financed through OpenDoor Home Loans. OpenDoor Sale: Outstanding, 5 stars, I would recommend to everyone! OpenDoor Purchase: Outstanding, 5 stars, I would recommend to everyone! OpenDoor Home Loan Financing: 2.5 stars, I would NOT recommend until the market slows down and/or they hire and train more staff. They do offer great rates and very low fees. But they overpromise and can miss major deadlines due to the staffing issues. You’ll get great rates and save thousands, but it’ll be a fight for communication and ripe with delays and frustration. I suppose that's what happens when a Home Loan division, that's less than a year old, gets thrown into this major sellers market and an unprecedented expansion of their services. Growing pains. Here’s the full story: We bought in Phoenix Metro area, which is a very hot market with prices rising fast. We used OpenDoor to find our home. They quickly scheduled virtual walk-throughs when we couldn’t make in person, (which was common, as we both worked 2 hours away) and houses would go under contract only a day or two after hitting the market. You don’t make offers right away, you lose.) We lost a bidding war on our first home attempt, even after offering 40k above asking! They used a local Realtor (Shout out to Mike and Mere Griffith, you two were awesome!). Mike and Mere did an outstanding job, and the OpenDoor staff who assisted us with walkthroughs and virtual tours were timely and friendly. They also have honest feedback during the virtual walkthroughs, and didn’t upsell or exaggerate homes to make the sale. We also started the financing process through OpenDoor Home Loans. Our OpenDoor loan officer (AT THE TIME) was great. Got requests done quickly, and was great with communication. This was in late April, 2021. Initial approval and pre-qual letter sent fast, with great terms and the best interest rate we had seen. After losing the bidding war on our first dream house, we found a second nearby that was very similar. This home’s seller was a… challenge to work with, which is why the house didn’t get snapped up right away like every other house we tried to get. Mike and Mere came up a great negotiation strategy, and got an offer accepted that was slightly below asking (near impossible in this market.) However, right after we signed, the seller decided they wanted to close in only 14 days. Mike and Mere recommended we use the OpenDoor Cash backed offer, where OpenDoor would buy the home and we would move in, then we would buy the home FROM OpenDoor at the same terms. OpenDoor would cover mortgage, HOA dues, and utilities for up to 120 days at no cost to us. Only catch was we would NOT get the 1% discount on the purchase they offered at the time. Since it allowed us to reside in the new home, while selling the old one, we agreed. (And thank god we did, more on this later). Meanwhile, we moved to sell our old home to OpenDoor. The preliminary offer was considerably higher than we expected, and I thought it was too good to be true. After the virtual walkthrough and the outside inspection, the final offer came in about 4k lower than the preliminary offer. Still significantly higher than we expected, and a very competitive offer. Their preliminary offers are legit, they are NOT bait and switches. We could have gotten 5k to 10k more had we put it on the market, but the ease of the sale and lack of showing prep made it worth it for us. The fees were lower than normal “On market” sale closing costs, and SIGNIFICANTLY lower than other “well buy your home” realtor offers. Not thousands in difference, but 10’s of thousands. As an example, Keller Williams will buy your house just like OpenDoor does, and we did a sale consultation with them before committing to OpenDoor. But Keller Williams quoted us 25K in fees for a purchase price that was 35K lower than what OpenDoor paid us. The OpenDoor fees were only about 13K for a 265K sale price, as opposed to 25k for a 230k sale price like KW offered. Had we taken Keller Williams' offer, we would have only received about $47K net proceeds from the sale of our home, with their offer price, and after our mortgage payoff and fees. With OpenDoor, we received $88K in net profit from the sale! Almost double what KW offered us. OpenDoor did deduct an additional 4k for Repairs. New Paint, new carpet, and landscaping. Everything was reasonable so we were happy. Only hiccup was that they wanted to add an additional 2k to replace the pipes (6k repair total), claiming they were defective Polybutylene pipes. They must have reviewed out of date documents, because the whole house had the pipes replaced with Polyethylene pipes before we bought it 3 years prior. But, all I had to do was send them some pictures of the new pipes, and they credited the 2k back. Very painless. We did have some problems with the Title Company rep from OSNational making mistakes in the paperwork during the sale, but she maintained good communication and fixed the errors quickly. OSNational is owned by OpenDoor now, so if you sell to them, make sure you review the documents carefully. But, to her credit, she was very nice and did fix mistakes promptly when they were caught. Meanwhile, back on the purchase side, 14 days after we went under contract, the “New Home Seller to OpenDoor” sale closed without a hitch, we picked up the keys, and moved in. The Old Home Sale closed on time a couple weeks later with no problems, funds for our 20% down on the new home were wired directly to the purchase title company, with what was left wired to our bank account. Title company had the money the same day, our account had the funds available after 2 days. We had not expected to have the full 20% down for the new home, but thanks to OpenDoor’s great offer, we did with some to spare. PMI go bye bye! A few days after we got the keys to the new home, we received the updated disclosures for our Purchase of the new home FROM OpenDoor, with a closing date a month later. It’s now early June and we sign our purchase agreement for the purchase FROM OpenDoor, closing scheduled for early July. Everything was easy and went off without a hitch so far. But then the trouble began. Weeks went by without any information from OpenDoor Home Loans. Since the loan portal said “We’ll call you when we need more” I thought everything was ok. I noticed the Portal did not show our loan being submitted to underwriting, then started to worry. Two weeks before closing, I got a notice from our Homeowners Insurance they had not received any info from OpenDoor Home Loans. I sent emails to the loan officer (who had been very responsive just a month before) and received no reply. Voicemails went unanswered. It’s now a week until closing, I am scared and know something is wrong. Left voicemails and emails to the agent, staff assistants, and even the supervisor. No answer. Out of office email from our loan officer. Finally, TWO DAYS before closing, I get a call from the loan officer’s supervisor. The loan officer no longer worked for OpenDoor, and he would immediately assign me a new officer. But we definitely won’t close in 2 days as scheduled. Later that day, I get a call from the new Loan Officer. We discuss what happened, where we are going, and a new closing date. About a week later, I get updated disclosures with a new closing date a month later (early August), which was a month AFTER the original closing date. Had to re-upload new paystubs and some other supporting documentation, but things started moving again. I get to spend 4 hours on hold, making phone calls to all our utilities to cancel having them moved into our name until the new closing date. The loan terms they offered were great, but due to the quick change in loan officers, there were some errors I had to catch. The first Loan amount was 15k more than needed; and a seller concession, from the original Seller to OpenDoor purchase, was not included. But, the new loan officer was responsive and we got a new disclosure with the correct loan amount promptly. Couple weeks go by, they get the mortgage insurance squared away, and underwriting is going well. No issues. However, the communication ceases again, with no replies to emails or voicemails. We get an email from the OpenDoor mortgage processor, who did not know we had already wired almost $80k to our title company for the down payment and earnest. She wants us to show we have that ~$80 in our bank account. After some email explanations that were not responded to, I finally get a call from her and explain the wire transfers. I send them proof we wired the funds and this problem gets fixed. I receive the first round of final closing disclosures, which fail to include a seller concession and the OpenDoor closing cost credit of $1,000, and saying we needed about $1k cash to close, when we had actually OVERPAID and should have gotten a refund. Also, Closing was extended AGAIN, but this time only by about 4 days. But, at least we got a revised closing disclosure with the correct credits applied and reflecting a refund of about $800, instead of the incorrect $1k due. I also inquire as to the $100 per day closing guarantee, as closing was delayed by 32 days at no fault of our own. I even review the terms and conditions and explain how our situation matched them perfectly. My emails about the issue go unanswered from not just our Loan Officer, but also the manager in charge of the closing date guarantee program. No replies for days. I finally get our Loan Officer on the phone, and he does not remember the delays or the fact our first loan officer dropped the ball and caused the 32-day delay. I send emails and documents as proof. Remember the loan officer supervisor who called me 2 days before our first closing date? He had quit too. My loan officer is now the supervisor. Here, we learn about an issue with the “Cash Backed Offer” purchase that was not explained. Seller Credits CANNOT be more than Closing Costs, per Fannie Mae rules. Because the Seller Concessions and the Earnest payment from the original sale (Seller to OpenDoor) are included as “Seller Credits” in the purchase (OpenDoor to Me,) OpenDoor cannot legally credit us the amount owed from the $100 per day Closing Guarantee. It would put the “Seller Credits” above the closing costs, even though more than $4,500 of those “Seller Credits” came out of my own pocket or the original seller’s pocket. I will give the new Loan Officer credit, he did appear to be working hard to get it done, in the face of staff shortages and massive workload. I don’t think the issue with him was incompetence, sloth, or malice; but rather being incredibly overworked. In the last phone call with my Loan Officer, he explains they are reviewing my Closing Credit claim, and would have to apply the refund after closing due to the Seller Credit limit. Two days before closing, and One day before final signing, we receive another Revised Closure Disclosure with no explanation, right at the end of the business day. I review and find that the ~800 Credit is gone, and Cash to Close is now $0 with no credit. And of course, no response to emails or phone calls. Reviewing the disclosure, they applied the funds from the refund to HOA due prepayment. Thankfully, my Title Agent was responsive and able to explain. Apparently, a recalculation found the “Seller Credits” had, again, put them over the amount they could legally credit (even though more than $4500 of those credits came out of my own pocket or the original sellers pocket.) So, they took that refund and applied it to Pre-Payment of my HOA dues. So I won’t need to pay my HOA dues for almost 2 years. I get it, and am ok with it given the circumstances. But an email or phone call explanation would have helped me understand it, rather than just sending new disclosures with no explanation at end of business the day before final signing. I would have preferred they had called and discussed the "HOA Prepayment solution" rather than just applying it and sending a disclosure with no explanation. A mobile notary comes to our house the next day; we sign our documents. We finally close, after almost 3 months under contract. Its now-mid August. Remember that we began in late April and signed our first purchase contract in early May. Remember where I said I was thankful we used the Cash Backed Offer to have OpenDoor purchase the home, and we live in it during the loan process? The Cash Backed Offer purchase and early occupancy agreement is the only reason this issue did not DESTROY OUR LIVES. Had we sold our old home, and bought the new home at the same time (as we planned before our original seller decided they wanted to close after only 14 days), the closing delay would have left us HOMELESS for 1 and ½ months. I am eternally grateful that the original seller was so difficult to work with, because that’s the only reason the Cash Backed Offer purchase and Early Occupancy was agreed too. But it wasn’t over after closing. OpenDoor Home Loans still owed the Closing Cost Guarantee credit for the 32 days that closing was delayed due to their errors. Over email and the phone, my Loan Officer explained it would be applied after closing, and I would need to fill out some paperwork for it. A few weeks later, they sent me a W9, so looks like its getting taxed as income. It took another month, but finally in mid-September, we received the check for the closing guarantee delay refund. While it was a frustrating process of unanswered emails and delays with no explanation, OpenDoor Home Loans honored their guarantee. Overall, I think OpenDoor is on the cutting edge of a new way to simplify the home sale/purchase process. They honor their guarantees, offer some of the best rates, and the cash backed guarantee can be a savior if something goes wrong. But the Home Loan sides needs to hire and train a LOT more staff before it will be an easy a smooth process. I recommend everyone use OpenDoor to buy and/or sell their home. But OpenDoor Home Loans to finance? Well, we saved thousands by using them, between the closing delay refund, 1k rebate, 3 months with no utilities and 4 months with no mortgage….but at the expense of a near 5 month closing and refund process with daily frustrations and poor communication. And now that its over, I’d do it all over again with the money we saved. Don’t want to risk the Home Loan headaches, even for the savings? Then wait until 2022 before you use them for Home Loans, when hopefully they will hire more Loan Processing staff.