Offerpad Review: Pros Vs. Cons

Offerpad is an iBuyer that brings the convenience of technology into the world of real estate for a seamless buying and selling process that eliminates the hassle with home buying and selling. Most of this process is done without having to deal with things like a real estate agent. Instead, Offerpad handles all of that for you.

To sell a home on Offerpad, you simply input your information into the computer and request a price. If they are interested in buying your home, they will give you an offer. Then, you accept the offer. Next, you’ll have a person come to inspect the property to verify the information that you submitted. After that, you can close the deal in about two weeks, provided that no repairs are needed.

Not only does Offerpad buy houses from homeowners, but they are also known for selling homes. They have an extensive number of homes available in the market for purchase. You can contact them to work with them directly or have your real estate agent do it for you.

Offerpad’s Pros Vs. Cons

Businesses like Offerpad that fall into the iBuyer category continue to grow in popularity. It’s hard to find the convenience that they offer a bit enticing. However, there are several disadvantages in addition to the advantages that they offer for both buyers and sellers. You’ll want to consider both of them before you begin working with them to make sure that you work with someone that is reliable, trustworthy, and doesn’t try to take advantage of you.

Pros

Fast Closing Time

Homeowners that are looking to offload their property sooner rather than later can benefit from the speed that Offerpad offers. This makes them the ideal choice for anyone that would like to sell their home as quickly as possible.

Fewer Preparations To Sell

Typically, a homeowner will have to put in quite a bit of effort to sell their home. Obviously, repairs will need to be completed. The home needs to be staged before open houses, which can be time-consuming. You’ll also have to consider how much curb appeal your home has. When selling on Offerpad, homeowners will only need to complete repairs that are required by them.

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No Major Renovations Required

Offerpad might request that some repairs be made, such as fixing the roof, but you can expect typical repairs. You won’t need to paint or complete major renovations to sell your home.

Free Moving Service Included

This is one area where this particular iBuyer tends to outshine the rest. They offer a free moving service if you are relocating within fifty miles of your current residence. You can’t beat that!

Cons

Overcharging For Repairs

Once Offerpad requests that you make repairs to your property, you can either knock the price off of their total offer for the home or complete them yourself. While it’s easier to have Offerpad complete them, this is another iBuyer that seems to be known for overcharging for repairs.

Higher Service Fees Than Real Estate Agents

Offerpad charges a service fee of 6-10% where a real estate agent typically only charges 5%. While this might balance out if you’re planning on spending a lot of money on showcasing your home or curb appeal, it usually doesn’t. Instead, you’ll find that you are paying a pretty penny for the convenience that they offer.

They Aren’t Known For Negotiating

Another common complaint is that it can be rather difficult to negotiate with Offerpad. If they make an offer on your house, they tend to have a take it or leave it approach, which can be frustrating.

Offerpad Only Buys Homes In Certain Markets

You can find a real estate agent in almost any area, but that is not the case with Offerpad. They are currently only buying homes in the following markets:

• Birmingham, Alabama
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Tucson, Arizona
• Orlando, Florida
• Tampa, Florida
• Jacksonville, Florida
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Austin, Texas
• Dallas, Texas
• Houston, Texas
• San Antonio, Texas

Unfortunately, homeowners outside of these areas might be out of luck when trying to use Offerpad.

Offerpad Only Buys Certain Homes

While this may vary, Offerpad is known for only buying certain types of homes. They seem to prefer single-family homes that are not prefabricated, mobile homes, or homes that were built before 1960. Homes should sit on land that is not greater than one acre, and they should not be worth more than $600,000.

Homes Are Sold As Is

If the previous homeowner left a mess that is in the pipes and they are clogged, there’s a chance that the inspector didn’t see it. They don’t always check to see if water and plumbing work correctly, among other things. Because of that, you can never know what you’re getting when you buy a home from this iBuyer.

Low Ball Offers On Houses

Sometimes, a company like this will reach out to homeowners in certain areas so that they can make an offer on their home. Unfortunately, Offerpad has become known for offering prices that are significantly lower than the market value on the home. Then, when they make the offer, they do it with a sales pitch that makes it sound like you are getting a great deal on your home. That’s a bit too shady.

What Offerpad’s Customers Are Saying

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of happy people with Offerpad. Some customers that have sold their homes were ecstatic, but there were quite a few that were less than impressed. They have a consumer rating of only 1.92% out of five stars. Less than half of the reviews for this company are positive ones, so it’s important to make a mental note of that.

Selling A Home Is Easy

According to this woman, she used both a realtor and Offerpad to sell her home. The communication was done through the realtor, instantly saving her from a potential headache. This was a smart idea. Her five star review says:

“We utilized offer pads real estate services to list my house in Tampa, FL on the market, make a few upgrades and sell it from beginning to end the process was seamless and simple. I wanted to give a shout out to my realtor Sonja for making everything happen, thank you so much for making this process so easy for us you are the best! My realtor and her team had great communication throughout the entire home selling process and home modification process for the upgrades we made. They handled all the contractors and all the pricing all the negotiations on our behalf so we did not have to get in the weeds with any of that. Our realtor did a great job of keeping us in the loop on what was going on every step of the way!”

Using a realtor to deal with Offerpad will cost you more in fees, but it could be the way to go for a lot of people!

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This is another brief review from someone that was happy with the selling process:

“Offerrpad and it’s staff made the stressful process of selling our home so simple. My mother was so nervous about how the process would work.

Maggie Burke and her staff walked us through every step. I would highly recommend them if you want to get your home sold.”

They Left This Seller Homeless

Reading this review is heartbreaking. She wound up with significantly less money than promised, without anything she wanted from the house although it was in writing she would be taking her refrigerator, and without the money that she needed for her new home.

“Where do I start? If I could give them “0” stars, I would. This was the most heinous process I ever endured. The initial offer and phone conversations were exciting- I was given a reasonable offer, close to that of other homes selling around me – about two weeks after I had signed the paperwork and had moved everything I owned into storage, I was told that they had to revoke their original offer and offered me significantly less. At this point, I didn’t have any other options as we were closing shortly after and I had already moved out.

During this time, I purchased new window treatments, blinds, and had the entire house professionally painted, along with a few other upgrades totaling over $3000. All of which were removed and thrown away (I asked if I could have taken them and was told no- just like the refrigerator I wanted to take for my new home, but they got rid of that as well even though these things were requested in my contract!!!), and walls were painted over in tan, rather than the neutral light grey color that I paid a small fortune for. Regardless, after fees – which changed twice during the process – I ended up making $44,000 LESS THAN originally planned. Because of this, the loan on my new home was put on hold because I no longer had the down payment needed. I feel robbed. My (old) home is on the market now for almost $50K more than what I ended up with, while I am currently homeless for making the poor decision to work with Offerpad.”

They Are Known To Skip Over Deductions Until Closing Day

There is a page that they seem to skip over when discussing money, and that’s the deductions page. It details how much they are going to deduct for repairs, fees, etc. This can leave you clueless about how much money you’ll have left. For example:

“Initially, they offered us $125K (our pay-off was $100K). Unfortunately, when we got to the closing attorney, there were $16,500 in deductions. When the dust settled, we were left with about $8,500 for our pockets.”

Offerpad’s BBB Rating (Not Good)

Most customers are dissatisfied with their homes and working with Offerpad. Over fifty people have turned to the BBB in an attempt to get their problems resolved. Unfortunately, they aren’t always resolved. Several people have instead received counterarguments that they claim are lies or empty promises of reimbursements that never come. You can view the complaints, and how they were resolved, by clicking on this link.

Shady Cover Ups Instead Of Legitimate Repairs

This is another iBuyer that is quickly becoming known for covering up major issues, like mold, with a quick coat of paint. While they do offer a warranty, and it does sound nice, that warranty only covers so much. Here’s one review from a woman that discovered mold in her home:

“Beware of buying a home from offerpad. They paint over kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, and doors. Must be cheap paint too because it chips and just falls off. Some places you can just peel it off. In addition, to cover up mold in the bathroom they used caulking that was not waterproof as it is peeling away after a few showers. Our kitchen faucet was a trickle with no hot water. Home warranty company has been great so far by unclogging the faucet and opening the downstairs AC and heat vents that were closed. Too many concealed issues with paint and caulk to buy from Offerpad.”

Reviews like this one seem to be the norm for Offerpad. Here’s another example of what a buyer had to say:

“ How’s the home?  On the surface, it looks great but if you look at it closely, it has poor workmanship on any improvements.  Leak where they were supposed to fix with black mold growing that costs us thousands to fix, paint drips everywhere on the cabinets, patch up work are easily identifiable, exposed wall plumbing under the sink chipped and broken windows, condensated windows, rotted fence, sprinkler system not working, garage door patched up with plywood, leaked and etc…  Don’t go to the attic or you will find many horrifying code violations such as exhausts vents tied together with electrical tape, vent taped with duct tape and etc after they had fixed it.  We spent thousands of dollars on repairs on a move in ready home because of their negligence.”

“Every single toilet has an issue. They did not replace not one toilet. They all leak or have some other issue. The tub was soo backed up with grout or compound that we had to pay to have a plumber come out four times to unclog it. There was water damage on the ceiling that was just painted over and tapped up. The water line to the refrigerator is corrupted. None of the electrical sockets in any of our bathrooms work.

Oh, and there was an infestation of roaches, spiders, and centipedes( which cost me hundreds of dollars to get rid of). One of the windows in the bedrooms was broken so they glued on plexiglass instead of replacing it. They put regular doorknobs on the closet doors instead of closet knobs so they are not attached to anything so the doors get stuck shut bc the knobs don’t turn.  Most of the locks they replaced on our doors don’t close or lock.

They replaced the siding on the back of the house with missed matched colors. The appliances they did replace such as the dishwasher and stove were improperly installed. I could keep going… I find something new slimier every week… I kid you not.”

Lowball Offers

Several customers have stated that they received low offers, and when they questioned it, those offers were justified via a nice pitch about how competitive the market is. Some agents didn’t bother to wait for the question, instantly trying to take advantage of someone that didn’t know what their home was worth. For example:

“They lowballed me out of this world! I knew something was fishy when he immediately went into sales mode before hearing my reaction. This is the best offer we can provide. We believe it is so competitive. blah blah blah.”

“Actual offer was 38k below the mailer they sent me that enticed me to reach out. Definitely would steer clear.”

You Can’t Trust The Warranty

Buyers that choose to buy a home through Offerpad are offered a warranty on the home. Homes are sold as is, but are supposed to be move in ready. This seems pretty ideal for a person that wants to move. However, there are quite a few customers that have problems using the warranty.

One customer had a plumbing issue that was so far down the pipe it cost him thousands to repair. According to them, anything outside of the foundation is not covered. Another customer had this experience:

“ They rarely negotiate so don’t expect any repairs done.  They will also claim that everything is cosmetic so they won’t fix it or if it’s not up to building code and is hazardous, they’ll claim that it’s grandfathered in.”

“ They knowingly use an unlicensed technician who bears no responsibility to perform work require by State law to be licensed such as plumbing to fix a leak and redoing vents in the attic.  We informed them of such law but they ignored it and stated that they will not have any warranty on the work and that you are accepting any shoddy repairs if you don’t catch it.”

Should You Sell Your House to Offerpad?

No, it’s not recommended. The only way that this business is recommended is if you have no other option or it’s an emergency. While the convenience might be nice, they can back out of closing at the last minute, and have, which can make things more stressful for the seller. Selling often involves getting less money than you would if you had worked with a professional real estate agent. Seeing them argue with dissatisfied customers on the BBB website speaks volumes about their customer service.

The concept behind businesses like Offerpad remains innovative and wonderful. It should work out perfectly for buyers, sellers, and the company itself. However, whether this will happen or not greatly depends on the company itself. In this case, happy customers seem to be rare.

What If Offerpad.com Has A House You Love?

Let’s say that your real estate agent has found a house. It’s in the perfect neighborhood. The price is a dream come true. Then, you find out it’s an Offerpad house. Your heart sinks. However, you can wind up with the house of your dreams if you keep a few things in mind.

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Use A Real Estate Agent

When you use a real estate agent, your chances are a lot better. People that have used a real estate agent have found the process of buying a home to be significantly less stressful than those that did not.

Have A Proper Inspection

While this will cost you money, it can definitely save you from discovering issues later on down the road. You’ll want the house inspected for infestations and mold in particular. These seem to be common complaints.

You’ll also want to inspect the house yourself before moving in. Make sure that the lights work, you have windows made from glass instead of plexiglass, toilets work, etc.

Set Back Money For Repairs

You should simply expect to have to do a few repairs when moving into one of these houses. If it’s worth it to you, and you love the house, set back a few thousand dollars to cover things that will come up. Read reviews so you know what to expect, and don’t trust that the house is as perfect as they say it is.

Offerpad’s Competitors

The online home buying landscape is fierce right now.  Many ibuyers have entered the market before Offerpad, like Zillow (here’s our review of Zillow Offers), which have both been buying homes nationally for several years now.  Here’s one of our in-depth Opendoor reviews that we put together for you, which explains how Opendoor works, it’s pros/cons, and also their fees, ect.  Though we’ve put together an exhaustive rundown of each company, ultimately you’ll need to weigh out each companies strengths and weaknesses before choosing with ibuyer to sell your home.  Why not sell to us?  It’s simple selling to us, Get Started Here!

In Conclusion

Offerpad is a shady company that is known for its lowball offers, quick cover-ups in houses instead of legitimate repairs, and poor customer service. However, if you’re in love with a house, work with a real estate agent and be prepared. If you’re in an emergency and need to offload your house as soon as possible, it can work.