Skip to main content

When you sell a house, you're looking to get the most you can for it. What if a company promised you’d make more money selling it to them than you would on the open market? You’d probably say, “Sold!” According to the FTC, that’s what house buying company Opendoor Labs told people looking to sell their homes — but that wasn’t the reality.

Opendoor promoted itself as tech company that uses its pricing technology to offer more accurate offers and lower costs. Companies like Opendoor are what’s known as “iBuyers” — companies that use technology to make quick offers on homes. According to the FTC, Opendoor said it would pay market value for people’s homes while saving them money on costs. That way, people selling their homes would make thousands of dollars more than they would on the open market. But, the FTC says, it wasn’t true.

Instead, the FTC says Opendoor’s offers were lower than a home’s market value, and the company asked sellers to pay for home repair costs that were higher than what people would typically spend on repairs in a market sale. As a result, most people who sold their homes to Opendoor typically lost thousands of dollars compared to what they would have made if they’d sold their homes on the open market.

To settle the FTC’s charges that the company’s claims were deceptive, Opendoor has agreed to pay $62 million, which the FTC will use for refunds to people who were affected.

If a company makes false and misleading claims, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Search Terms

It is your choice whether to submit a comment. If you do, you must create a user name, or we will not post your comment. The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes this information collection for purposes of managing online comments. Comments and user names are part of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) public records system, and user names also are part of the FTC’s computer user records system. We may routinely use these records as described in the FTC’s Privacy Act system notices. For more information on how the FTC handles information that we collect, please read our privacy policy.

The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

Thomas Bohlmann
August 04, 2022

Now to go after Realestate Wholesalers who also cheat and deceive homeowners with low offer prices then assign the contract for higher prices and locket the spread

Santino B Naranjo
June 02, 2023

In reply to by Thomas Bohlmann

I was presured and manipulated in signing my home away to stop an auction on my house by P1FCU that I was behind on payments for an equity loan I took ,was denied remodification through the process, it started from covid 19 quickly went into a memortorium due to back injury 2 fractures and 2 blown disc's , identity was stolen ,denied unemployment for that a hours cut then wrongfully terminated, Mortgage company said I was on a memortorium till I recovery from back surgery , was denied temporary disability then went to pending as it closed onto auction time and after I followed up early and half ways into last about my situation I was told it was government back and I was in a memortorium not to worry they woukd cover the debt and i eoukd owe them but a dew weeks before auction I called to follow up and they wouldn't answer my questions about if its legal for foreclosure because the bank was carrying out the process to take my house and the Mortgage company saud to work it out with bank , bank refused and wanted all money or loose my house I was forced to land a good paying job gross 8000 a month awaiting surgery In pain then tricked into signing my house away to avoid s foreclosure on my credit and being homeless but the buyer said they get my replied car and lied about much aswell changing up what was agreed and never given a price and Said I wasn't getting anything fir house to move out after signing

Chandra Anne
August 01, 2022

Good job FTC!

Carol MacDonald
August 01, 2022

How do I get included in this settlement. My credit was run and I did not approve anything.

Heather Llanes
August 02, 2022

Thank you for penalizing this deceptive company. Hopefully other companies will see this as a warning and stop deceiving innocent homeowners.

Cappy
August 04, 2022

They have to pay a $62 million fine. How much did they fleece from people in total?

Tamara Lynn Scott
August 02, 2022

"To settle the FTC’s charges that the company’s claims were deceptive, Opendoor has agreed to pay $62 million, which the FTC will use for refunds to people who were affected.

How do I go about getting a refund?

PAUL MOORE
August 17, 2022

In reply to by Tamara Lynn Scott

I have the same question, I sold home to them, in 2018, and I felt cheated afterward they made me quick offer without even seeing my house. It had fees for repairs built in. They sold it and 40 days later for a huge profit.. how do get a compensation?

B George
August 02, 2022

Bravo, FTC! Not surprised that Open Door is misleading the public. I suspected their ads were too good to be true. I would trust a local realtor before I'd trust some tech realtor running a gazillion ads. We all need research whomever you choose to represent the selling of your home.

Rachel W.
August 04, 2022

My husband and I sold our house to Opendoor in 2018. Are we included in the refund from them that FTC stated?

Eric S Freeman
August 04, 2022

How does the distribution work once the FTC wins lawsuit for people that sold their homes through Opendoor during 2017-2019. As I did and now selling again through them. Is there still any issues with Opendoor I should know about?

Yvonne Sumner
August 17, 2022

Can you do anything to stop the flood of emails, phone calls and mail from different groups like Open door from harassing citizens in Charlotte NC about selling our homes.
Thank you.

Sushma Maheshwari
August 08, 2022

Thank you FTC! What I need to do to be included for a refund?

Kelly Duncan
August 08, 2022

Please help all of us recover from the deception and misleading business with this company .Im glad the Ftc is here to help

Donna Kleinsmi…
August 08, 2022

I hope its not only 2017-2019 as for They are still doing this to people myself included 2022

Rod
August 08, 2022

How do I join in on the redress?

azure
August 08, 2022

If Opendoor lied so often, why hasn't it been barred from the real estate business entirely?

Laura Reiser
August 11, 2022

If we sold our home through open door, do we automatically get a partial refund? or how to we apply - is this like a class-action suit?

Shauna Smith
August 11, 2022

How do you do you get included I too sold my home to them during this time.