Investor and entrepreneur, Keith Rabois says he has plans to help people sell homes fast with the help of the Internet and minimal human interaction. According to VentureBeat, Rabois’ plans are “simple.” Rabois states, “we have to value the home, sight unseen. [Users will] put in their address and we will tell them what it’s worth instantly. And we’ll want to buy it from you for that price.”
This startup platform was initially developed under the codename “HomeRun,” but the website which plans to launch in July 2014, will be called OpenDoor.
Rabois says that he and his friend Peter Thiel, PayPal and Palantir cofounder, have developed OpenDoor from an idea to innovate residential real estate.
Rabois told VentureBeat, “it’s the largest part of the economy unaffected by the Internet. And that was definitely true then, and even with things like Trulia and Zillow, it’s fundamentally true today. But the process [of selling a home] hasn’t been transformed by technology;” and Rabois and his team want to change it.
OpenDoor will work with sellers directly to purchase homes, as mentioned above, by inputting their data, but it will also work with local partners in an effort to rehab, maintain, and improve their portfolio of properties. They also hope to partner with local brokers and Realtors to market, list (via multiple listing service), and resell to retail buyers and investors, according to the OpenDoor site. It is unclear at this stage exactly how these relationships will work, but it is certainly an interesting concept.
OpenDoor will analyze a great deal of data, obviously, if they are buying site unseen, but again, it is unclear, as of now, exactly how this will work. Also, for now, they are focusing only on U.S. properties, as it would be more complicated to launch worldwide; however, they have not ruled out the possibility of expansion.
