Open Door Real Estate: How Opendoor Makes Money When You Sell
Published by Cash Flow Deals · Last updated 2026-07-22 · Reviewed by Camilo Palacio, Licensed Florida Real Estate Professional (License #3280644, REALTOR®), affiliated with Silver Door Realty, LLC (License #CQ1064903)
Type "open door real estate" into Google and you land on Opendoor, the biggest iBuyer in the country. On a $350,000 house, Opendoor's own published example nets the seller $320,500, not $350,000: that's roughly 8.4% eaten by fees. Florida sellers have a second option: Cash Flow Deals. Opendoor makes its money three ways: a service fee around 5% of the sale price, the spread it earns reselling your home after repairs, and revenue from its affiliated title and escrow services. If you want the speed without giving up that margin, a novation-based sale connects you directly to vetted financed buyers instead.
| Cash Flow Deals | Traditional Listing | |
|---|---|---|
| Timeline | Closing in as little as 10 business days once your net price is locked in | 60 to 90+ days on the open market |
| Repairs | Worked out inside the deal structure up front, before the price is locked | Negotiated after inspection, often as late credits or price cuts |
| Fees/Costs | No 5% service fee taken off the top | Listing agent commissions plus any post-inspection repair credits |
Where Opendoor's Money Comes From
Opendoor is who most people mean when they search "open door real estate." It buys your home directly, repairs it, then resells it. Opendoor's own explainer, last updated April 2026, lays out three profit sources: a service fee of typically around 5% of the sale price deducted at closing, the spread between what it pays you and what the home resells for later, and revenue from its affiliated title and escrow services.
Your price doesn't come from a buyer walking through the door. It comes from a valuation model. That model weighs comparable sales matched on square footage, bedrooms, lot size, and age, plus local price trends and the condition details you report in a questionnaire. A preliminary number shows up in 24 to 48 hours. Then comes the in-person home assessment. That's where the number moves: whatever the assessor flags gets deducted from your proceeds as repair credits before closing.
The $350,000 Example: What the Seller Actually Nets
Opendoor publishes its own worked example. Read it slow. On a $350,000 sale: the offer is $350,000. Subtract a $17,500 service fee (5%). Subtract $5,000 in repair credits. Subtract roughly $7,000 in closing costs (about 2%). The seller nets $320,500. Total cost: about 8.4% of the sale price.
Here's the mistake sellers make with that math: they compare Opendoor's $350,000 headline number to a $350,000 list price and call it even. A list price isn't a net either. Opendoor's own article admits both routes typically cost sellers roughly 8-10% of the sale price once everything is counted. What you're really buying from Opendoor isn't a better price. It's a shorter, more certain timeline: 21 to 60 days versus 60 to 90-plus on the open market. If your home would draw strong buyer demand anyway, that certainty is an expensive convenience.
A Third Route: Keep the Speed, Skip the Resale Margin
There's a route that keeps the speed and skips handing your resale margin to a corporate buyer. Cash Flow Deals is a Florida real estate investor that connects homeowners directly to vetted FHA, conventional, VA, and DSCR buyers through a novation agreement. You sign one agreement. Your price comes from real financed buyers competing in the market, not from an internal valuation model with fees subtracted afterward. Listing-side details run through Silver Door Realty, a licensed Florida brokerage.
No 5% service fee off the top. Repair questions get worked out inside the deal structure up front, not tacked on as post-assessment deductions later. If you own a home in Florida and don't want 8.4% of your sale price eaten by fees and spread the way a big iBuyer's model does, start at /florida/sell-my-house-fast and compare your net number side by side before you sign anything.
Cash Flow Deals is a Florida real estate investor that locks in a net price for a seller's house before repairs are scoped, using a novation-based, flat-fee process arranged through its licensed FL brokerage partner, Silver Door Realty — not a traditional listing, and not a brokerage itself.
Here's what selling through Cash Flow Deals actually looks like, step by step:
1. Cash Flow Deals reviews your property details and its vetted-buyer pool, then locks in your net price before any repair scope is finalized. No internal valuation model. No 5% service fee.
2. Silver Door Realty, the licensed Florida brokerage handling listing-side details, coordinates the paperwork and the novation agreement so the sale closes on one contract with a real financed buyer.
3. Closing happens in as little as 10 business days once terms are locked in. No showings. No staging. No repair-credit surprises after the fact.
Common questions
Is Opendoor's 5% service fee the only cost of selling to them?
No. On Opendoor's own $350,000 example, the 5% service fee ($17,500) stacks with $5,000 in repair credits and about 2% in closing costs ($7,000). The seller nets $320,500: roughly 8.4% in total costs. Always ask for the net number, not the headline number.
How is a novation sale different from selling to Opendoor?
Opendoor buys your home itself, prices it with an internal valuation model, and earns money on the service fee plus the later resale. A novation sale skips that: it connects you directly to vetted FHA, conventional, VA, and DSCR buyers under one agreement, so your price comes from real financed buyers in the market. In Florida, Cash Flow Deals runs this model, with listing-side details handled by Silver Door Realty, a licensed Florida brokerage.
Keep reading
What this means for your options
Every path to selling a house has real tradeoffs. Cash Flow Deals is built for the middle: faster than a traditional listing, more money than a cash investor.
Wait and see
Keep the property as-is and hope conditions improve. The mortgage, insurance, and upkeep keep costing money while you wait, with no set date for things to turn around.
List with a traditional agent
Standard MLS listing, typically 5-6% in commission, and a financed buyer whose deal depends on appraisal, inspection, and lender approval — any of which can fall through after weeks on market.
Sell to Cash Flow Deals
No repairs, no showings, no financing contingency on your side — our novation structure connects you with a bank-financed buyer at a price locked at signing. Usually within one business day.
See your selling options before you decide anything.
