How Does Opendoor Work? (And Who Buys Houses Here Instead)

Opendoor works in four steps: you enter your address online, receive a preliminary cash offer within 24–48 hours, complete a home assessment (after which the offer can be adjusted down for repairs), and then pick a closing date — with a service charge deducted from your proceeds. Opendoor historically charged around 5%, but per its help center it no longer publishes a fixed percentage; the exact charge appears in your offer details. Here's exactly how Opendoor works, what it costs, and how it compares to your options in the northwest Chicago suburbs.

Full disclosure up front: we're Easy Exit Home Buyers, a family-owned direct cash buyer in Crystal Lake — a competitor to Opendoor in the Chicago suburbs. The mechanics below come from Opendoor's own published materials and work the same no matter whose offer you're weighing.

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How Opendoor Works, Step by Step

Opendoor is the largest "iBuyer" — a company that uses pricing software to make near-instant cash offers, buys homes directly, and resells them. Per Opendoor's own published materials, selling to them works like this:

1. Request an offer online. You enter your address at opendoor.com and answer questions about your home's condition — about 10–15 minutes, no cost or obligation.
2. Receive a preliminary offer. Opendoor generates a cash offer, typically within 24–48 hours, with estimated service charge, repair costs, and closing costs.
3. Complete a home assessment. Opendoor evaluates the property in person or virtually — in some newer markets, their help center says, only through their app with photos you take yourself. The offer can then be adjusted downward through repair credits.
4. Pick your closing date and close. Opendoor's materials cite as soon as 14 days or up to 60 days out. They handle the paperwork; proceeds arrive by wire.

That's the appeal (the same trade agents' "guaranteed offer" programs resell — we've compared agents and direct buyers here): no showings, no listing, a date you control. What most sellers miss is that the preliminary offer and the final offer are two different numbers — and the gap between them is where the economics get decided.

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What Opendoor Actually Costs

Three deductions sit between the headline number and what you actually net:

• The service charge. This replaces a listing agent's commission. Opendoor's fee was long known as roughly 5%, but its help center now states it "does not publish a fixed service charge percentage" — the fee varies by market and property and shows as a line item in your offer details. You won't know your percentage until you see your own offer.
• Repair deductions. After the assessment, Opendoor subtracts repair credits for work it plans to do before resale — their published guidance says a few hundred dollars to several thousand. If your house needs real work (roof, furnace, dated kitchen), this is usually the biggest swing between preliminary and final.
• Closing costs. Title, escrow, and transfer taxes — roughly 1–3% of the sale price, per Opendoor's materials.

In Opendoor's own worked example, combined deductions on a $350,000 home came to about 8.4%. That's not a criticism — a traditional sale with commission, concessions, and pre-listing repairs often lands in a similar range. The point is that the first-screen number is not the number you net, so compare final figures, not headlines.

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iBuyer vs. Local Cash Buyer vs. Listing With an Agent

When people search for the best cash home buying companies, they're usually weighing three genuinely different paths, each of which wins in a different situation:

iBuyer (e.g., Opendoor)	Local direct buyer (e.g., Easy Exit)	Listing with an agent
How the offer is made
Algorithm + assessment; preliminary offer adjusted after inspection	One walkthrough; written offer that doesn't change afterward	No offer — list and wait for buyers
Fees
Service charge (varies; not a published fixed %) + ~1–3% closing costs	No service charge; we typically cover standard closing costs	Agent commissions (typically 5–6% total) + seller closing costs
Repairs
Repair credits deducted after assessment	None — bought fully as-is	Usually expected before or during listing; buyer inspection renegotiation common
Timeline
Opendoor cites 14–60 days to close	You pick the date — as fast as a few weeks or months out	Weeks to months: prep, showings, contract, buyer financing
Best for
Move-in-ready homes in areas the algorithm prices well	Houses needing work, tight timelines, inherited or tenant-occupied homes, sellers who want certainty	Maximizing price when you have time and a market-ready house

To be plain about our own column: a direct cash offer — ours included — is usually below full market value. We take on the repairs and the risk; the discount is how that works. A direct sale wins when the fees, repairs, holding costs, and uncertainty of the other paths cost you more than the discount does. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't — that's what the net-to-net comparison at the end of this post is for.

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Does Opendoor Buy Houses in the Chicago Suburbs?

Yes — as of this writing, Opendoor's help center states that it buys single-family homes "nationwide across the contiguous United States," in every postal code in the lower 48 where single-family homes are available, and it lists Chicago among its recent expansion areas. So homeowners in McHenry, Lake, Kane, DuPage, and northwest Cook counties can request an Opendoor offer.

Two caveats, both from Opendoor's own published materials. First, eligibility still depends on property type and condition — they buy single-family homes, and homes with significant issues may not qualify. Second, in some newer markets the assessment happens only through their app, with photos you take yourself. Chicagoland is an expansion market, and Opendoor's help center says the assessment in expansion markets is done only through their app, with photos you take yourself — no in-person walkthrough. Factor that into your comparison: nobody from Opendoor will actually see the house before setting your final number.

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Who Buys Houses in McHenry County and the NW Suburbs Instead?

If your house is in good shape and you mainly want convenience, an iBuyer offer is worth getting. If your home needs work, or you want a number that won't move after an inspection, a local direct buyer is built for that. Here's how our process compares:

• One walkthrough, not an algorithm plus an assessment. Todd or someone from our team looks at the house once — we're based in Crystal Lake and buy across these five counties, so we know these blocks, these taxes, and what a 1970s tri-level in Cary actually sells for.
• A written offer that doesn't get adjusted. The number we put in writing is the number at closing. No repair credits after the fact, because we price the repairs in before we make the offer.
• No service charge. We're not agents and we don't charge commissions or fees — we're the buyer. (Worth saying clearly: we are a direct home buyer, not a licensed real estate brokerage, and we're not offering to list your home.)
• You pick the date. Close in a few weeks, or set a date months out if you need time to move.

You can see the full process on our how it works page. And if it's helpful, we've written the same kind of side-by-side about a Chicagoland competitor: Grandview Homes vs. Easy Exit Home Buyers.

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How to Compare Any Two Cash Offers Net-to-Net

Whether you're weighing Opendoor against a local buyer or trying to pick between the best companies that buy houses for cash, the same five-minute exercise settles it:

1. Get every offer in writing, in final form. For Opendoor, that means the post-assessment offer with the service charge and repair credits itemized — not the preliminary screen.
2. Subtract every fee and deduction from each offer: service charges, repair credits, closing costs, and anything else on the breakdown.
3. Add holding costs for slower options. Every extra month of ownership costs you the mortgage payment, property taxes (no small thing in McHenry County), insurance, and utilities.
4. Ask what can still change. Contingent on inspection? Reducible? Cancelable? A slightly lower number that can't move often beats a higher one that can.
5. Compare bottom lines. The best cash buyer is the highest net that closes on your timeline — not the biggest first number.