Offerpad
Providing Investors with “Certainty & Control”
By Carole VanSickle Ellis
When Offerpad founder, CEO, and chairman Brian Bair founded Offerpad nine years ago, he did so with a clear goal of control. Bair was not seeking authority for himself, however. He wanted to establish a platform where buyers and sellers could take control of their own transactions and, in his words, “make the real estate experience much easier, take the friction out of it, and give buyers and sellers certainty and control.”
Before founding Offerpad, Bair had spent decades in retail real estate, successfully blending traditional transactions with a personalized “concierge approach” in which he listed and facilitated the sale of properties in addition to offering complimentary landscaping, basic handyman services, and even pool services. This “white glove” approach to sales created a positive selling experience and a compelling reason for buyers to take a closer look at Bair’s properties.
Also at that time, he was acquiring large volumes of single-family properties at auction to renovate and sell.
“I was entrenched in real estate from all different aspects,” Bair recalled, adding, “Two things happened during that time: I saw the value of the cash offer, and I also saw the value of providing a seller with more control over their closing date. For us, providing that control has always been key.”
Once Bair identified the allure of a controlled closing date, he leveraged that element of his business to stand out from the crowd of emerging single-family buyers. “One of the biggest challenges we faced in those early days was trying to communicate with homeowners and homebuyers that we are in real estate as a service. We are looking more for people who value their time, certainty, and control than for people in distressed situations. We are very proud of that,” he said.
“Growing Up” as Real Estate Started to Change
In 2015, when Offerpad formally opened its doors, Bair’s prized element of consumer control was only just entering the mainstream in a variety of sectors. For example, Uber, founded in 2009, was in a period of massive growth; Carvana and DoorDash were both still in their nascent phases, and Bitcoin was valued at roughly $400 and had recently debuted on internet marketplaces that enabled owners to trade it from their iPhones.
It was the perfect time for an innovative real estate platform to make its mark on the market as well.
“People were just starting to sell (and buy) most of the other elements of their lives on their smartphones, and I felt strongly that they would just want more and more of that control,” Bair recalled. “That became our mission, and that is why we are really as much of a logistics company as we are a tech company or real estate company today. We learned as we grew in those early days that deals should be treated like math problems and every day should be treated like it matters.”
Eventually, the company became so effective at problem-solving it expanded into a full-scale renovation operation and, recently, into a partnership format with other real estate investors. Bobby Triplett, senior vice president of renovations at Offerpad, said the company handles hundreds of its own renovations each month in addition to renovating properties for investors, REIT funds, SFR funds, and other third-party partners.
“We renovate every property, whether it is one of ours or an independent investor’s property, as if it were our own,” Triplett explained. “That means every one of our partners gets our buying power, our vendor loyalty, our boots-on-the-ground expertise, and our front-of-line access to the things needed for large-scale renovations.”
Investors working with Offerpad also gain access to local teams that can assist with writing out scope of work on projects and access insights and resources not available to most individual investors. Triplett noted that Offerpad works with investors on all scales, from a client in Jacksonville working on three homes a month through Offerpad to institutional investors purchasing hundreds of homes in a variety of markets each month.
“Our goal is to help investors free up their energy while still ending up with a superior product when we are done,” Triplett said. “We operate in a lot of markets, and we believe that investors who partner alongside us can save themselves a significant amount of money, headaches, and time by working with us in those markets. We believe we are the cure-all to the hang-ups most investors face in the renovation world.”
Boots on the Ground in Every Active Market
When you operate in more than two dozen markets around the country and handle more than 400 projects in most quarters, you know from experience that every single market is different. “The key to handling those differences is to do the best and most suitable renovations and repairs in every market, and the key to that lies in having local experts equipped to handle any situation,” said Triplett.
“Every market has its own idiosyncrasies, that is for sure,” said Triplett. He continued, “In Florida, for example, everything is hurricane-regulated, whereas in the Carolinas and Georgia, most houses have crawl spaces, which you will not usually find in Florida. When you are doing renovations in the Midwest, you will encounter old basements more often than in other regions, and certain soils around the country can create serious foundation issues.”
The list of geographic peccadillos goes on and on, but Triplett says Offerpad has the answer to dealing with the unique demands of renovating real estate in any market. “We hire local experts,” he explained. “The renovation director in Atlanta is, of course, from Atlanta, and our renovation directors in Indianapolis and Ohio are Midwest guys. Instead of going the one-size-fits-all route, we hire local experts who will make smarter decisions on the homes in their area and will be better stewards of our resources than someone who is not familiar with the market.”
Triplett described the Offerpad process of determining what renovations will be needed on a property and carrying them out as a “recipe” for renovation. “We look at every individual property with that recipe in mind,” he said. “We might look at one property and know we have to fix some major mechanical things and handle cosmetics. Another property will only need paint, carpet, and appliances. My teams know no two houses are the same, and we make the best real estate decisions for each house rather than treating the process like a conveyor belt where the same thing happens to every house no matter what.”
Because most Offerpad project managers handle between 12 and 20 houses a month and personally oversee all projects to completion, Triplett said the Offerpad renovation process is typically significantly faster than other investors and investment firms can achieve.
“We make sure we get it done faster and we get it done right the first time around,” he said proudly. “We have an incredible network of specialty vendors, suppliers, project managers, and labor around the country, and our completed projects appeal to a large audience when we are finished.”
The Future of Real Estate
Everyone on the Offerpad leadership team has been deeply involved in single-family real estate for decades, and that long-term perspective on the past gives the company a unique ability to identify what real estate investors are going to need in future markets. The latest manifestation of that investor-service mindset takes the form of Offerpad’s newest program, Direct Plus, which provides investors operating at all scales access to off-market inventory in all stages of acquisition and renovation.
Derek Dickson, Offerpad’s chief revenue officer, recently took on the task of heading up what he refers to as “Offerpad’s SFR world.” He explained, “For the first time in Offerpad history, we are letting investors leverage our solution centers, our operations teams, and our inventory platforms to access opportunities even large-scale investors usually do not have simply because very few companies operate on the scale at which Offerpad is operating. We all know the market ebbs and flows, and our Direct Plus platform is designed to help investors navigate that.”
The Direct Plus program was designed for investors looking to acquire properties in new markets as well as potentially work with Offerpad to renovate those properties. It enables investors on all scales to come together using the Offerpad platform to acquire and liquidate inventory in all stages of renovation.
“It is a win for the customer and a win for the investor,” said Dickson proudly. “We have been really focused on building out our Direct Plus platform so investors can go and see inventory in various stages from properties under contract to homes currently under renovation and properties we have listed on the MLS as well.”
When an investor signs up to work with Offerpad via Direct Plus, part of that process involves developing a “buy box” that describes the buying criteria for the investor. Then, when a contract comes in on a property that fits the criteria, the investor is notified. Dickson said some groups pull large lists of available properties daily, while others prefer to wait for custom notifications about homes that fit their specific requirements.
“The idea is to get everyone using Direct Plus, from institutional to individual investors, so they can take advantage of opportunities at every stage,” Dickson said.
He continued, “It is so important that everyone understands that they can work with Offerpad no matter how big or small their real estate business is. We can source homes; we are a buyer of homes, and we have those big value-adds like picking a closing day that give them certainty about the deal getting closed.”
Dickson also noted Offerpad has developed a system for working with investors who want additional guidance during the investing process. This “handholding” is available throughout an Offerpad-facilitated transaction even if Offerpad is not buying or selling the home directly. “This is a big, hopeful takeaway for investors,” Dickson said proudly.
“There is so much coming up that I am excited about,” Bair added. “Allowing investors to leverage our renovation services and ground game, to plug into our process at the top of the funnel, and to take advantage of our ‘secret sauce’ that is an integral part of what we have been building for years is exciting for us.”
He also noted Offerpad recently debuted an integration with Realtor.com that will provide cash offers to more potential sellers. When a homeowner visits Realtor.com, enters their home address, and selects the “cash offer” option, they can choose to fill out a brief request form and then receive an instant estimated cash offer. With this offer come other Offerpad benefits, including the flexible closing date and free local move.
Bair concluded, “There are always challenges in real estate, but we have tremendous people at Offerpad who just love real estate and love solving those problems to make things easier and simpler for investors and consumers. That is the best part about what we do every day.”
SIDEBAR 1
A Market Investors Have Never Seen Before
Ask any real estate investor with 20 years’ (or more) experience investing, and they will tell you that every market is cyclical. Most have historically believed there is “nothing new under the sun” when it comes to the ebbs and flows of the housing market, although most cycles are distinguishable by other historical markers and events. Brian Bair, founder of Offerpad, says today’s market is different.
“I have been knee-deep in real estate for decades now, and I have never seen anything like this environment,” Bair said. He noted that when Offerpad went public in 2021, the investor’s biggest concern around real estate companies was, “What happens during the downturn?” Bair responded then and now, “I have always said in a downturn there is actually opportunity because we are a homebuyer and sellers will have more issues selling their homes. In a downturn, being one of the largest homebuyers in America is a huge advantage.”
Bair admitted, however, that the post-pandemic market had created something unprecedented, although not outside the abilities of the Offerpad team.
“Today, we are seeing almost a ‘lock effect’ on both the buying and selling sides thanks to tremendous market growth and price growth along with limited supplies of homes in most markets,” he said, adding, “Buyer demand is high, but supply is still low because few sellers want
to give up the mortgage rates they have locked in right now.” Bair noted the traditional “spring selling season” nationally was relatively soft, but said his team remains optimistic about the remainder of 2024 and the years following.
“There is a lot of pent-up demand from buyers who will pounce when the time is right, and we are prepared to fill that demand,” he said. “We are staying disciplined, buying the right types of products, renovating the right way, and pricing well so we will be ready. We want to have a solution for every customer.”
Learn more about accessing Offerpad’s off-market inventory at Offerpad.Direct/login.
SIDEBAR 2
By the Numbers
2015 // Year Offerpad was founded by chairman & CEO Brian Bair
100,000 // Number of homes Offerpad’s founding team had renovated, cumulatively, when they started Offerpad
$23 Billion // Offerpad has conducted more than $23 billion in transactions since 2015
500,000 // Since its inception, Offerpad has sent more than 500,000 offers to home sellers
1,800 // Number of cities and towns in which Offerpad currently helps people sell their homes
398 // Number of projects completed by the Renovate division of Offerpad in the first quarter of 2024
$5 Million // Revenue generated by Offerpad’s Renovate projects during the first quarter of 2024
40 // Number of paid volunteer hours Offerpad employees are permitted to take during business hours each year in order to help local nonprofit organizations
