(and Where is open door different than I as investor, licensed realtor, marketing for seller for cash as-is offer, and can resell my own listing....what math do they do different?

"In early February, the company paid $238,700 for a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,727-square-foot home at 12051 Livery Drive. It repaired fencing, put on a new roof, installed new carpeting in the bedrooms and spruced up the landscaping before putting it back on the market a few weeks later for $250,000.

The people who sold it to Opendoor allowed it to make the repairs, so the company credited those costs to the company at closing.

“At closing, net proceeds go down by the amount of agreed upon repairs,” Hiltz said. “It doesn’t change the published price,” however, and therefore does not affect area property values.

Opendoor uses a smartphone app to allow potential buyers to tour its homes

Digital locks allow anyone with an Opendoor smartphone app to tour a home with or without a Realtor.

The app unlocks the front door, and tours are allowed between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Realtor Katie Tarpley, with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Lifestyles Realty, toured the Livery Drive home with her customers.

They liked the home and made an offer, she said. Opendoor counteroffered, which her customers rejected.

Opendoor and her customers were $4,000 apart in price, said Tarpley, who said the company’s business model seems to leave little wiggle room for negotiating.

“You are doing business with an investment entity, not a human being,” she said. While Opendoor might be “great for some people,” it has its limits because “the human element plays a lot in real estate.”

Todd Shealy, broker and owner of Focus Real Estate Group, said by fixing up homes and incorporating big items into the situation, such as a new roof, the home is made more appealing to buyers.

As for sellers, in his opinion, “they are targeting people who have a lot of equity,” and therefore the flexibility to take a reduced amount of money for the home by paying for agreed-upon repairs.

“It would not be for everybody,” Shealy said. “It’s flipping. Flipping at its finest.”

As such, he doesn’t expect Opendoor will have a significant impact on the Northeast Florida real estate market.

“There are a variety of business models within the real estate industry and Opendoor is simply one of them,” said Northeast Florida Association of Realtors President Jeanne Denton-Scheck.

“Having a variety of business models gives consumers the freedom to choose which type of firm and service level best suits their particular needs,” she said.

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