@David Bergmann
I can hear the chairs in the NAR (National Association of Realtors) war room gathering over the conference table to device a strategy in areas like Phoenix where Zillow, OpenDoor and OfferPad are already at 4.5% of the market or 4,700 homes between them last year (2018).
But what can they do really? The iBuyers are principals in the transaction actually going on title....not like wholesalers that usually assign the contract, they actually close. It is a free market.
I think the hassle and overhead of building the machine for such small margins will eventually make them crumble under their own weight. They will get by with the high upfront fees for a while but eventually the market will turn on them - the homeowner/sellers' finally waking up to just how much they are giving up and just rejecting the instant offers and seeking other options - the buyers also waking up to the bare bones or dare I say shoddy rehabs as pointed out previously and they just shunning any iBuyer home for sale.
The party won't last long I don't think.
As I had pointed out earlier, the "mom and pop" rehabbers that do quality heavy rehabs are in no way being threatened by this. The guys that will take the ugly duckling, gut the kitchen, bathrooms and anything else that needs gutting and yank that home into the 21st century. People like @Jonathan C. @Duane Kidman @Jake Thomas to name a few.
