Open Listings — a newly launched, licensed California brokerage that offers to help consumers buy homes “commission free” — is screaming for more attention (and maybe a lawsuit or two) with a new website, “Shitty Listings,” that promises to help buyers find fixer-uppers that have the most potential to “appreciate significantly” after renovation.
The site, which as of Monday boasted 728 listings “that need TLC,” claims to employ an algorithm that looks at price, location and property descriptions to determine the most promising homes.
In an era where there’s plenty of talk about transparency, the website represents an intriguing (if not particularly tasteful) method of actually delivering on such promises.
Whether sellers will take umbrage at their properties landing on the site remains to be seen. When buyers use Open Listings to represent them, they pay a $5,000 flat fee, and the brokerage rebates the rest of its commission.
On the company’s main website, OpenListings.co, a search tool that supports natural language search allows users to filter listings by typing in specifications like “big kitchen with granite countertops, three bedrooms and a backyard.”
The website delivers personalized listing feeds and email updates, and promises to help buyers “craft the perfect offer online in less than a minute,” and sign it electronically.
According to the California Bureau of Real Estate, Open Listings was registered as a California corporation in October. The company’s designated officer, Jonathan Schley, has held a California broker’s license since March 2013. Open Listing’s lone salesperson, Judd Schoenholtz, was licensed on Feb. 23.