Three years later, Coleman and his co-founder Brian Bair spotted another great opportunity in the residential market and decided to launch a new company. OfferPad is a direct home buyer, in a mission to make “selling a home” convenient and hassle-free, by allowing sellers to get the best of both worlds – a fair and competitive offer – all at the click of a button. In less than two years the company raised $30 million in equity and $230 million in debt from LL Funds in order to expand its home-buying model. The company currently operates in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tampa, Orlando, and Salt Lake City, with other markets opening soon.

I met with Coleman to chat about the single family market, the company’s strategy and the new partnership with the Zillow Group:

Omri Barzilay: What’s the story behind OfferPad, how was it all started?

Jerry Coleman: My Cofounder Brian Bair and I founded OfferPad in mid-2015 because we believed buyers were evolving and looking for better ways to sell their homes. We have seen the market shift over the last decade and it was clear that the market wanted a different option. We bring years of experience in the real estate industry, while leveraging technology to make the experience better. OfferPad is reinventing how people sell their homes by eliminating the hassle and uncertainty of the home selling process.

Barzilay: The real estate market is rallying for more than eight years, do you think that’s something that will be able to continue? Where do you still see opportunities in the market?

Coleman: The one thing we know about the market is that it is cyclical. We have been in real estate for over two decades, through good times and bad. We are using that experience to build a company that can successfully empower homeowners in any market.

Barzilay: How is OfferPad different than OpenDoor?

Coleman: Unlike others who have tried this in the past, we have a team that has bought, renovated and either rented or sold over 100,000 homes. So, in addition to our technology, we have assembled a team of single family real estate operators with unprecedented experience. And while we started OfferPad in 2015, we’ve been operating in this space for the decade.

We are also currently in more markets than anyone else – which shows our ability to understand the industry as a whole – regardless of the area. We also have a scalable model that will work in any market. For example, we use more than technology to tell us if we should buy a home. We have teams with local market expertise on the ground in our markets to help us provide the best possible offer to homeowners. Through our experience we also understand how important and emotional selling a home can be and seek to make it a seamless experience.

Barzilay: Tell us about the Zillow-OfferPad partnership?

Coleman: It has become clear that many in the real estate industry understand that homeowners are looking for new options. As part of this disruption, the Zillow partnership has allowed us to bring the OfferPad option to more homeowners. The relationship is simple: We will make offers to owners via Zillow’s Instant Offers platform. From there, the process is much the same as selling through us directly. Sellers will receive one on one customer support through the entire process, we’ll cover title and escrow and if the location permits, and will even move the seller locally for free.

Barzilay: How accurate are you price estimations? What’s the “real” cost for a seller to sell using OfferPad?

Coleman: We get this question a lot. I think it’s because we’ve been conditioned as consumers to find the “catch” to things that look like good options at first glance. We’ve been very transparent in our pricing. We have a specific list on our website detailing the fee comparisons with the traditional model. We encourage all potential sellers to check it out first. We seek to provide an offer where the homeowner will net an amount very similar to what they would net in a traditional transaction, with our margin being what would be paid to other third parties (contractors, commissions, closing costs, etc.).

What we offer that traditional models don’t is convenience and speed. Sellers can pick the closing dates, we cover title and escrow and all of the other annoyances are gone. For example, having to show your home, repairs requested by the buyer, privacy issues, managing offers, etc. We often get the feedback from homeowners that have sold a house previously, asking, “Is this too good to be true?”

Barzilay: Will you be able to apply the model in prime markets like NYC/LA/SF?

Yes. Because we use technology and local market knowledge, we believe we will be able to eventually scale to all markets and our teams have extensive experience in 35 markets across 25 states. We have already soft launched in Los Angeles with great success and will continue to grow in that market.

Barzilay: What’s the plan for a downturn in the markets?

We have been through market cycles and know that there are more coming. We have successfully operated this model in the worst housing markets on record and know how to adjust quickly to changing market conditions. Our strategy is to stay disciplined and vigilant as markets change.