Opendoor is testing its own mortgage product, which could reshape the way buyers finance homes on iBuyer platforms and reignite the debate over vertical integration in residential real estate.
CEO Kaz Nejatian confirmed that the company’s mortgage products are currently in beta stage. This means that rather than launching nationwide, it will be rolled out to a limited group of users.
Opendoor’s long-term goal appears to be to allow buyers to search, finance, and close on homes listed on Opendoor within a single digital ecosystem, a broader step toward becoming more than just a traditional iBuyer.
This initiative marks one of the company’s clearest moves yet toward a fully integrated transaction platform.
Inman has reached out to Nejatian and Opendoor for additional comment and will update this article if we receive further responses.
Kaz Nejatian, Opendoor CEO: “We started building our mortgage product in January and plan to release a beta version this week.”
“I’m very, very bullish on this product. I think it’s going to be good.”
The original “Opendoor Home Loans” was launched in 2019 and closed in 2019.
— Colin Robertson (@mortgagetruth) February 20, 2026
From marketplace to mortgage
Opendoor already manages inventory, pricing, and transaction schedules for the homes it buys and resells through its iBuying model.
By expanding into mortgage services, the company will expand its influence into another important element of the home-buying process. In late December 2025, Opendoor announced the acquisition of HomeBuyer.com, a mortgage education and data platform, placing the founder in a leadership role focused on mortgage growth.
Although HomeBuyer.com is not currently a loan originator, the partnership strengthens Opendoor’s mortgage expertise and buyer insight, which analysts believe will support its broader lending strategy ambitions.
Once fully developed and expanded, such a model will allow buyers to view homes listed on Opendoor’s platform, enter financing information within the same ecosystem, and receive mortgage options tied directly to their purchase. This effectively combines search, financing, and closing into one digital experience.
In a scenario where Opendoor acts as both seller and lender, Opendoor will control a larger share of end-to-end transactions. This is a much tighter loop than the traditional process, where buyers typically search on one platform, secure financing individually, and coordinate across multiple independent parties.
Second attempt at internal financing
Colin Robertson, founder of The Truth About Mortgage, noted that Opendoor previously operated an in-house mortgage division (Opendoor Home Loans, launched in 2019), but scaled back that business in 2022 as the housing market changed, mortgage rates soared, margins compressed and refinance and purchase loan volumes declined.
“When mortgage rates nearly tripled and business dried up, they shut down,” Robertson said, explaining the challenges many mortgage businesses faced as lending conditions tightened.
Under new leadership, Opendoor is trying something new. “They’re trying old tricks with new technology,” Robertson told Inman in an email.
Rather than chasing a wide range of loan sizes, Opendoor appears to be focused on raising funds from buyers already engaged with its platform. This is a strategy that, if fully developed, has the potential to improve conversions and increase revenue per transaction.
This approach reflects a broader industry trend in which large real estate and fintech platforms, including leading mortgage lenders Rocket Companies and Zillow, are seeking to integrate more services into a single customer experience, although each company’s specific strategies vary.
complex and capital intensive
Theoretically, incorporating mortgage origination into the Opendoor platform could increase profitability, shorten the path from offer to closing, and reduce downside impact. But Robertson said there were challenges to entering the lending market.
“Mortgage origination is complex and capital-intensive, and there are already strong players in this space,” Robertson said.
The industry is dominated by large lenders such as United Wholesale Mortgage and Rocket Mortgage, which lead in U.S. loan volumes, operate at scale, and have significant compliance infrastructure and deep secondary market relationships to help fund and sell loans.
Competing effectively in mortgage lending requires more than technology. They also require financing ability, competitive pricing, solid underwriting and operational discipline.
But by controlling financing, platforms like Opendoor could have more influence over consumer behavior, shaping how buyers move from search to purchase to financing.
While traditional agents remain at the center of most residential transactions today, vertically integrated models often spark debate among real estate professionals wary of blurring the lines between marketplace platforms and transaction participants.
Agent empowerment and vertical integration
Infinity CEO Lisa Nickerson said that while Opendoor’s mortgage expansion is a logical next step, it’s not necessarily the right model for all proptech companies.
“For a company like Opendoor, expanding into the mortgage space is a natural evolution,” Nickerson told Inman. “If you are already buying and selling homes directly, consolidating financing can create a more seamless experience for consumers.”
However, Nickerson clearly distinguishes between vertical integration and agent enablement.
“At Infinity, we take a different approach,” she said. “We are focused on empowering the experts who guide the trades every day, rather than being the counterparty to the trades.”
Nickerson argues that U.S. residential real estate remains fundamentally relationship-driven and structurally locked into MLS systems, making it difficult for technology platforms to simply replace human advisors.
“We believe AI is at its best not when it tries to bypass agents, but when it strengthens relationships by helping agents move faster, provide better service, and operate more efficiently,” Nickerson said.
This contrast highlights a growing philosophical divide in proptech.
Some companies seek greater control by owning more components of a transaction. Some are betting that the long-term value lies in reinforcing the industry’s existing agent-centric nature.
“Owning more transactions gives you more control,” Nickerson said. “Empowering trusted advisors further increases long-term benefits.”
“Products that have not proven themselves”
The bigger question is whether mortgage integration meaningfully enhances Opendoor’s core model or just piles new functionality on top of an unproven foundation.
“Adding mortgages doesn’t change the fact that the core iBuyer model hasn’t really taken off,” Robertson said. “It seems to me that they are trying to ‘ship’ more features to create buzz for an unproven product.”
Opendoor’s iBuyer approach, which uses algorithmic pricing to directly buy and sell homes, has repeatedly faced profitability challenges, especially during times of interest rate fluctuations and price corrections.
Opendoor’s fourth-quarter financial results highlighted the strain on its model, with revenue slumping 47% year-over-year to $736 million and net loss soaring to nearly $1.1 billion. For the full year, sales decreased 17.9% to $4.37 billion.
Incorporating mortgages can improve margins and conversion rates at the edge. But Mr Robertson insisted it did not fundamentally change the risks of holding and reselling inventory in a volatile housing market.
“It remains to be seen whether AI and technology can bridge that gap,” Robertson said.
Despite ongoing challenges, Opendoor continues to gain significant traction on real estate social media. And according to a recent SEC filing, the company has officially designated CEO Kaz Nejatian’s posts on X (formerly Twitter) as an official communication channel.
In other words, when Nejatian tweets about Opendoor’s mortgage product, which is in beta, it’s not just a playful comment. These have the weight of a company’s official information disclosure.
Email Nick Pipitone
