Compare Purplebricks and Open Listings

For Sellers

Not Applicable
0
No Rates
Purplebricks no longer represents consumers in the United States.

For Sellers

Not Applicable
0
No Rates
Open Listings does not offer listing services to consumers.

For Buyers

Not Applicable
0
No Rates
Purplebricks no longer represents consumers in the United States.

For Buyers

Buyer’s Savings
50%
Commission Rebate
When Open Listings represents buyers, it contributes 50% of its total Buyer's Agent Commission (2.5%-3%) as a way to financially compete for buyer’s business. Home buyers do not pay any taxes on the amount, the refund amount is always tax-free.
Question: What is the difference between Purplebricks and Open Listings?
Answer: Purplebricks is a full-service real estate agent that offers savings to homebuyers and home sellers while Open Listings is a buyer’s real estate agent and a referral fee network
Compare Purplebricks and Open Listings for home buying and selling. HomeOpenly is an impartial and an open resource focused on trending real estate services, portals and start-ups.

First published: 17 February 2019
Last updated: 25 April 2021

Buying and Selling with Purplebricks

Purplebricks offers consumers flat fee listing savings and buyer’s refunds for select cities in California, New York, Connecticut, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, and New Jersey.

Purplebricks Pricing

As of October 2019, Purplebricks no longer offers real estate representation services to consumers in the United States.

Listing Services

  • MLS Listing
  • Zillow, Trulia, etc. Listing
  • Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
  • Hold Open Houses
  • Professional Photography
  • Professional Floor Plans
  • Yard Signage Installation
  • Spare Key Lock-box Installation
  • Schedule Inspection Services
  • Schedule Private Showings
  • Closing Duties

Buyer's Agent Services

  • Find the Property
  • Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
  • Recommend Other Professionals
  • Attend Inspection Services
  • Schedule Private Showings
  • Negotiate Needed Repairs
  • Closing Duties

Purplebricks Editor's Review:

Purplebricks is a consumer-focused flat fee real estate broker. As a listing agent, Purplebricks works with a seller to prepare homes for listing, including taking professional photos, pricing home, and publishing marketing materials.

Purplebricks lists all homes on the local MLS as well as typical MLS Aggregators. Sellers don't have to pay anything until the property is sold or until 6 months have elapsed. In the unlikely event that the property hasn't sold after 6 months, Purplebricks will still market the property until it is sold.

Purplebricks maintains a well-designed online platform that allows sellers to communicate with all parties involved in a sale.

As a buyer's agent, Purplebricks works with buyers to find a home, schedule inspections, negotiate repairs and finalize the purchase.

Purplebricks offers a buyer's refund incentive of $1,000 paid at closing and it keeps the rest of the commission, typically 2.5%-3%. While Purplebricks offers great savings to sellers, the buyer’s refund policy is a bit weak - Purplebricks keeps almost all of the buyer's side commission.

It is not unusual for some agent to offer a much better 50% commission refund. Purplebricks has also suffered some initial problems entering the US market and it’s not yet clear if these have been fully resolved. For sellers, the listing fee is charged up-front and is non-refundable, although that is a very minor setback compared to thousands saved over a typical 3% sellers’ commission.

Purplebricks should be near the top of the seller’s list, but for buyers, there may be better local options. Still, $1000 buyer’s refund is better than zero refund offered by traditional buyer’s agents.

Purplebricks offers overall great value to consumers looking to buy or sell a home.

Where does Purplebricks operate?

Purplebricks currently operates in select areas across California, New York, Connecticut, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, and New Jersey.

Buying and Selling with Open Listings

WARNING: Unlawful Kickbacks, Broker-to-Broker Collusion, False Marketing, Wire Fraud, Price Fixing.

Open Listings is a broker-to-broker collusion scheme, where "partner agents" unlawfully agree to pay massive kickbacks to receive your information and engage in market allocation, consumer allocation, false advertising, unlawful kickbacks, wire fraud, and price-fixing practices in violation of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, 15 U.S.C. § 1, 15 U.S.C. § 45, 12 U.S.C. § 2607, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.14. As a consumer, you will always significantly overpay for Realtor commissions subject to hidden kickbacks and pay-to-play steering promoted in this scheme.

United States federal antitrust laws prohibit consumer allocation and blanket referral agreements between real estate companies.

Be smart; do not allow your information to be "sold as a lead" to a double-dealing Realtor in exchange for massive commission kickbacks paid from your future home sale, or your future home purchase.


A multi-state broker rebates buyer part of the commission it receives. In some cases, Open Listings acts as an Internet referral service where it sets rebates for independent real estate brokers that do not work for Open Listings directly.

Open Listings Pricing

Open Listings offers home buyers a 50% commission rebate. Open Listings also requires a $5,000 minimum commission. Minimum commission requirement negates refund for homes priced under 150,000 USD.

Listing Services

  • This Service Does Not Represent Sellers

Buyer's Agent Services

  • Find the Property
  • Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
  • Recommend Other Professionals
  • Attend Inspection Services
  • Schedule Private Showings
  • Negotiate Needed Repairs
  • Closing Duties

Open Listings Editor's Review:

In some cases, Open Listings represents clients directly. However, Open Listings Referral Network (Partner Agents) is a referral process that connects buyers with third-party real estate agents in exchange for an undisclosed commission split or a referral fee.

A Partner Agent who is employed by, or works with their own brokerage gets referred by Open Listings at their own discretion, as a blind match. Open Listings keeps referral fee amount hidden and does not disclose the split amount it receives from real estate agents who operate under their own license – this practice is highly deceptive and is designed to deceive consumers into thinking that Open Listings is the brokerage they are actually working with.

By engaging with Open Listings consumers authorize them to share personal information and home search history with any Partner Agent, regardless if a consumer wants to work with an Open Listings agent directly.

When shopping for a Real Estate Agent, the price alone is not as important as being able to make an informed choice about representation. Open Listings Referral Network is a poor choice for Real Estate Agents and consumers due to lack of transparency.

Open Listings’ operations as a referral network result in an inefficiency known as reverse competition and possible price fixing. Such practice may result in a lower quality of service or higher commissions.

Once Open Listings refers a customer to a Partner Agent, that agent, not Open Listings, represents the customer from the initial meeting through closing. Open Listings dictates that Partner Agent rebates 50% of their commission in order to receive a referral, while Open Listings takes a commission cut after the transaction is complete.

In the United States, all independent brokerage fees are always negotiable and each real estate agent establishes its own policy for a fee structure, amount of commissions, and issuing rebates to consumers.

Price fixing is prohibited by antitrust legislation. To fix, control, recommend, suggest or maintain commission rates, rebates, and fees for other agents' services is an improper practice.

Open Listings does not represent home sellers, but the company was acquired in 2018 by a direct home cash buyer: Opendoor.

Opendoor does not represent home sellers either, it is a real estate investor who buys homes from consumers and resells them at a profit; this practice is known as house-flipping.

When working with Open Listings, consumers may be pressured to use Opendoor by their Open Listings real estate agent. There is absolutely no requirement for anyone using Open Listings when buying a home to sell their home to an Opendoor.

As buyer’s agent Open Listings’ job is to represent consumers when making a purchase of a new home, it should not advise consumers on their existing home listing, unless a separate listing agreement exists.

Real estate agents are required by law to place their client’s interest before their own. Consumers are encouraged to read our full review for Opendoor before using the house-flipping service.

Where does Open Listings operate?

Open Listings currently operates in select areas across California, Washington, Texas, and Illinois..