Add Opendoor to the growing list of residential sales firms that is cutting staff.
The California-based property company is letting go of hundreds of agents because of slumping sales caused by the pandemic.
"COVID -19 has had an unforeseen impact on public health, the U.S. economy and housing," Opendoor CEO Eric Wu said in a statement. "Given the shelter-in-place guidelines, we've seen declines in the number of people buying, selling and moving during this time of uncertainty.
"In response, we've announced to the company that we've made the difficult decision to reduce our team by 35 percent."
Wu said he is also donating his salary to help support company agents that have been let go.
Started in 2014, Opendoor was one of the first so-called iBuyer real estate sales firms that offered to purchase sellers homes out right then resell them. Dallas-Fort Worth was one of the first markets in the county where the company set up business. The firm once bragged it was the fastest growing real estate sales firm in D-FW.
Opendoor had already curtailed its homebuying programs.
The company _ which raised close to $1 billion dollars to fund its innovative operations _ is one of several big residential sales firms to retrench in the face of the pandemic.
Last week, Redfin said it was furloughing four in 10 of its nationwide agents. Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said most of the agents let go could make more money from federally enhanced unemployment benefits than their commissions.
In late March, Compass Real Estate said it was trimming more than 10% of its workforce after experiencing a 60% drop in home showings.
Real estate agents have understandably seen a plunge in homebuyer traffic and sales with the shelter-in-place orders caused by the coronavirus.
