This situation serves as a lesson for homeowners who don't see the value in working with a real estate professional. As many as 54,689 homeowners lost money by selling their homes to Opendoor.

Opendoor Labs, a company that buys and sells homes online, has agreed to pay $62 million to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) claims that it made false claims about the prices it paid for homes. The settlement will be used to compensate the homeowners who were affected by the company's deceptive marketing practices.

The FTC's complaint alleges that Opendoor claimed to pay homeowners market value for their homes while saving them money on costs. However, the company often offered less than market value and charged more than it had promised. As a result, many homeowners who used Opendoor lost money.

The median refund for the approximately 2,500 California homeowners is $1,553, according to the FTC's online settlement tracker. The company "tricked them into thinking that they could make more money selling their home to Opendoor than on the open market," the tracker states.

Opendoor's marketing campaign was built on the premise that homeowners could avoid the costs of fixing, listing, and showing a home by selling it to Opendoor using an online app. Advertised as an "iBuyer," Opendoor claimed to use cutting-edge technology to provide "market-value" offers and reduce transaction costs compared to traditional home sales.

However, the FTC found that Opendoor's marketing materials were misleading. The charts that were presented to prospective sellers showed that they would make thousands of dollars more by selling to Opendoor than on the open market. In reality, sellers often paid thousands more in fees, and their homes' market values were often adjusted downward.

In conclusion, the FTC found that Opendoor's claims were false, and the settlement will help compensate homeowners who were harmed by the company's deceptive practices.