It’s been about 10 years since Brian Bair launched the iBuyer Offerpad, and three years since it went public. But like with so many other companies these days, suddenly AI has arrived to change how they do business in many ways, and to his way of thinking, there’s no staying static. It’s either get ahead of the curve or be left behind.
The Chandler, Arizona-based firm’s bread-and-butter is still giving sellers a cash offer for their property within 24 hours, forgoing listings and offering closing dates in as few as three days. But now, Offerpad claims it is using AI as a true differentiator in real estate, moving beyond traditional automated valuation models (AVMs) to systems that aggregate thousands of decision points, learn continuously, and support both pricing and seller conversion, while still relying on human experts for final offer decisions.
Offerpad recently announced an AI-driven operating architecture that includes two internally developed systems, referred to as SCOUT and HENRY, that the company hopes will enhance customer engagement, improve conversion, reduce acquisition risk and increase capital efficiency.
SCOUT is Offerpad’s intake and routing platform, designed to identify potential sellers, guide their engagement and match each homeowner with an Offerpad program.
HENRY is building AI-driven property inspection and renovation estimation capabilities, currently in beta with broader deployment targeted for Q2 2026. Computer vision models will analyze property images and inspection data to identify potential repairs and generate renovation cost estimates using Offerpad’s historical renovation outcomes, directly informing acquisition decisions and reducing risk before a home is purchased.
While iBuyers saw the lofty promises of algorithmic homeflipping largely flop in the wake of the pandemic boom market, Offerpad and a few others are forging ahead still with the intention of turning a home transaction into a reliable, repeatable process, even as they have sought out new partnerships and revenue sources.
Bair gave RISMedia an inside look at his vision for Offerpad going forward, as well as providing insights into what being a CEO at a public real estate company entails.
Michael Catarevas: What are your thoughts on SCOUT and HENRY?
Brian Bair: There are very few tools with the power of AI. When we started Offerpad, it was all about AVMs, how you could have pricing models that were machine learning that were going to change pricing. Machines are so much “smarter” than humans. When a seller comes to us to sell us their home, we know 90% of what they’re going to tell us about it, but what we really need to know is the macro information currently happening in the market, and also the condition of the home. And so with some of the machine learning that obviously integrated with some of the AI that we have right now, it just takes all those thousands of decision points and puts them in one place.
MC: What’s life like as a CEO?
BB: For me it’s about working hard and playing hard but not taking things too seriously. I mean, when I say that, there’s a bunch of stuff, drama and life stuff happening, but I feel lucky and blessed that I get to do what I do every day.
MC: AI has in a short time become an integral part of not just the real estate business but all businesses. Do you worry that it’s going too far too fast?
BB: Yes and yes. I have a 12 year old and a nine year old, and I’m trying to understand what their future is going to look like with the advancement of AI because of how quickly I’ve seen it adapt. We’ve done a couple of projects internally to build certain things with AI and test some different things. Within a few months there’s been another company that’s already doing the same thing. It’s moving that fast. I think it’s going to affect all of our jobs.
The way I work as a public CEO every day is different because of AI. And it’s just getting started. And so what I’ve been trying to figure out is like, what’s the value of the future going to be? Everything’s going to modernize so fast, but I also feel like the human touch and human perspective is going to be more important than ever. You can train it and the language models are great and the reasoning is phenomenal, but the human interaction’s getting further and further away from that. Public speaking skills and being able to be able to communicate with our customers are going to be absolutely vital in the future. We can’t lose the human connection because that’s going to be absolutely key.
MC: What’s it like as a CEO of a public company when earnings reports come around and you have to address investors and maybe the numbers aren’t so good?
BB: That’s a great question. We’re newer to the public markets, about three and a half years. Before I went public I probably talked to 50-plus public CEOs, trying to get as much information as I could. At that time there was a craze for a lot of companies to go public. And so, the thing that I kept getting from everybody, I would ask, “What’s the best part about being a public CEO?” And they said, “Well, the not so good stuff is you’re under the magnifying glass all the time. What have you done for me lately?”
So when you enter that game, that’s what you have to expect. When you’re the starting quarterback throwing interceptions, you’re going to get asked about it. My perspective has been trying to be focused on the long-term plan. We came out of the gates the first year really strong. It’s been challenging trying to communicate our story with affordability issues out there right now and with interest rates going from 3% to 7%.
One of the challenges is that real estate’s not really a quarter-to-quarter business. For example, when we start buying homes, most homeowners want to close in 30 to 45 days, then we have to renovate the home. So it always lags. The one good thing from my team and investors and across the board is that they’ve seen what we’ve done in the past and understand that the macro world has been tough on not just us, but on everybody.
MC: What’s your general day-to-day like?
BB: I’m very operationally focused, so I have my days set in 15-minute blocks. So I do the public facing and then really focus on kind of working the company overall making sure we’re doing the best thing on that end, but then spending time on the operational side. I try to communicate as openly as I can with investors and our employees.
I’ll go from an earnings call into a meeting talking about something operationally. It’s the operational stuff I’m super passionate about. One thing about being public is that what people care about in the market is just results. They want to see execution and results.
MC: Do you find the iBuyer business model in 2026 to be much different than, say, 2021?
BB: The model itself is not different but we have four products now, so it’s not just a cash offer. We’ve always wanted to be a solution center. There’s so much noise that goes on with real estate. An owner just wants to sell something and buy something else. All the other stuff is just noise. Offerpad simplifies that, but also provides other products. If our cash offer doesn’t work for someone, we have a listing service they can use or have other cash buyers that can buy off our platform. That’s been something we’ve made a lot of progress on.
We’re seeing more people having to sell because of life moments, jobs or whatever else. So what we’ve been trying to do is give sellers other paths like, Here’s an Offerpad offer, but also here’s an offer from another cash buyer, or here’s this to try to get the best solution for them.
MC: You started the company about 10 years ago and since then lawsuits and legalities have dominated the industry. What’s your take on all that?
BB: Yeah, it’s interesting. Seeing a lot of the different lawsuits, different models come around, like for example, some of the things that are happening with people wanting to list off of the MLS or create different platforms. Some of this is new news and some of it isn’t. I’ve been in real estate for over 20 years, and there have always been people trying to have a system that buyers and sellers can buy directly from each other and/or agents listing their homes on their own websites. I think the passion and the intent is trying to be more consumer aware—what customers want.
In the past it was kind of like, “Well, here’s the system you’re going to do. You’re going to use an agent. Here’s how much you’re going to pay in all this.” Now you’re seeing an industry that maybe didn’t adapt quickly enough and is trying to adapt to current sellers and buyers.
MC: How many people do you oversee at Offerpad?
BB: I think around 200 people now. We got up to much more than that, but right now we’re about 200 to 250. There’s a true concern that people have of what AI is going to do with their jobs. The people that are going to adapt to AI and use it for efficiency and figure out how it can make you better. That’s going to make you an asset to the company. If you don’t integrate AI, that’s where I think it can replace you. What we’re going to do is start doing more volume and get back to normal times again through the macro world. We’re going to grow by leveraging AI, but it’s still going to be people power in this business.
Customers still want a real person to talk through buying or selling a home. We’re going to balance and leverage technology to make people’s lives convenient, but then also how to put people at ease when it could just be a simple question they want answered. Where do people want us and where don’t they want us? There’s voice AI, there’s text messaging and it’s different people on different paths, too.
MC: How does Offerpad handle direct competition for a house?
BB: Right now what people want is certainty. People talk about cash, but what doesn’t get talked about nearly as much is being able to control the closing date. For most people that is absolutely key. So our ability to move somebody’s closing date as quickly as they want, you just can’t get that because normally in normal real estate you have a buyer that’s going to move into the seller’s house and that seller has to move. We can give the seller more flexibility after we close. They can stay there and get themselves ready. The traditional way of listing a home is always the competition.
MC: How exacting are you with pricing a house?
BB: We’re very precise what we think a home is going to sell for. The thing that’s key and where we’re different, and we tell this to sellers all the time, is that we’re in the velocity business. And so we want to buy, renovate and sell their home in 100 days. We basically want to buy the listing.
MC: Who makes the final decision on a house that Offerpad offers to buy?
BB: That’s our pricing team. Analytics and AI will get us about 90% there and then we’ll have a human look at the home and say if we’re right or wrong on the price. AI will get there sooner than later, but it’ll be somebody from our pricing team that’s a market expert in that market.
MC: Is there a negotiation?
BB: We typically present our best offer upfront and use a call-center “power squad” to work with sellers when expectations and offers are close. One of the tough things about our model is we don’t know the expectations the seller has. Like someone will say, “I want $300,000 for my house.” Then we decide if that does or does not work. We’re giving the best offer we can make on the home. One of the things I love is that we’re not looking to see if somebody lost a job or if there’s a life moment. We’re just going to give our best offer no matter what.
MC: When you’re not busy at work, what do you like to do?
BB: I like watching sports. I’m a big football guy. Family, friends and work are my life. I love to travel when I can, to kick back and just get my mind off things a little bit.
