If you have searched this, you have probably already found a page telling you cash buyers pay somewhere between 30% and 70% of market value. Those pages are mostly published by companies that make money when you do not sell to a cash buyer, which does not make them wrong, but does mean nobody has explained where the number comes from.
Here is the arithmetic, from a company that buys houses. Including the parts that do not flatter us.
A cash offer is below retail, and the gap is not arbitrary — it is the repair cost, plus the holding cost while the work is done, plus the resale cost, plus a margin, plus whatever risk the buyer is absorbing. On a house that needs very little, that gap is small and a cash sale rarely makes sense. On a house no lender will finance, the gap is large because every one of those numbers is large. The single biggest factor is not the buyer — it is your house. Any range quoted as a universal percentage is meaningless without knowing which house it is describing, and anyone giving you a number before seeing the house is guessing.
A cash buyer is going to resell the house. Everything between your price and that resale has to come out of the gap.
| What comes out of the gap | Why |
|---|---|
| Repairs | The work that made the house unfinanceable, at contractor prices, not what it would cost you to do yourself |
| Holding costs | Taxes, insurance, utilities and money costs for the months the work takes |
| Resale costs | Commission and closing costs on the way back out — which you avoid, and the buyer does not |
| Risk | What is behind the walls that nobody has seen yet. On a house with title problems, the cost of curing them |
| Margin | The reason the business exists |
Two things follow from that list, and they matter more than any percentage.
On a house in good condition, the gap is mostly just resale cost and margin — so the discount is small, and a retail sale beats it comfortably. This is why an honest cash buyer tells a seller with a sound house to list it. There is not enough room in the arithmetic to compete with a financed buyer.
On a house that cannot be financed, the gap is wide because the repair, holding and risk numbers are all real and all large. That is also the situation where retail is not actually available to you, so the comparison is not cash-versus-retail. It is cash versus repairing the house first, or cash versus continuing to hold it.
The ranges circulating online — 50%, 70%, 30% — come from mixing together completely different transactions.
The honest version: the discount tracks the condition of your house and the certainty you are buying. It is not a fixed percentage and nobody can quote you one responsibly over the phone.
Mostly no, but the industry has a real structural problem that is worth understanding, because it explains most bad experiences.
Many of the companies advertising to you are not buyers. They are lead generators. You fill in a form, they sell your information to several investors, and you spend the next week fielding calls from people you never contacted. Nothing you were told about "our offer" applies, because the company you spoke to was never going to buy anything.
Ask one question first: are you the buyer, or are you selling my information? A direct buyer will answer immediately. A lead broker will talk about their "network of local investors," which is the answer.
The second real problem is the offer that changes. A high number gets you under contract, then an inspection produces a long list and the price drops right before closing, when you have already made plans and have the least leverage. This is a known tactic. It is not illegal and it is very effective.
Ask the second question: will this number change after you have seen the house? Anyone who gave you a price without walking the property is going to re-trade it, because they had no basis for the first number.
If your house is sound and a lender would finance it, list it. A financed buyer bidding against other financed buyers pays more than any cash buyer will. The gap between a retail sale and a cash sale on a clean house is not close, and no amount of convenience makes it up.
If one repair is what is stopping a normal sale and you can afford it, make the repair. Restoring financeability moves you back into the full buyer pool and is usually worth several times the cost.
If the reason your house has not sold is the price, reprice it. A cash offer will be below the reduced price you were resisting. That is covered in more detail on why is my house not selling.
We lose deals to this advice regularly. It is still the right answer, and a buyer unwilling to say it to you is not being straight.
Top Dollar Home Offer is a family-owned home-buying company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, run by a father-and-son team. More than 25 years buying houses in this market, and a 4.9-star average across 61 Google reviews.
We are the buyer. We do not sell your information, you will not get calls from five investors, and we look at the house before we give you a number so the number does not change afterward. No fees or commissions come out of your side, and you choose the closing date. Where a house should be listed instead, we say so.
Where we buy. Tulsa and the surrounding Oklahoma market, plus the additional markets listed on this site. If your house is somewhere we do not buy, we will tell you that rather than pass your details along — and the checklist above is what to take to whoever you speak to next.
It depends almost entirely on the house. The offer is retail value minus repairs, minus holding costs during the work, minus the cost of reselling, minus risk and margin. On a sound house those subtractions are small, the offer lands close to retail, and listing beats it. On a house no lender will finance they are large, and the offer reflects that. Any fixed percentage quoted without seeing the property is not a real number.
Most are legitimate businesses, but two practices cause the majority of bad experiences. Many advertisers are lead brokers who sell your information to several investors rather than buying anything themselves. And some buyers quote a high number, then reduce it after inspection when you are committed and have little leverage. Ask whether they are the buyer, and whether the offer will change after they see the house.
An automated estimate assumes an average house in average condition, updated and market-ready. It has never seen your roof. If your house needs work, the estimate is describing a different house than the one you own. The gap you are looking at is usually the repair cost plus the cost of carrying and reselling, not an insult.
You should not. A direct cash sale normally has no agent commission and no seller-paid closing costs — that is a real part of the comparison against a retail sale, and it is frequently left out of the percentage figures published elsewhere. If a buyer is deducting fees from your side, ask exactly what for.
Yes, and you should. Get more than one, and compare them on the same terms — the net to you, the closing date, whether the number is guaranteed after inspection, and whether each company is actually the buyer. Also get an opinion on what the house would bring listed. If the retail number is meaningfully higher and the house is financeable, take that route instead.
Get a no-obligation cash offer, or an honest read on what the house is worth — call (918) 212-5442 or request an offer online.