How Selling Your House to a Cash Buyer Actually Works

The one-paragraph version

A cash sale is a normal real estate sale with the slow parts removed. There's still a purchase agreement, still a title search, still a licensed closing — what's missing is the listing, the showings, the lender, the appraisal, and the six months. You trade some price for a lot of speed and certainty. That's the whole model, and any cash buyer who pretends otherwise is selling you something.

Step by step, with nothing hidden

1. You tell us about the property. Address, rough condition, your timing. Five minutes online or one phone call. You don't clean, you don't stage, you don't gather documents.

2. The offer gets built. We pull recent comparable sales near you, estimate what the property needs, and subtract a margin that makes the purchase work as a business. That's the formula — comps, minus repairs, minus margin. Anyone who won't describe their formula doesn't want you to understand their offer.

3. The number arrives in writing. Usually within 24–48 hours. A real figure, not "up to $X" — and it doesn't expire the moment you hang up. Some sellers sign that week; some keep the offer in a drawer for months. Both are normal.

4. You sign a purchase agreement. Plain-English contract, e-signed on your phone. It names the price, the closing window, and the earnest money the buyer deposits. Read it — a legitimate agreement is short and understandable.

5. Title and escrow do their work. A licensed title company (or closing attorney, depending on your state) searches the title, clears liens from proceeds, and prepares the closing. Back taxes, an old second mortgage, a code lien — these get paid out of the sale price at closing, like any other sale. They almost never kill the deal.

6. You close on your date and get paid. Sign the closing documents, funds disburse, done. The fastest closes run about two weeks; sellers who need 60 or 90 days get 60 or 90 days.

Where the money actually comes from

Cash buyers are investors. Some hold properties as rentals, some renovate and resell, some partner with other investors on the purchase — and the contract typically allows the buyer to close with or through partners or assignees. What matters to you is simpler: the price on your agreement is what you get, the earnest money is real, and the closing runs through a neutral licensed professional who only releases funds when everything is proper.

The honest math to run before deciding

Take our written number. Then take your realistic listed outcome: likely sale price, minus 5–6% commission, minus the repairs the inspector will find, minus the concessions buyers ask for, minus your carrying costs (mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities) for every month of listing, showing, and closing. Sometimes listing wins that math clearly — usually on move-in-ready homes in hot neighborhoods with no time pressure. Sometimes the cash number wins outright. Most often it's closer than people expect, and the deciding factor is what your time and certainty are worth.

We'll do that math with you honestly — including the times it says "list it."