How Much Do Cash Home Buyers Actually Pay?

The short answer

Most professional cash home buyers pay somewhere between 70% and 85% of a home's after-repair value, minus what it will cost to fix the house. After-repair value, or ARV, is what the house would sell for on the open market once it's fully repaired and updated. So on a house that would be worth $500,000 fixed up but needs $60,000 of work, a typical cash offer lands roughly between $290,000 and $365,000. Where an offer falls in that range depends on the local market, the scale of the repairs, how quickly the buyer can resell or rent the property, and what their money costs them. The discount is real, and it pays for something specific: speed, certainty, and never touching the repairs yourself. Whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on your situation — and that's the part worth thinking through.

Where the number comes from

Cash buyers work backward from what the house will be worth after it's fixed:

Offer = after-repair value − repair costs − holding and resale costs − the buyer's margin

• After-repair value. What comparable, updated homes nearby have actually sold for — not a listing price, a sold price.
• Repair costs. Everything from carpet to a new roof or foundation work. Bigger repair lists mean more risk, which widens the discount.
• Holding and resale costs. Property taxes, insurance, utilities, financing, and the commissions the buyer will pay when they eventually resell.
• Margin. The buyer's profit for taking on the risk. Without it there's no reason for them to buy.

Many investors start from the "70% rule" — pay no more than 70% of ARV minus repairs. It's a rule of thumb, not a law. In competitive markets, and on houses that need lighter work, real offers often come in above it.

A worked example

Say a house in Sacramento would be worth about $480,000 fully updated, but it needs $55,000 of work — roof, sewer line, flooring, paint. A buyer might figure $30,000 in holding and resale costs and want $40,000 of margin for the risk. That puts their offer near $355,000, about 74% of ARV.

Now compare the listing route on the same house. Listed as-is, it might fetch $420,000 — but subtract roughly 5% in commissions, a repair credit after the buyer's inspection, seller concessions, and four to six months of mortgage payments, taxes, and insurance while it sits. The gap between the two paths is real, but it's meaningfully smaller than the sticker prices suggest. That's the comparison that matters: net to net, not price to price.

When a cash sale makes sense — and when it doesn't

The trade tends to make sense when time or condition is the problem: a foreclosure date on the calendar, an inherited house three hours away, a repair list no lender will finance, tenants you'd rather not manage through a listing, or a move that won't wait. In those situations, certainty has real value.

It usually doesn't make sense when the house is in decent shape and you have time. If you can prep, list, and wait out a normal escrow, the open market will almost always pay you more. A cash buyer who tells you otherwise isn't being straight with you.

How we set our number

When we make an offer, you get your Walk-Away Number in writing within 24 hours — the figure that actually lands in your pocket, with no commissions and no closing costs taken out of it. Alongside it we give you an Options Report: what listing, renting, or repairing first would likely look like for your specific property. If one of those beats our offer for your situation, the report will show it, and we'll say so. We'd rather you pick the right path than the fast one.

If you want to see your number, request a cash offer or call (707) 202-5153. And if you're still vetting buyers — good — start with how to tell if a cash buyer is legit.