No mystery numbers
Most buyers pull a number out of the air and hope you don’t ask. Here’s our actual worksheet, the same one we bring to your kitchen table.
What would your house sell for if it were fixed up and sold the normal way? We look at what similar homes on nearby streets actually sold for in the last few months, not online estimates, real closed sales. That number is the ceiling everything else works down from.
From there, we subtract three things. That’s it. Three.
Say your house would be worth $250,000 fixed up and sold traditionally.
Every line gets explained at your table, with the repair list itemized. If you think a number’s off, say so. We’ll show you where it came from, and we’ve adjusted plenty of times when a homeowner knew something we didn’t.
It’s less than the fixed-up value, that’s true, and we’ll never pretend otherwise. Here’s the fair comparison: selling the traditional way, you’d pay for the repairs, the agent’s commission (about 6%), months of taxes and utilities while it sits, and whatever the buyer’s inspector negotiates off at the end.
Run both columns and the gap is usually much smaller than it first looks. Sometimes the traditional sale still wins, and when it does, we’ll tell you to take it. We’d rather lose a deal than have a neighbor feel tricked.
And remember: the cash offer is one of several options. If the number doesn’t work for you, that’s exactly when the other paths (more time, a paid-over-time sale, keeping the house) earn their keep.
Fair questions
The worksheet is honest, so there’s no fake padding to haggle away, but if you have information we don’t (a newer roof, a recent appraisal), the numbers move. Show us and we’ll rework it together.
No. The number we agree on is the number on the closing paperwork. No last-minute “inspection surprises”, that move is exactly why cash buyers have a bad name, and we don’t do it.
Nothing, and it obligates you to nothing. Plenty of folks get our worksheet, sell traditionally instead, and send us a thank-you note. That’s a fine outcome for everyone.
No pressure, ever
Two quick steps. We’ll bring the numbers; you bring the questions.