The costs of listing that don't show up in the asking price
When people compare a cash offer to "what my house is worth," they're usually comparing it to a list price — the gross number before anyone gets paid. A listed sale in South Florida typically involves:
- Commissions: Commonly around 5–6% of the sale price in total, split between the listing and buyer's agents (the exact rate is negotiable and varies by brokerage and market). On a $450,000 sale, 5.5% is about $24,750.
- Closing costs: Seller-side costs in Florida often run roughly 1–3% beyond commissions — title, doc stamps on the deed, and various fees. Call it $5,000–$10,000 on that same sale.
- Repairs and prep: The roof issue, the worn AC, the unpermitted addition — financed buyers' lenders and inspectors find them, and they get priced as repairs or credits. Even sellers who refuse repairs usually concede a credit after inspection. Budget anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands depending on condition.
- Carrying costs: Every month on the market is another mortgage payment, insurance premium (a real line item in Florida), tax accrual, utilities, lawn, and HOA if you have one. Three to six months of that on a typical Broward house is easily $8,000–$20,000.
- Fall-through risk: A meaningful share of financed deals die at appraisal, inspection, or underwriting — and you restart the clock.
Add it up on the $450,000 example and a listed sale can easily net somewhere around $385,000–$410,000 before we talk about your time and stress. Still usually more than a cash offer. But not the $450,000 in the headline.
What a cash sale costs — the part we should say out loud
A cash sale has no commissions, no closing costs from your side (we cover them), no repairs, no cleanout, and no months of carrying costs. The cost is the price itself: we buy below market value. How far below depends on the house — its condition, the repairs it needs, how long a resale would take, and the risk we take on. Typically, a fair cash offer reflects the after-repair value minus repair costs, minus the costs of holding and eventually selling the home, minus a margin that makes the project worth doing.
Any cash buyer who won't explain that formula is hoping you won't ask. We walk sellers through it on the call, line by line, and our agent vs. cash buyer page shows the comparison the same way we'd show it across a kitchen table.
