The honest answer: usually 10 to 30 percent below what a fully fixed-up house would list for
If you’ve searched “how much lower are cash offers,” you already suspect the answer is “lower.” It is. A cash offer from an investor like Longleaf Home Buyers in Augusta, Evans, Grovetown, North Augusta or Aiken will almost always come in below what your house could sell for on the open market after repairs, staging and a few months of showings.
What most articles skip is how much lower, why, and what you actually keep after a traditional sale. That gap is the whole decision. A $20,000 lower offer that saves you $25,000 in repairs, commissions and holding costs is not a worse deal. A $20,000 lower offer on a move-in-ready house in a hot neighborhood probably is.
This post walks through exactly how a cash offer is built, runs the numbers on a typical Augusta house, and tells you plainly when you should take one and when you should call a real estate agent instead. We’d rather you make the right call than sign with us for the wrong reasons.
How a cash offer is actually built
Every legitimate cash buyer starts from the same four numbers. If a buyer can’t walk you through them, that’s your first warning sign.
1. After-repair value (ARV). What your house would sell for on the MLS once it’s fully fixed up. We pull it from recent sold comps within about a mile, cross-checked against Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com. This is the number everything else comes off of, and it’s the one you should ask to see.
2. Repairs. What it costs to get the house from its current condition to that ARV. In the CSRA that means roofs, HVAC, water heaters, flooring, kitchens and baths, plus anything Hurricane Helene left behind. A buyer who quotes repairs without seeing the house is guessing, and guesses tend to run high.
3. Selling and holding costs. When the buyer resells, they pay the same things you’d pay: agent commissions, closing costs, insurance, taxes, utilities and loan interest for the three to six months the house sits in rehab. On a $200,000 house this runs $20,000 to $30,000 before anyone turns a profit.
4. Margin. The buyer’s profit for taking on the risk. A reasonable investor needs something in the range of $25,000 to $35,000 on a typical Augusta flip, more on an expensive house. If the margin disappears, the deal does too, usually right before closing.
Put together, the math most investors use looks like this:
Cash offer ≈ (ARV × 70% to 80%) − Repairs
The percentage slides with price and condition. Cheaper houses carry a lower percentage because fixed costs like a $12,000 roof don’t shrink with the price. Nicer, higher-priced houses carry a higher one. Where Longleaf differs from most buyers is that we’ll show you our ARV, our repair estimate and our comps on the phone, so you can check our work.
A real-world Augusta example
Take a 3-bed, 2-bath brick ranch in south Augusta or Hephzibah, built in the 1970s, 1,400 square feet. Fixed up, similar houses sell around $185,000. Yours has the original kitchen, a 20-year-old roof, dated bathrooms and carpet that has seen better days. A fair repair estimate is $35,000.
Here is what the two paths look like for that seller. The listing column assumes the house sells as-is to a retail buyer at a discount for condition, which is what usually happens when a seller doesn’t want to fund the repairs up front.
| Cash offer | List as-is with an agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $100,000 | $150,000 |
| Agent commissions (about 5.5%) | $0 | -$8,250 |
| Seller closing costs and attorney fees | $0 | -$2,500 |
| Buyer repair credits after inspection | $0 | -$6,000 |
| Holding costs while listed (3 months: mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities) | $0 | -$4,500 |
| Clean-out, lawn, minor fixes to show the house | $0 | -$2,000 |
| Net to seller | $100,000 | $126,750 |
| Time to close | 10 to 21 days | 90 to 120 days |
So in this case the cash offer is about $27,000 lower than what you’d walk away with by listing. That’s the true gap, not the $50,000 difference in headline price. Whether $27,000 is worth three extra months, two dozen showings, an inspection negotiation and the risk the buyer’s financing falls through is a personal decision, and it depends on why you’re selling.
Two things move that gap a lot. If the house is in good shape, listing wins by more. If the house needs a roof and the mortgage is $1,400 a month, a six-month listing can eat most of the difference, and the cash offer starts to look like the smarter move.
When a cash offer is worth it, and when it isn’t
A cash offer tends to be the better choice when the house needs more work than you want to fund, when you’ve inherited a property you don’t live near, when a tenant is in place and you’d rather not evict to sell, when you’re behind on payments or taxes and the clock matters, or when a divorce, job move or health situation means you need a certain date more than you need the last dollar.
Listing with an agent tends to be the better choice when the house is in good condition, when you’re not in a hurry, when the mortgage is small or paid off so holding costs don’t bite, and when the neighborhood is one where retail buyers are competing. In Evans, Martinez and much of Columbia County right now, a clean house priced right will usually sell quickly, and you should hear that from us.
We’ll tell you which column you’re in on the first call. Our acquisitions team is paid on deals that close and sellers who are glad they did, not on talking people out of listing. If an agent is the right answer, we’ll say so, and we can point you to a few we trust.
Five questions to ask any cash buyer
- What ARV did you use, and which comps? If they can’t name three sold houses nearby, the number is made up.
- What did you estimate for repairs, and can I see the breakdown? A line-item estimate is a real offer. A round number is a placeholder they plan to renegotiate.
- Is this your money, or are you assigning the contract to another buyer? Both are legal and common. You just deserve to know, because an assigned contract depends on someone else showing up.
- How much earnest money will you put down, and when is it non-refundable? Serious buyers put real money at risk. Ask what happens if they cancel.
- Who pays closing costs, and what’s the inspection or due-diligence period? A good cash offer covers your closing costs and keeps the inspection window short, usually a week or less.
If the answers are clear and the numbers hold up against your own research, you can trust the offer. If they get vague, keep shopping. There are plenty of buyers in the Augusta area, and the good ones won’t mind being checked.
Frequently asked questions
How much lower are cash offers than market value? Most cash offers land 10 to 30 percent below after-repair value, depending on how much work the house needs. Compared with what a seller actually nets from a traditional as-is listing after commissions, repairs, credits and holding costs, the real gap is usually much smaller.
Is it worth selling your house to an investor? It is when the house needs significant repairs, when you need to close on a specific date, or when the cost of carrying the house for several months outweighs the price difference. It usually isn’t when the house is in good shape and you can afford to wait.
Do cash buyers pay closing costs? Reputable ones do. At Longleaf we cover standard seller closing costs and attorney fees, and we don’t charge commissions or fees of any kind.
Can I negotiate a cash offer? Yes. Ask for the ARV and repair estimate behind the number and push back on anything that looks off. We’d rather adjust an offer than lose a fair deal over a bad repair guess.
How fast can a cash sale close in Georgia or South Carolina? Typically 10 to 21 days once title is clear. Georgia closings run through a closing attorney, and South Carolina requires one as well, so the timeline is similar on both sides of the river.
Want to see your own numbers?
Tell us about the house and we’ll put together an offer with the ARV, repairs and comps spelled out, no obligation and no pressure. If listing is the better move for you, we’ll tell you that too. Call or text (706) 760-9783 or get your cash offer here.