How cash home offers are actually calculated

A cash offer can feel like a mystery number, but it is not. Behind every fair offer is a short, repeatable calculation. Once you understand the pieces, you can judge any offer you receive, ours or anyone else’s, with confidence.

It starts with the after-repair value

The first question a cash buyer asks is simple: if this home were fully fixed up and listed today, what would it sell for? That number, called the after-repair value or ARV, comes from recent sales of similar homes nearby, the same comparable sales an agent or appraiser would use.

Then we subtract the work

Next we estimate what it would cost to bring the home to that finished condition: roof, systems, cosmetics, anything deferred. A home that is move-in ready carries almost no deduction here. A home that needs a lot carries more. This is why two houses on the same street can get very different offers.

And the costs of carrying and reselling

A buyer also accounts for the real costs of owning the home while it is fixed and resold: taxes, insurance, utilities, and the agent fees on the eventual resale. None of these come out of your pocket, but they shape the math.

What is left is your offer

After the resale value, minus repairs, minus carrying and selling costs, and a modest margin, you are left with the cash offer. The trade you are making is clear: a bit of top-end price in exchange for speed, certainty, and zero fees or repairs. For many sellers, that trade is well worth it.

When we send you an offer, we are happy to walk through each of these numbers so nothing feels like a black box. A fair offer should make sense on paper.