Cash offer vs. listing with an agent: the real math

Most buyers use a mortgage, and the lender has to accept the house’s condition. That rule, more than anything else, decides whether a cash buyer is your best option.

Fannie Mae lets homes rated C1 to C5 for condition be appraised as-is. A home with deficiencies that affect safety, soundness or structural integrity must be appraised subject to repairs, and evidence of infestation, dampness or abnormal settlement needs proof of correction or a professional report.¹ If a financed buyer’s lender would require repairs you can’t pay for, your buyer pool may shrink mostly to cash buyers.

Since August 17, 2024, offers to pay a buyer’s agent can’t be posted on the MLS. Sellers may still offer them off the MLS, your listing agent must disclose any such payment to you in writing, with the amount, and get your approval. Agent fees and commissions are fully negotiable and not set by law.²

Buyers working with an agent now sign a written agreement before touring homes, and it has to state what the agent will be paid.²

Clever Real Estate’s August 2026 survey of 434 agents put the average total commission at 5.46%, with 2.70% on the buyer’s side.³ Clever markets discounted listing commissions, so treat it as a commercial survey. We found no neutral measure of how commissions have moved since the settlement.

A seller concession is when you pay some of the buyer’s costs, such as closing costs or repairs.⁴

For loans Fannie Mae buys, the seller’s contributions toward a buyer’s closing costs are capped at 3%, 6% or 9% of the price for a principal residence, depending on the loan-to-value ratio.⁵

NAR’s 2025 staging survey put the median cost of a professional staging service at $1,500.⁶ That is a survey of NAR members, not a price list. We found no neutral figure for a typical pre-listing repair bill.

Every month the house is listed, you keep paying property taxes, insurance, utilities and any mortgage interest.

Realtor.com’s national median days on market was 61 in September 2026.⁷

In NAR’s September 2026 survey, the median time to close was 30 days.⁸

In NAR’s September 2026 Realtors Confidence Index, agents reported that 7% of contracts had been terminated in the prior three months.⁸

In the same survey, 16% of contracts had a delayed settlement.⁸ The survey covers cash and financed deals together and does not give reasons, so it shows the risk exists, not who causes it.

Our illustration, using the published inputs on our Texas page: a $330,000 median as the after-repair value, $40,000 of repairs, a 5.61% commission and $835 a month in taxes and insurance. Texas has no transfer tax.

Listing as-is nets about $81,100 more than the cash offer here. The cash price uses the investor 70% rule of thumb, not a real offer, and the example leaves out escrow, owner’s title, payoff and taxes on the gain. The median mixes home types, and the tax figure predates Texas’s larger homestead exemption, so treat this as a simplification.

List as-is

You list with an agent but make no repairs, and price the house for its condition. It works best when the house qualifies for financing as it is.

A lower or listing-side-only commission

Buyer’s-agent pay is now a separate choice, and agent commissions are negotiable. We found no neutral national figure for discount or flat-fee prices, so get quotes in writing.