A real cash offer is arithmetic, not a number pulled from the air. Here is the formula we use, what goes into each line, and the questions a seller should ask any buyer about the math.
By InTym Properties
Most cash offers arrive as a single number with no visible arithmetic behind it. That is the wrong shape for an offer, because a number you cannot question is a number you cannot trust. Here is the formula we actually use, what goes into each line, and the questions worth asking any buyer, including us, about the math.
Offer = what the property is worth as it sits − the repairs we absorb − holding and transaction costs − margin.
That is the whole structure. Every serious cash buyer runs some version of it; the difference between a trustworthy offer and a lowball is whether the lines are real numbers you can inspect or invented padding you cannot.
The starting point is an honest value opinion on the house in its current condition, grounded in comparable sales of similar-condition homes nearby, not the renovated listing three streets over. On a clean retail-ready house this number approaches market value. On a house with a failed roof and 1998 systems it is meaningfully lower, and it should be, because the next lines price exactly that gap.
For multifamily the input changes: the building is underwritten on what it actually earns, the real rent roll against real expenses, not a hypothetical renovated rent. The multifamily page describes that underwriting in more detail.
This is the line where vague offers hide their padding. Our walkthrough produces a scope, not a vibe: roof, HVAC, kitchen and baths, flooring, paint, exterior, code items, whatever the property actually needs to reach the value in line one. Each item carries a real cost from the trades who do the work, not a round number invented to justify the offer.
You can and should question this line. If we have priced a kitchen that does not need replacing, say so. If your contractor says the roof number is high, show us. The repair scope is the most negotiable line in the formula because it is the most factual one.
A buyer who renovates and resells carries the property for months: taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, plus the transaction costs on both ends, including doc stamps on the purchase, the eventual resale's title and listing costs, and the cost of the capital while it sits. On a Broward house that block of costs is a real five-figure number before anyone renovates a thing. The doc stamps post covers one piece of it.
Yes, there is a margin, and any buyer who pretends otherwise is the one to walk away from. A real-estate business that buys, repairs, holds, and resells earns the spread between what it paid all-in and what the property sells for. The margin is not hidden in our math; it is the last line of it. What makes an offer fair is not the absence of a margin but whether every line above it is honest.
Listing price and cash-offer price answer different questions. A listing price asks what a retail buyer might pay for the house after repairs, commissions, months of showings, and the risk of a financed deal collapsing. A cash offer answers what the house is worth today, as it sits, with a buyer who absorbs all of that. The gap between them is not profit skimmed off you; it is the cost of the work, time, and risk the buyer takes on. The cash buyers versus market value post puts honest ranges on that gap, and when listing would genuinely net you more we say so, because the cash-offer-versus-listing comparison is a math problem, not a sales pitch.
A cash offer you can trust is a formula with the arithmetic showing, not a number on a postcard. Ours runs value minus repairs minus holding costs minus margin, and every line is a question you are invited to ask. That is what "in writing" is for.
Want the actual numbers on your property? Call or text (650) 540-1854. InTym Properties writes the offer, shows the lines, and the number we sign is the number that closes.
The common structure: after-repair value times a factor (the industry shorthand is around 70 percent), minus the repair cost, minus holding and transaction costs, minus the buyer's margin. InTym Properties shows the actual lines: the value opinion, the repair scope, the carrying costs, and the margin, so you can question each number.
Because the repaired, resellable value is the ceiling the deal has to fit inside. The offer has to cover the purchase, the renovation, the months of holding, and the resale transaction, all inside that ceiling. Everything between the offer and the ceiling is the buyer's cost and margin.
An investor rule of thumb: pay no more than about 70 percent of a property's after-repair value minus repairs. It is a screening heuristic, not a law, and it fits renovation-resale deals more than hold deals. A building bought for its income gets underwritten on the rent roll instead, which is why our multifamily offers do not run on the 70 percent shortcut.
You should ask, and a serious buyer will show it. The repair line is where vague offers hide: a lump-sum 'renovation allowance' with no scope is a number you cannot check. InTym Properties' offers walk the condition items that drive the number.
Yes, and the math is what makes it negotiable. If you disagree with a line, the comparable sales, the repair scope, the holding months, say so. An offer built on visible arithmetic can be argued with; an offer that is just a number cannot be.
Our written offer is based on what you tell us plus the walkthrough, and the number we sign is the number that closes. Buyers who cut the price after inspections are running a different model: the [vetting post](/blog/we-buy-houses-scams-how-to-vet-cash-buyer/) calls out the renegotiation bait specifically.
Written offer usually within 48 hours, signed by InTym Properties, every number shown. No repairs, no fees, no obligation.
The scams follow patterns: bait-and-switch offers, fake proof of funds, hidden assignment clauses, upfront fees. Six checks that verify any cash buyer without trusting them, run against InTym Properties too.
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