Cash offer data: what cash buyers actually pay

Most legitimate cash offers land between 70% and 85% of what the home would sell for at retail. The spread is not arbitrary: a move-in-ready house gets the top of the range, and a house needing major work gets the bottom, sometimes below it. The published worked examples on this site put a cosmetic project at roughly 84% of after-repair value and a $90,000 structural job at 65 to 70%.

iBuyers like Opendoor price the other way: a preliminary offer near 97-98% of market value, then a service fee (historically 5 to 8%, now variable) and repair deductions that routinely land the final number $10,000 to $30,000 below the preliminary one, on houses clean enough to qualify at all.

The full range breakdown: how much cash buyers pay vs. market value

One formula, everywhere: after-repair value minus repairs minus holding and resale costs minus the buyer’s margin. The industry shorthand is the “70% rule,” but real buyers price each line separately. Here is the worked example published in our cash-offer math post, on a Boise-area house where renovated comps sell for $500,000:

Cash is a large share of the market, especially in Florida. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro had the highest cash share of any major U.S. metro at 43.2% of all sales in early 2026, versus 31.4% nationally (Realtor.com). Broward County ran 36.3% to 37.1% cash across Q2 2026, with condos at 49.5% to 53.4% and single-family homes around 22% to 24% (MIAMI REALTORS / RWorld data).

On speed: a written cash offer typically lands within 48 hours and a clean title closes in 7 to 14 days. The listing path in the table above is the alternative: up to 115 median days on market, then a 30-to-60-day financed close on top.

Some deadlines make that math non-optional. Florida foreclosure is judicial: once the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit sets a sale date, it is typically 90 to 120 days out. Idaho foreclosure is non-judicial: under Idaho Code § 45-1505 through § 45-1508 the trustee’s-sale notice goes out at least 120 days before the auction, the reinstatement window is 115 days, and there is no redemption after the sale. Delinquent Florida property taxes accrue up to 18% a year under § 197.172, and code-enforcement fines can run $250 to $5,000 a day under § 162.09.

The honest comparison is net to the seller, not gross price. A traditional listing typically carries a 5 to 6% commission, state transfer taxes, pre-listing repairs, and months of carrying costs. The transfer-tax line varies by state:

• — Florida: documentary stamps at $0.70 per $100 of sale price (§ 201.02)
• — Ohio: conveyance fee, about $4 per $1,000
• — Michigan: state plus county transfer tax, about $8.60 per $1,000
• — Idaho: no transfer tax

The published Fort Lauderdale worked example priced a median-area house both ways: a $532,000 listing netted $472,579.50 after 6% commission, doc stamps, 4.5 months of $3,500-a-month carrying costs, and $8,000 of repairs, while a $465,000 cash offer netted $461,718.50. The real gap was about $11,000 in the listing’s best case; $25,000 of repairs or one price reduction flips it below the cash offer.

Full math: cash offer vs. listing with an agent in Fort Lauderdale

Market stats. Median sale price, median days on market, and year-over-year trend for each city are the same Redfin Data Center figures published on that city’s page, as of August-September 2026 (the as-of month is printed under each table). Financed-close ranges are the 30-to-60-day windows published on the same pages. Per-state ranges are the minimum and maximum of the city rows in the table above, computed from the figures shown — no new estimates.

Offer economics. The 70-85% range, the $500,000 worked example, the iBuyer fee and deduction figures, and the Fort Lauderdale net-proceeds comparison are republished verbatim from our blog posts, each linked where the figure appears.

Statutes. Foreclosure timelines, tax-lien interest, code-enforcement fines, and transfer taxes are linked to the governing statute in the Sources section.

Limitations. Citywide medians mix condos, single-family homes, and waterfront property; a specific house prices on its own comps and condition. The cash-offer ranges describe legitimate principal buyers and iBuyers, not wholesalers quoting placeholder numbers. Page reviewed October 18, 2026; markets move, so check the per-city page for the freshest figure.