Calculator·Assumptions checked September 11, 2026
What a cash offer actually nets against a listed sale after commissions, closing costs, repairs, and carrying costs, so you can compare the two the only way that matters.
Not sure what it would sell for? Start with a free range.
Check my home’s value →Net if you list
$466,656
$442,706 low · $481,856 high
Listing comes out ahead in all three cases, by $66,906 in the middle one.
Net from the cash offer
$399,750
$396,306 low · $399,750 high
A cash offer of about $467,000 would net the same as the middle listing case.
Low is the pessimistic case for each path: a lower sale price, a longer wait, bigger repair credits or deductions. High is the optimistic one. Both paths start from the same market value.
| Line | Low | Mid | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| If you list it | |||
| Sale price3% under, at, and 2% over your market value. | $485,000 | $500,000 | $510,000 |
| Commissions, both sides6.00% to 4.75% of the price. | $29,100 | $26,250 | $24,225 |
| Title, settlement, and recording | $3,444 | $3,094 | $2,920 |
| Repair credits after inspection | $7,500 | $2,500 | $0 |
| Carrying the home while it sells4.5, 3, or 2 months of mortgage, tax, insurance, and upkeep. | $2,250 | $1,500 | $1,000 |
| Net if you list | $442,706 | $466,656 | $481,856 |
| If you take the cash offer | |||
| Cash offer | $400,000 | $400,000 | $400,000 |
| Repair deduction after their inspectionAn investor's offer already prices in repairs. | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Closing costs you payMany investors pay all closing costs; the low case assumes you pay the usual seller side. | $3,444 | $0 | $0 |
| Carrying the home until it closesAbout two weeks with a Utah title company. | $250 | $250 | $250 |
| Net from the cash offer | $396,306 | $399,750 | $399,750 |
| Listing minus cash, net to netPositive means listing puts more in your account. | +$46,400 | +$66,906 | +$82,106 |
The whole comparison rests on the market value line, and the comps a cash buyer lays on your table are the comps they chose. Get a free value range for your address →
Listing costs use the typical commission, title, and settlement bands from the closing cost calculator and about three months from listing to funding. Investor and iBuyer deductions are from published studies, not any one buyer’s terms. Not legal or financial advice.
Both paths start from the same number: what the home would sell for on the MLS as it sits. The listed path takes off commissions, title and settlement, the repair credit a buyer negotiates after inspection, whatever you spend getting it ready, and the cost of carrying the house for the months a listing takes. The cash path takes off the buyer’s fee if there is one, the repair deduction that follows their walk through, any closing costs they leave to you, and a couple of weeks of carrying cost. What remains on each side is what lands in your account, and the last row is the difference.
The columns are pessimistic, middle, and optimistic for each path. A pessimistic listing sells 3% under your value, takes 4.5 months, and gives up 1.5% in repair credits at full commission. An optimistic one sells 2% over, takes 2 months, and gives up nothing. The break even figure under the cash net is the offer that would match the middle listing case.
It depends entirely on which kind of cash buyer. An end buyer who simply doesn’t need a loan pays market price, and in Washington County that describes an unusual share of purchases: retirees, households cashing out of California, Utah County families trading up. Those buyers arrive through a listing, at list price, and don’t need this calculator.
Investors are different. Flippers work backward from what the house will fetch fixed up: about 70% of that after repair value, minus the repairs, which on a home that would list at $500,000 with $40,000 of work pencils out near $310,000. The national iBuyers sit in between. Clever’s study of 410 homes Opendoor bought and resold between 2023 and 2025 found the company paid about 8.8% below its eventual resale price, charged a service fee that has run around 5% and now varies by market, deducted repairs that started around 3% of the price, and left the seller about 1% in closing costs. That’s where the iBuyer preset comes from. Wholesalers are the ones to watch: they never intend to own the house, and the offer is only as real as the buyer they find for it.
The main thing a cash buyer sells you is time. A well priced Washington County listing spent about 53 days on the market this summer before going under contract, and a financed closing adds another month, so the middle case here is three months from list to funded. A cash deal with a Utah title company can close in a week or two. While you wait, the mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, and upkeep keep running; the calculator adds your payment to about 1.2% of value a year for the rest. Three months on a $500,000 home with a $2,000 payment is roughly $7,500. Real money, and usually a long way from the gap between the two nets.
Utah is a nondisclosure state, and it cuts against you here. When a flipper resells your old house next spring, that price won’t appear in any public record, so you’ll never get the after the fact check a seller in Mesa or Henderson gets. The comps a cash buyer lays out on your kitchen table are the comps they chose. Walk in with your own number.
The contract has a twist too. Utah’s standard purchase contract runs on deadlines, and while a cash offer strikes the financing and appraisal ones, the due diligence deadline is still there unless the buyer waives it. Until it passes, the buyer can cancel for any reason and take the earnest money home. “Cash, as is” is binding the day that deadline passes, not the day you sign. A short due diligence period and a large deposit are what make a cash offer real; ask in writing whether the buyer will close in their own name or assign the contract.
Capital gains tax, which is the same gain either way apart from the selling costs, and has its own calculator. The value of not hosting showings or moving twice, which only you can price. And the terms of any specific offer: when you have one, put its fee, its repair deduction, and its closing cost allocation into the fields and the comparison becomes yours rather than the average.
A free estimate for your specific St. George home, built from what's listing and closing near you. Hold it next to the offer in your hand and the comparison above gets real.
Know what it's worth before you answer