Selling a house comes down to one trade-off: how much time you have versus how much money you're willing to give up to save it. Every seller faces this, whether they're relocating for a job that starts in three weeks, splitting assets in a divorce, clearing out a parent's estate, or just tired of a property that won't stop costing money. The three main paths, iBuyer, cash buyer, and traditional listing, each solve a different version of that problem. None of them is universally "better." They're built for different situations, and picking wrong can cost you either months or thousands of dollars.
Here's how each one actually works, with the numbers most sellers don't see until they're deep into a contract.
The Three Exits, Defined Plainly
An iBuyer is a company (think Opendoor or Offerpad) that uses an algorithm to make an instant cash offer based on comparable sales, then closes on a timeline you pick, often 14 to 60 days out. They buy the house directly, hold it, make repairs, and resell it.
A cash buyer is typically a private investor, a small investment fund, or a company like the ones you'll find through homedinero.com, that also buys directly without financing contingencies, but with more human judgment in the offer and often more flexibility on closing date, condition, or even leaseback arrangements.
A traditional listing means hiring an agent, prepping the home, listing it on the MLS, and waiting for a financed buyer to make an offer, get an appraisal, get underwritten, and close, a process that nationally averages around 45 to 60 days from listing to closing in a balanced market, longer if inventory is high or your local market has slowed.
What an iBuyer Actually Pays You
iBuyers advertise convenience, and they deliver it. But the offer you see first is rarely the number you net.
Most iBuyer service fees run 5% to 14% of the sale price, on top of which they typically deduct repair costs after their own inspection. Say a $350,000 home gets an iBuyer offer at $340,000 (already below market to build in their margin). Subtract a 7% service fee (about $23,800) and a repair credit of $8,000 for things like roof age or HVAC condition, and the seller nets closer to $308,000 before any remaining closing costs.
That's a real number people accept every day, because the trade is 12-day certainty instead of a 50-day unknown. But it's worth knowing going in that the gap between the initial offer and the final wire can run 10% to 20% of the home's value once fees and repair deductions land.
What a Cash Buyer Actually Pays You
Cash buyers vary more than iBuyers because they're not running a single standardized algorithm. Some are individual investors buying one rental at a time. Others are funds or platforms matching sellers with a pool of vetted buyers who compete for the property.
The general pattern: cash offers land somewhere between 70% and 90% of after-repair market value, with the discount reflecting the buyer's need to profit after repairs, holding costs, and resale. A $350,000 home in fair condition might draw cash offers in the $280,000 to $310,000 range.
Where cash buyers differ from iBuyers is flexibility. Many will buy a house with a collapsed roof, fire damage, or a hoarder situation that an iBuyer's algorithm will simply decline. Many will also let a seller stay in the home for a few weeks after closing, cover a portion of moving costs, or close in as little as seven days if the title is clean. And because multiple cash buyers can bid on the same property through a platform, sellers who get competing offers often land closer to the top of that discount range instead of the bottom.
What a Traditional Listing Actually Nets You
A traditional sale usually produces the highest gross sale price, since it's open to the full pool of financed buyers, not just cash investors. National data consistently shows homes sold through an agent closing several percentage points higher than off-market cash sales, before costs.
But costs eat into that gap fast. Figure on:
- Agent commission: 5% to 6% of sale price, split between buyer's and seller's agents
- Seller-paid closing costs: 1% to 3% of sale price (title, transfer tax, prorated fees)
- Pre-listing repairs and staging: often $3,000 to $15,000 depending on the home's condition
- Concessions to the buyer after inspection: commonly 1% to 2% of sale price
On that same $350,000 home, a full-price traditional sale at $355,000 could net around $355,000 minus $21,300 commission, minus $7,000 closing costs, minus $5,000 in repairs and concessions, landing near $321,700. That's higher than either the iBuyer or cash offer example above, but it assumed no appraisal gap, no financing fallthrough, and a buyer ready to move within 45 to 60 days.
That assumption is the whole risk. Roughly 1 in 20 traditional sale contracts falls through nationally due to financing, inspection, or appraisal issues, according to National Association of Realtors buyer and seller survey data. When a deal collapses at day 40, the seller isn't just out the time, they're back at the start of a 45-day clock while carrying a mortgage, taxes, and insurance on a house they thought was sold.
Running the Numbers Side by Side
Using the illustrative $350,000 home:
| Exit | Estimated Net | Typical Timeline | Fallthrough Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| iBuyer | ~$308,000 | 14 to 30 days | Low, but repair renegotiation is common |
| Cash buyer | ~$280,000 to $310,000 | 7 to 21 days | Very low |
| Traditional listing | ~$321,700 (if it closes clean) | 45 to 60 days | Moderate, appraisal and financing risk |
The traditional sale wins on paper. It only wins in practice if nothing goes wrong, and if you can afford to carry the property for six to eight weeks while you wait to find out.
When Speed Should Decide the Exit
Speed matters more than maximum price in a few recurring situations: a job relocation with a hard start date, a divorce where both parties need funds split and finalized, an inherited property racking up taxes and insurance with no one local to manage it, or a mortgage heading toward default where every week changes the math with the lender. In each of these, the cost of two more months on the market, mortgage payments, utilities, insurance, HOA dues, potential vacancy, often exceeds the price gap between a cash offer and a retail sale.
Run your own numbers before assuming the listed price wins. Add up carrying costs per month, multiply by the realistic timeline including a fallthrough risk buffer, and compare that total against the difference between your best cash offer and your expected net from a traditional sale.
When Price Should Decide the Exit
If you're not under time pressure, if the home shows well, and if you can absorb a financing fallthrough without financial strain, a traditional listing usually nets more money. This is especially true in seller's markets where multiple financed offers push the price above asking. Small investors selling a stabilized rental with a paying tenant, or homeowners selling a well-maintained property in a desirable school district, often fall into this category.
A Few Red Flags Worth Knowing
On the iBuyer side, watch for repair estimates that arrive after you've already signed a preliminary agreement, since renegotiating a lower number at that point costs you leverage you no longer have.
On the cash buyer side, ask for proof of funds and recent closings before signing anything. A legitimate buyer will provide both without hesitation.
On the traditional listing side, watch commission structures closely. Some agents quote a low listing fee but build in transaction fees or require you to cover both sides if the buyer is unrepresented.
How to Decide Without Overthinking It
List your actual timeline constraint in days, not months. List your home's condition honestly, since a home needing $30,000 in repairs will get discounted heavily in a traditional sale too, just later in the process instead of upfront. Then get real offers from more than one channel. A cash offer costs nothing to obtain and gives you a floor price to compare against what an agent thinks the home will fetch on the open market. Sellers who compare an actual cash number against an actual listing estimate make a better decision than sellers who guess based on what a neighbor's house sold for two years ago.
Get competing cash offers on your home, no fees, close in days, at homedinero.com