Nobody’s going to pay you full retail price for a house they’re buying with cash in two weeks.
If you already know that and you’re fine with it, great. If you’ve been wondering whether cash buyers rip people off — that’s a fair question, and it deserves a straight answer. Here’s the actual math, including when it makes sense and when it doesn’t.
Most cash buyers, including us, base offers on a version of this formula:
Cash Offer = After Repair Value (ARV) × 70–75% — Estimated Repair Costs
Here’s what that means:
So if your home’s ARV is $150,000 (closer to the Metro East Illinois median) and needs $20,000 in repairs:
$150,000 × 70% = $105,000
$105,000 − $20,000 = $85,000 cash offer
That’s the ballpark. Every buyer calculates this slightly differently, but this is the math. And yes, $85k on a $150k home sounds like a big gap — until you do the agent math below.
Here’s what most people don’t factor in when they compare a cash offer to a listing price:
Selling through an agent costs money:
Add it up on that same $150,000 Metro East home: $150k minus $9k commission, minus $3k closing costs, minus $20k in repairs you paid upfront, minus $4,500 carrying costs = roughly $113,500 net.
Cash offer was $85,000. That’s still a $28,500 gap — and we’re not going to pretend otherwise. The question is whether speed, certainty, and not having to front $20k in repairs is worth $28,500 to you. For some sellers it is. For others, it isn’t. Both are valid answers.
It’s not always the right call. Here’s when it usually is:
The house needs significant work. If you’re looking at a new roof, HVAC replacement, foundation issues, or a dated kitchen — a traditional buyer is going to ask for a price reduction or repairs anyway. That negotiation eats into your number. We price repairs in upfront and don’t come back asking for more.
You need to sell fast. Listing takes time. The average home in St. Clair County sits on market 50–70 days before going under contract. Then 30+ days to close. If you need money or need to move in the next 30 days, a cash sale is the only realistic option.
The situation is complicated. Probate, divorce, back taxes, foreclosure, bad tenants — these scare traditional buyers and their lenders. Cash buyers deal with all of it regularly. (See our guides on selling during Illinois probate, selling during a divorce, and selling with back taxes for specifics on each.)
You don’t want showings. Keeping a house show-ready while you’re living in it or managing a difficult situation is exhausting. We see the house once. That’s it.
📞 Want to see what a cash offer looks like on your specific Metro East home? Call Jim at (618) 800-2635 — we’ll give you a real number within 24 hours. No obligation.
If your house is in great shape, you’re not in a hurry, and you can handle 2–4 months of showings and negotiating — you’ll likely net more money with an agent. That’s just true.
We don’t win every deal and we’re not trying to. If your situation doesn’t match the cases above, a good agent might be a better fit and we’ll tell you that directly.
We look at:
We give you a number within 24 hours. No pressure to accept. No fee for getting an offer. If our number doesn’t work for you, no hard feelings.
What we don’t do: lowball you with a number we have no intention of actually paying. We’ve heard horror stories from sellers who get a high verbal offer and then face a pile of “inspection deductions” on closing day. We make one offer and stick to it.
If you want to know what a cash offer on your Metro East Illinois home would actually look like — just ask. Takes about 5 minutes to give us the basics and we’ll get back to you same day.
No repairs. No commissions. No obligation. Just a real number on your home.
Simply Sold LLC buys houses for cash throughout Metro East Illinois — Belleville, O’Fallon, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Alton, Granite City, Swansea, Fairview Heights, Troy, Maryville, and surrounding communities.