Questions Home Sellers Actually Ask Us — Answered Honestly

Last updated: June 2026

When you talk to home sellers every day for years, you notice the same questions come up again and again — and you notice that the questions people ask on the phone are blunter and better than the sanitized FAQs most companies publish.

So here are the real ones, including the skeptical ones, answered the way we'd answer them on a call. No hedging. If the honest answer is "don't sell to us," it says that.

"Is this a scam?"

Fair question — people in stressful situations attract predators, and our industry has more than its share. Selling to a cash buyer is a legitimate, ordinary transaction that happens thousands of times a day in America. But you should verify any buyer, including us. The tells of a legitimate operation:

• Closing happens at a licensed title company (or with a closing attorney, in attorney states). Your money comes from the title company's escrow — never directly from the buyer's pocket to your hand.
• The offer is in writing. Verbal numbers that shift at the closing table are the classic bait-and-switch.
• You never pay anything upfront. No application fees, no processing fees, nothing.
• Nobody pressures you to sign today. A real buyer's offer survives you taking a few days to think, or having an attorney read the contract.

We wrote a full guide to the scams that target cash-sale sellers — read it before you sign with anyone, including us.

"Why is your offer lower than what Zillow says my house is worth?"

This is the most important question on this page, so here's the full answer.

The Zillow estimate imagines your house already renovated, sold through the traditional market, with the renovation free and the risk zero. Our offer prices the actual project we're buying:

• The renovation — on a dated or damaged house, routinely $50,000–$100,000+ once you open the walls
• The carrying costs — four to six months of taxes, insurance, utilities, and financing while the work happens
• The resale costs — when we sell the renovated house, we pay the agent commissions, closing costs, and buyer concessions you're skipping
• The risk — what's behind the walls is almost always worse than what's visible, never better

We walked through this line by line, with a representative budget table, in What Actually Happens to Your House After We Buy It. The trade you're making is real and you should make it with open eyes: a below-retail price in exchange for speed, certainty, zero repairs, zero cleanout, and zero fees. For some situations that trade is clearly worth it; for others it isn't.

"Okay, so what's the catch?"

The catch is the previous answer: the price is below full retail. That's the whole catch. There is no other one — no fees, no commissions, no repair demands, no cleanout, no "processing costs" appearing at closing.

If your house is move-in ready and you have a few months of flexibility, the catch matters and you should probably list with an agent instead. If your house needs a roof and you need to be in another state by July, the catch is the cheapest thing on the menu.

"Do I pay any fees or commissions?"

No. No agent commissions (there's no agent), and we cover standard closing costs. The number on your offer is the number you walk away with, minus whatever is owed on your mortgage and any liens — those get paid off through the title company at closing, exactly like in a traditional sale.

"How can you possibly close in 7 days?"

Because everything slow about a traditional sale is the buyer's financing, and we don't have any. No lender underwriting, no appraisal requirement, no loan contingency, no inspection-negotiation round trip. What's left is a title search and closing prep, which a title company can turn around in days.

Honestly, most sellers don't pick 7 days — they pick two to four weeks so they have time to move, or they time the closing to the day that works for their life. The point isn't the speed record; it's that you choose the date and it actually happens on that date.

"Do you really buy houses in ANY condition?"

Yes, and we mean it literally: fire damage, foundation problems, mold, hoarder houses, tenants who won't leave, code violations. Condition changes the number, not whether there's an offer.

Here's the part most sellers don't know: for a house with serious condition issues, cash buyers aren't just the convenient option — they're often the only option, because FHA and conventional lenders won't finance a house with an active roof leak or structural movement. "I'll just list it cheap" fails when no buyer's bank will approve the loan.

"Do I have to clean out the house first?"

No — and we wish more people knew this before they spent three weekends and $2,000 on dumpsters. As-is includes the contents. Take your documents, photos, valuables, and whatever furniture you're keeping. Leave everything else: the garage full of tools, the attic boxes, the couch. We handle the cleanout after closing, and usable items get donated rather than dumped.

"I'm behind on my mortgage. Can I still sell?"

In almost every case, yes — right up until the foreclosure auction itself. The sale pays off your lender through the title company, the foreclosure stops, and any equity left over is yours.

The thing we say on every one of these calls: the enemy is waiting. Every month of delay adds missed payments and fees to your payoff and shrinks what you walk away with. The sellers who come out of pre-foreclosure in decent shape are the ones who acted with months on the clock, not days. Start with our guides on pre-foreclosure and selling during foreclosure, and check your state's foreclosure timeline.

"What happens after I submit my address on your site?"

Three steps, no tricks: we research your property and the local market, we call or text you to ask a few questions about the house's condition (honest answers get you a more accurate offer — we'll see the house eventually either way), and you get a written cash offer, typically within 24 hours. Then it's your decision on your timeline. No one shows up at your door, and "no" is an acceptable answer.

"Can I change my mind?"

Before you sign a purchase agreement — of course. The offer is free, and most people use it exactly the way you'd hope: as a data point to compare against listing with an agent.

After you sign, you're in a real contract, so treat it like one: read it, ask what the cancellation terms are, and take it to an attorney if you want — any buyer who objects to that is telling you something.

"Should I just list with an agent instead?"

Maybe! Here's the honest decision rule we'd give a family member:

We went deeper on the math in Cash Offer vs. Traditional Sale, and on the situations themselves in The Real Reasons People Sell to a Cash Buyer. Get both numbers for your actual house, and pick the one that fits your life. That's the entire game.