Let’s say you need to sell your home.
You want the best possible price and path to closing. So how do you choose between listing traditionally or accepting a cash offer?
If you’re like most homeowners, you’ll base your decision on habit rather than hard numbers.
The known quantity is listing your home the traditional way. It’s what every homeowner learns about in school, and it makes logical sense: list the home with an agent, get it marketed, wait for a buyer to make an offer, and pay the agreed-upon commission at closing.
But here’s the issue with that approach:
All those steps come with hidden — and not-so-hidden — costs that many sellers don’t account for until it’s too late.
On the other hand, you have cash offers.
An increasing number of sellers are learning just how much they can save by selling their house no commission — and close in less than half the time.
But how do cash offers stack up? And when should each option be considered?
Here’s some straight talk for homeowners about the pros, cons, and true costs of each sale method.
What We’ll Cover
- The Total Cost of Selling Your Home the Traditional Way
- What Sellers Get with a Cash Offer
- Weighing Time Against Sale Price
- When to Sell Your Home for Cash
The Total Cost of Selling Your Home the Traditional Way
Spoiler alert: It’s more than just the realtor’s cut.
While the average commission stands at 5.70% nationally in 2026, according to Clever Real Estate, the typical home will cost much more than agent fees to sell.
A host of factors can come out of your pocket before you accept an offer on your home. That includes:
Repair costs. Buyers will often ask for repairs after the home inspection. Few sellers can (or want to) refuse those requests without risking the deal.
Staging costs. Homes that aren’t move-in ready often need help selling well online. Professional staging services can help — but they don’t come cheap.
Seller concessions. Buyers aren’t always reasonable. If you counter an offer with repairs or ask for concessions at closing, you could be writing a check to the buyer at closing.
Carrying costs. Once your home hits the market, you’re responsible for all the associated costs of keeping it livable and insurable. That includes your mortgage, insurance, and taxes — as long as your home is listed.
TIME
All that work comes before you accept an offer. According to Zillow’s 2025 Q2 mortgage report, that timeframe is between 69 and 86 days on average — almost three months.
Add up all those expenses, and it’s easy to see how traditional home sales can cost 8–10% of a home’s value or more.
Consider a mid-priced home worth $300,000. Between commissions, repairs, concessions, and closing costs, that seller could easily lose $24,000–$30,000 at closing.
And keep in mind, this doesn’t even include repair lists, concessions, and time spent mitigating issues during negotiation.
You also don’t know how long your home will sit unwanted on the market.
With so much to pay for and show at closing, it’s no surprise some sellers feel overwhelmed by the traditional process.
Homeowners looking to sell house Virginia Beach — or anywhere along the coast — can bypass the traditional process entirely with a direct cash offer.
What Sellers Get with a Cash Offer
When most homeowners think about cash offers, they picture fix-and-flip investors buying up cheap real estate.
But the truth is many cash offers these days come from institutional buyers like real estate solution companies.
If you’re unfamiliar, companies that buy homes for cash aren’t obligated to follow local realtor laws. They also often purchase as-is and can offer quick closings to qualified sellers.
That opens up all kinds of possibilities.
No repairs needed. Cash buyers will often purchase your home in as-is condition.
Speed. These companies can make offers in as little as 24 hours. Closing can take just 10–21 days as long as the offer is accepted. Traditional sales take up to two months to complete.
Skip commissions. Cash buyers aren’t obligated to pay commissions like real estate agents. That lets them make offers that beat traditional sale prices by skipping unnecessary expenses.
Few drawbacks. The big “con” of cash sales is price. Companies have overhead, too, and they won’t offer full value on your home. But you’d be surprised how often those offers — when made correctly — can beat traditional sale prices.
Time vs. Total Sale Price
Here’s the big question.
Is a faster sale worth losing thousands in profit?
It depends.
Selling your home the traditional way does have its advantages. You’re likely to get more money on the market — if you can attract competing buyers to drive up the sale price.
With nearly one in three homes sold for cash in the first half of 2025, according to Realtor.com, the market has clearly shifted toward speed and certainty.
Cash offers are quick and easy, but they often come in below your home’s value. After all, these companies aren’t paying commissions, so they have more flexibility with pricing. But that doesn’t mean you’re losing thousands on every offer.
Remember how the traditional route can cost sellers upwards of 10% in costs? Whenever possible, those companies price their offers to beat the expenditures of selling traditionally.
Which Path is Right For You?
As with any financial decision, there’s no right or wrong answer.
Every homeowner’s situation is unique. And while a home sale no commission isn’t the right path for everyone, it’s worth understanding the full picture before deciding.
Here are a few guidelines to help you choose:
Sell With a Real Estate Agent if:
You have the time.
Selling your home traditionally takes effort. Most listings will need repairs, staging services, and careful negotiation. If you’re not up for spending two months in preparation and offer shopping, stick with your agent.
You’re sale ready.
Cash buyers will offer less for homes that need repairs. If your home is move-in ready, you’ll net more money by listing traditionally.
Sell Your Home for Cash if:
Speed is a factor.
Going the traditional route means taking your home off the market for months. If you’re relocating for work, dealing with a financial hardship, or in need of a fast sale for any reason, a cash offer can save you weeks or even months at closing.
Your home needs work.
If the property needs significant repairs and a traditional buyer inspection is a concern, selling for cash removes that risk entirely.
You know your home’s value and have competition.
When you know your home’s worth and are located in a competitive market, you stand the best chance of selling your home for what it’s worth. Competitive offers can also be used as leverage to get traditional buyers to cover more of your closing costs.
Know Your Options Before You Decide
Most homeowners simply choose whatever they’ve always heard about in the past.
And if you’ve only ever heard of traditional real estate sales, it’s easy to see why you’d want to sell your house with an agent.
Until recently, cash offers were a concept most sellers didn’t understand. That meant fewer options and lower offers.
But as more homeowners learn about their options, they’re seeing exactly how much money they leave on the table by ignoring cash offers.
Don’t limit your options before you’ve heard every offer.
Get traditional estimates from local agents and speak to a cash buyer before you decide what to do with your home.
You might be surprised which offer ends up being higher.
When’s the last time you ran the numbers before selling your home?
For most homeowners, the answer is never.
That doesn’t mean you should rule out the traditional process. Most sellers who approach cash buyers as a last resort — because they don’t have time to sell traditionally — end up accepting a cash offer because it’s better than they expected.
Either way, you’ll never know until you see every offer on the table.
