The net-proceeds math, side by side
Take a $300,000 home in average Midwest condition. Listed with a traditional agent at 5.5 percent total commission, you net roughly $283,000 after agent fees. Add typical seller-paid closing costs around 1 to 3 percent and you are at $275,000 to $280,000 net. That assumes the home sells at list price and you do not have to do repairs or concessions to get the deal closed.
Same home sold to an iBuyer like Opendoor in a market they serve, you might get an offer near $290,000 with a 5 percent service fee. After fee and closing costs you net around $272,000 to $275,000. A local cash investor on the same home as a fixer might offer $200,000 to $230,000 depending on what they think repairs and after-repair value look like.
So for a move-in-ready home in a normal market, the listing wins by $5,000 to $10,000 over an iBuyer and by a lot more over a local investor. The gap shrinks fast if the home needs work or if the market is slow.
When listing wins
List the home traditionally when all three of these are true: the home is move-in ready or close to it, you have 60 to 90 days minimum, and you can tolerate showings, open houses, and the back-and-forth of negotiation.
In a normal market a traditional listing nets the most on a clean home because you are tapping into the full retail buyer pool, including emotional buyers, dual-income families looking for their forever home, and people willing to pay a premium for the right features. None of those buyers go through cash investors.
The agent commission is real, but in most markets it buys you exposure that is hard to replicate. The MLS feeds Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, and every other major listing site. A cash offer process gets you exposure to maybe a dozen cash buyers in your market.
When cash wins
Cash wins when speed, certainty, or condition matters more than maximum dollar. If you are inheriting a house in another state, a cash sale removes the entire problem of remote-managed repairs and showings. If you are in pre-foreclosure with a sale-date deadline, cash gets you out clean. If the home has structural issues that would scare retail buyers or kill a financed offer, cash is often the only realistic path.
Cash also wins on the math when you actually price in the carrying costs and hassle of a traditional sale. Three months of mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, and lawn care on a $300,000 home is roughly $8,000 to $12,000. Add in repair costs to make the home show-ready and the gap between a strong cash offer and net-of-everything traditional sale gets smaller than the headline numbers suggest.
For distressed property the math flips entirely. A home that needs $40,000 of work will not sell on the MLS for anywhere close to what a renovated comp goes for, and most buyers cannot get financing on it. Cash investors are the actual market for that home.
The hybrid play most people miss
The smartest sellers do not pick before they have actual numbers. They request a cash offer from a directory like FrontPorchOffers and an honest agent CMA from a local agent at the same time. Then they compare net proceeds, not list prices, and pick whichever path actually wins for their specific situation.
This costs nothing to do. Cash buyers expect to be one of multiple options. Real agents will give you a CMA without a listing agreement. The 30 minutes it takes to do both could save or make you $10,000.