Most sellers look at one number: what a house like theirs sold for down the street. But that sale price is not what lands in your pocket. Between listing day and closing day, the traditional route takes its cut in several places, and on a house that needs work, the cuts are deeper. Here’s the honest math, the way we explain it to folks across Clay, Putnam, Nassau, and Duval counties.
1. Commissions: roughly 5–6% off the top
On a $250,000 sale, agent commissions typically run $12,500 to $15,000. That’s the single biggest line item, and it’s gone before anything else is counted.
2. Repairs and getting “show-ready”
Lenders won’t finance a house with a bad roof, failed septic, or knob-and-tube wiring, so if your buyer needs a loan, those repairs are on you before closing, or the deal dies at inspection. Add cleaning, hauling, yard work, and the small fixes that make a house presentable. On an older Northeast Florida home, it’s common to spend $5,000 to $30,000 or more before the first showing.
3. Closing costs for the seller
Title work, doc stamps, and settlement fees usually run another 1–2%, call it $2,500 to $5,000 on that same $250,000 house, not counting any credits the buyer negotiates after their inspection.
4. Holding costs while you wait
A traditional sale here takes months: prep, listing, showings, a buyer’s 30–45 day loan process, and the closing. Every month the estate or your family pays property taxes, insurance, utilities, and lawn care. On a modest house that’s easily $300–$800 a month, and if the house sits through a second listing after a financing fall-through, double it.
Add it up
On a $250,000 house that needs work, the traditional route can easily consume $25,000 to $50,000 between commissions, repairs, closing costs, and holding costs, plus four to eight months of your time. Sometimes it’s still the right call: a house in good shape, in a strong neighborhood, with time to spare, will usually net more listed. We’ll tell you that straight if that’s your situation.
The other option, honestly stated
We buy houses as-is, for cash. No commission, no fees charged by us, no repairs, no cleaning, no showings, and a closing date you pick, in as little as 7 days once everything is clear. Our offer will be below full retail; that’s the trade, and any buyer who tells you otherwise isn’t being straight with you. What the math above shows is that the gap is often much smaller than the sticker prices suggest, because the traditional price was never the amount you’d actually keep.
Run your own numbers
If you’re weighing it, write down your honest repair list, multiply your monthly holding costs by six, and add 6% plus 2% to the price you hope for. Then compare it to a cash number. If you’d like that number, no obligation, no pressure, call Lina at 904.600.3207 or use the form on this page. We’re a local family that buys houses and land for ourselves; we’re not agents or brokers, and if you sell to us, you sell directly to the buyer.