Are 'we buy houses' companies legit?

Most are legitimate, legal businesses, and a cash sale serves a real purpose in some situations. The catch is not legality, it is price. A cash offer is almost always well below market value, and many of these operations are wholesalers who do not actually buy your house themselves. Knowing what your home is truly worth first is how you protect yourself.

How does a real estate wholesaler get paid?

A wholesaler puts your house under contract at a low price, then sells that contract to an investor for more and keeps the difference as an assignment fee. They never own or renovate the home. The wider the gap between what you agreed to and what the investor pays, the more they make, and that spread is money that could have been yours.

How much do cash home buyers pay for a house?

Cash and we-buy-houses offers typically land around 50 to 70 percent of market value, because the model depends on buying below market and reselling for a profit. On a $400,000 home, that can be a difference of $100,000 or more compared with selling on the open market.

Does selling to a cash buyer actually close faster?

Sometimes, but not always. A traditional financed sale often closes in about 30 days. A wholesaler's fast cash close can stall or fall through if they cannot find an investor to take the contract, and the contract usually protects them, not you.

When does selling to a cash buyer make sense?

It can be the right call for a severely distressed property that will not qualify for financing, a tight foreclosure timeline, or a situation where speed and certainty matter more than price. For most homes in sellable condition, listing on the open market nets significantly more.

What is the catch with 'we buy houses' offers?

The catch is the price and, often, the middleman. You trade a large share of your equity for speed and convenience, and with a wholesaler you may be paying an assignment fee to someone who never intended to buy your home at all.

Seller Guide

Should You Sell to a Cash Buyer? How 'We Buy Houses' Really Works

By Cory Coleman, Licensed NC Real Estate Broker at Keller Williams Great Smokies · June 3, 2026

An honest look at cash offers, the wholesalers behind many of them, and the math nobody puts in writing before you sign.

The Short Version

You have probably seen the signs and the postcards: "We buy houses for cash," "Any condition," "Close in 7 days." The offers are usually real, and they are usually legal. The problem is what they cost you.

A cash offer almost always comes in well below what your home would bring on the open market, because that gap is exactly how these buyers make money. And here is the part most sellers never learn until later: many of the people making these offers are not buyers at all. They are wholesalers, and they make their money on a contract you sign, not on a house they actually want.

None of this is a scam, and a cash sale genuinely makes sense in a few situations I will cover honestly below. But before you accept one, you deserve to understand how the game works and what it really nets you.

Who Is Actually Behind 'We Buy Houses for Cash'

Three very different types of buyers hide behind those ads, and the differences matter:

iBuyers (companies like Opendoor and Offerpad). These are large operations that use an algorithm to make a quick offer, then charge service fees and deduct for repairs. Convenient, but the net is typically below market, and most of these companies have pulled back from rural mountain markets like ours anyway.
Cash investors and flippers. Real buyers who pay cash, renovate, and resell or rent. They buy below market on purpose, because their profit depends on it. For a genuinely distressed property, they serve a real function.
Wholesalers. The largest and least understood group, and the one behind most of the signs and cold calls. A wholesaler does not want to own your house. They want to tie it up under contract cheaply and sell that contract to someone else for a profit. This is the part worth understanding in detail.

How Wholesaling Really Works

Here is the mechanism, step by step, because almost nobody explains it to the person on the selling end:

A wholesaler contacts you, often when you are under some pressure, and gets your home under contract at a low price. Call it $250,000 on a home that would list for $375,000.
They are not planning to buy it. The contract gives them an escape hatch, usually a long inspection or due-diligence window, so they can walk away if their plan does not come together.
They then shop that contract to their list of investors, advertising the right to buy your house for, say, $290,000.
An investor takes it. The wholesaler "assigns" the contract and pockets the difference, in this example $40,000, as an assignment fee. They never owned the home, never fixed anything, and never put their own money at real risk.

That $40,000 spread is the entire point, and it is money that came straight out of your sale price. You agreed to $250,000. Someone was willing to pay $290,000. The difference went to a middleman you may never have realized was a middleman. Wholesaling is legal in North Carolina, and a skilled wholesaler provides a service to investors. But for the seller, it usually means leaving a large amount of your own equity on the table without knowing it.

The Real Math: What You Actually Net

Cash and we-buy-houses offers typically land somewhere around 50 to 70 percent of a home's market value. Let me put real numbers on a $400,000 Western NC home in sellable condition:

	Cash / "We Buy Houses"	Listing on the Market
Offer / sale price	~$260,000	~$400,000
Agent commission & closing costs	$0 to minimal	about $28,000 (7%)
Typical repairs / prep	$0	$0 to a few thousand
Roughly what you net	~$260,000	~$370,000

Even after you pay an agent, even after closing costs, even after a little prep work, the open-market sale nets roughly $110,000 more in this example. That is not a rounding error. That is the down payment on your next home, or a meaningful piece of your retirement. The "no fees, no repairs, no hassle" pitch sounds great until you see what the convenience actually costs.

"But It Sells Fast," Does It?

Speed is the real selling point of a cash offer, and sometimes it is worth paying for. But two things are worth knowing.

First, a normal sale is not slow. A well-priced home with a financed buyer commonly closes in about 30 days. You are often comparing a 7-day close to a 30-day close, not to months.

Second, a wholesaler's "fast cash" is not always fast or certain. Because they have to find an investor before they can close, the deal can drag or collapse if no investor bites, and the contract you signed usually lets them walk away while keeping you tied up. The certainty you were promised can be more fragile than a traditional sale with a pre-approved buyer.

When a Cash Sale Genuinely Makes Sense

I am not here to tell you cash buyers are always wrong. They are not. A cash sale can be the right move when:

The home is in serious disrepair and will not qualify for a buyer's mortgage.
You are racing a foreclosure timeline and certainty matters more than price.
You inherited a property out of state and simply want it gone with zero effort.
Privacy or speed genuinely outweighs maximizing the money.

In those cases, a fair cash offer is a real solution, not a trap. The key word is fair, and the only way to know whether an offer is fair is to know what the home is actually worth first.

How to Protect Yourself

Whether you end up selling for cash or on the market, a few simple steps keep you from being the one who leaves money on the table:

Get a real valuation before you respond to any offer. You cannot tell if an offer is fair without knowing your home's market value. This is free and it costs you nothing to know.
Ask directly whether they intend to assign the contract. A straight answer tells you whether you are dealing with a buyer or a middleman.
Get everything in writing and read the inspection and due-diligence windows, those clauses are the buyer's exit, not yours.
Never sign under pressure. "This offer expires tonight" is a sales tactic, not a real deadline.
Talk to a local agent even if you think you will sell for cash. A good one will tell you honestly when a cash offer is actually your best option, and when you are about to give away six figures.

That first step is the important one. Before you accept any cash offer on a Western NC home, find out what it is really worth. It takes a minute, it is free, and it is the single best protection against a lowball.

The Bottom Line

Cash buyers and wholesalers are not villains, but they are not on your side either. Their entire business model is built on the gap between what you accept and what your home is really worth. Sometimes that trade is worth it. Usually it is not, and the only way to know is to start with an honest number and a straight conversation.

If a cash offer has landed in your mailbox, talk to me before you sign it. I will tell you what your home would actually bring, and if selling for cash truly is your best move, I will tell you that too.

Got a cash offer or a "we buy houses" postcard on a Western North Carolina home? Before you accept it, let me tell you what the place is really worth. No pressure, no pitch, just an honest number so you can decide with your eyes open.

Cory Coleman
Keller Williams Great Smokies
(828) 506-6413 · coryhelpsyoumove@gmail.com

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. It describes common industry practices in general terms, not any specific company. Real estate wholesaling is legal in North Carolina. Verify all figures and offers independently before making any real estate decisions.

Equal Housing Opportunity. Cory Coleman and Keller Williams Great Smokies fully support the principles of the Fair Housing Act. All real estate services are provided without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, or familial status.