Reading a Cash Offer: Comps, Deductions, and the Net at the Bottom

A cash offer on a house should show three things: the comparable sales it was built from, the deductions taken for the house's condition and the buyer's costs, and the net you would actually receive after your loan payoff and closing items. If an offer shows only a price, you cannot tell whether it is fair, because you cannot see what it assumed. This guide walks through each part of a written offer, what to check, and how to compare it with what listing the same house would net.

Every figure in the examples below is shown as a dash. The structure is what matters; your numbers come from your house.

Part 1: The comparable sales

The comps are recent sales of similar houses near yours. Every offer, cash or market, starts from them. What to check:

• Distance. Are they on your blocks, or from across the city? A Claremont Village bungalow compared with a South Claremont townhouse is not a comp.
• Date. Are they recent enough to reflect the current market?
• Condition. Were the comps renovated or original? A cash offer built from renovated comps then takes repair deductions; one built from original-condition comps should take fewer.
• Type. Same number of stories, similar lot, same kind of property. A horse lot in San Dimas should be compared with other horse lots.
• Why each one compares. A good offer says so in a line per comp.

From the comps comes an after-repair or as-is market value. That is the ceiling the rest of the offer works down from.

Part 2: The deductions

This is where offers differ most, and where most sellers never get to look. A written offer should list each deduction on its own line:

Two of those lines deserve a second look.

Repairs. Ask how each repair figure was reached. A line that says "repairs" with one number is not a line item. If you already have contractor bids or an inspection report, put them next to the offer and see where they differ.

Buyer margin. Every investor has one; cash buyers buy for their own account and many resell for profit. A cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring for that reason. An honest offer does not hide the margin inside inflated repair lines.

Part 3: The terms that change the net

The price is only as good as the contract around it. Read these before the number:

• Inspection or due-diligence period. How long can the buyer back out or renegotiate after signing? A long period with an easy exit is how some buyers lower the price later.
• Earnest money. How much, and is it held by an independent escrow company?
• Assignment clause. Can the buyer transfer your contract to another buyer? If so, the person closing may not be the person you met.
• Who pays which closing costs. Escrow, title, transfer tax, any HOA transfer fees.
• Closing and possession dates. Written, not verbal. Rent-back terms if you need to stay.
• Proof of funds. A dated letter from a bank or lender in the buyer's name.

Part 4: The net at the bottom

The net is what reaches you:

Two notes on this table. The transfer tax depends on where the house is: every California county charges one, and a few cities add their own; in Los Angeles County, Pomona is one of the five cities that do, while Claremont is not. And in newer tracts in Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario Ranch, Chino or Chino Hills, a community facilities district special tax may have its own line if there are arrears.

Part 5: Put it next to the open-market number

A net means little on its own. The question is always: compared with what? That is why every house here gets two numbers on one sheet:

When the right-hand net is higher and you have the time, the recommendation is to list, and you are introduced to a designated local expert who works your blocks. The open-market read is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. If you need a certified appraisal, for a court or a lender, that is done by a licensed appraiser; see home value: estimate, CMA, appraisal or offer.

Red flags on a cash offer

• A price with no comps and no deductions
• A signing deadline shorter than the time it would take you to get a second opinion
• An inspection period long enough to renegotiate after you have stopped talking to other buyers
• Earnest money that goes to the buyer instead of escrow
• An assignment clause nobody mentioned
• Verbal promises about dates or rent-backs that are not in the contract

If an offer you hold has any of these, get a second opinion on the cash offer. Plenty of first offers turn out to be fine. The point is to know which yours is.

What this looks like in practice

These are the kinds of files that come in, described without names or figures.

• A Pomona seller holding a mailed offer with a price, a signature line and nothing else. The second sheet shows the comps and deductions the first one skipped.
• An Ontario seller whose first buyer used an inspection period to lower the price. The contract terms, not the price, were the problem.
• A Glendora trustee who needed two documented numbers in the file before accepting either.

Next step

Read the cash offer vs. listing comparison for how both numbers are built, or send the address. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report.

Sources

• Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, Documentary Transfer Tax general information: https://www.lavote.gov/home/recorder/property-document-recording/documentary-transfer-taxes/general-info (accessed 2026-09-26)
• California Revenue and Taxation Code section 11911 (documentary transfer tax): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=RTC&sectionNum=11911 (accessed 2026-09-26)
• California Civil Code section 1102.6b (special tax disclosure): https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&sectionNum=1102.6b (accessed 2026-09-26)
• Opendoor, How Opendoor works (a national cash-offer process for comparison): https://www.opendoor.com/w/guides/how-does-opendoor-work (accessed 2026-09-26)

Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors who buy for their own account and may resell for profit; a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. Any value shown is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.