Is This Legit? How to Vet Any Cash Home Buyer, Including Us

If you searched something like “is [cash home buyer] legit,” you already have good instincts. This industry has real fraud in it: bait-and-switch offers that shrink right before closing, contracts with no earnest money so the buyer risks nothing by walking away, wholesalers who lock up your house with no intention or ability to close, and in some cases spoofed caller ID or calls to numbers on the Do Not Call registry. You don’t need to take our word that we’re different. Below is the exact list we’d want if we were selling our own house to a stranger, what a predatory operator does on each point, and what we commit to instead. Hold us to it.

The Contract Itself

Contract language is where most of the real risk hides, and it’s the easiest place for a buyer to sound honest while leaving themselves an exit.

• Look for: a contract that can be assigned to someone else, or that technically bans assignment but still allows a double-close, which accomplishes the same thing under a different name, letting a middleman flip your contract to an unknown end buyer without your knowledge. We commit: our contracts prohibit assignment, and we do not use double-closings to route around that promise. When we sign your contract, we are the buyer of record who closes, period.
• Look for: no earnest money, or a token amount like one dollar, which tells you the buyer has nothing to lose by tying up your house and walking away later. We commit: we put down meaningful earnest money, deposited with the title company within a short, specific window after signing, and it becomes non-refundable to us after the inspection period ends. If we back out for a reason outside our approved contingencies, you keep it.
• Look for: an inspection or “due diligence” period with no real end date, which lets a buyer sit on your house for weeks while they shop it around or try to renegotiate the price down. We commit: our inspection period is short, around ten days, clearly dated in the contract, not open-ended.
• Look for: a closing date that’s vague, or that the buyer can push back with no consequence. We commit: our contracts have a hard closing date. If we miss it without a documented, agreed-upon extension, you have the right to terminate and keep our earnest money.

Proof They Can Actually Close

Anyone can say “we’re cash buyers.” The question is whether they can prove it in a way you could show a skeptical friend or your own attorney.

• Look for: a “pre-approval letter,” a lender letter, or a vague statement of funds, none of which actually prove a cash buyer has the money sitting in an account ready to close. We commit: we provide a bank statement in our own name showing sufficient funds, not a letter from a third party.
• Look for: a buyer who won’t say who is actually purchasing the property, or hides behind a chain of LLCs you can’t trace. We commit: we tell you exactly who the end buyer is. If that changes for any legitimate reason, we tell you before closing, not after.
• Look for: a buyer who can’t or won’t show you evidence of past deals. We commit: we can give you addresses of recent closings you can look up yourself, in the county’s public records or on Zillow, so you’re not taking our word for our track record.

How the Closing Itself Is Handled

Pressure and unfamiliar paperwork are two of the biggest red flags, and they’re both avoidable if a buyer is confident in the deal they’re offering.

• Look for: a buyer who insists on their own title company, especially one you’ve never heard of, or who wants documents signed somewhere unusual. We commit: you choose the title company. We’re happy to recommend one we trust, but the choice is yours.
• Look for: a lien, memorandum of contract, or other document recorded against your title before closing, which some operators use as leverage to keep you locked into a deal even if you want out. We commit: we never record anything against your title before closing.
• Look for: pressure to sign the same day you first talk, before you’ve had time to think it over or show the contract to anyone else. We commit: we don’t push for same-day signing. Take the contract, read it, sleep on it.

Getting a Second Opinion

A cash offer is one option among several, not the only one, and a buyer who’s confident their offer makes sense for your situation shouldn’t be afraid of you comparing it.

• Look for: a buyer who explains their offer with a single number and no math behind it, or who gets defensive when you ask how they arrived at it. We commit: we show you our comps, our estimated repair or cleanout costs, and the actual math behind our offer, in writing if you want it.
• Look for: a buyer who discourages you from talking to an attorney or getting outside advice, or who frames a second opinion as something that will “mess up the deal.” We commit: we actively encourage you to run our contract by an attorney, and we encourage you to talk to a couple of local real estate agents about what your house could get on the retail market. If listing traditionally nets you more after commissions, repairs, and time, that may be the better move for you, and we’d rather you know that going in than find out later.

This Is a Standing Commitment

Everything above is written down here on purpose, not as marketing language, but as something you can point back to if we ever fall short of it. If you’re talking with us or with any other cash buyer, print this checklist and go through it line by line before you sign anything. A legitimate buyer will welcome that. If you have questions about any of our contract terms before you sign, ask us directly; we’d rather explain it up front than have you wonder about it later.

See also: real objections to selling for cash, and honest answers to each.

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