Sellers often compare a cash number to a listing estimate by glancing at the two headline prices, and the bigger one wins. That shortcut skips most of the arithmetic. Each route, whether a zero commission cash sale or an MLS listing, drags along its own deductions, and the distance separating those two sticker figures can narrow sharply, sometimes disappearing, after subtraction. Below is a worksheet you can copy, followed by a fully hypothetical example.
The worksheet: six lines that matter
For each path, start with the gross price, then subtract:
- Commission. On a listing, Atlanta-area owners customarily owe a brokerage fee, often discussed as a percentage of the price. When you sell to our company directly, that line is zero.
- Seller-paid closing charges. Things like your share of the attorney’s fee, title-related items, Georgia’s transfer tax and prorated property taxes. Ask whoever is buying which of these they cover.
- Pre-sale repairs and prep. Paint, flooring, roof patches, landscaping, cleaning, staging.
- Post-inspection concessions. Buyers who finance usually inspect, then request fixes or credits. Investors purchasing for cash generally price condition in up front instead.
- Carrying costs. Each month the house sits on the market, the loan payment, hazard policy, power and water, HOA dues and mowing keep arriving.
- Risk of a fall-through. Harder to put a dollar sign on, but real: a buyer’s loan gets denied or an appraisal comes in short and you start over.
A zero commission cash sale, worked through (for example)
These figures are invented purely to show the mechanics. They do not describe any real home or any current Atlanta price level.
Listing path, for example
- Hoped-for list price after updates: $300,000
- Brokerage fee, assuming 5%: minus $15,000
- Seller closing charges, assumed: minus $4,000
- Paint, flooring and a roof repair to get market-ready: minus $18,000
- Repair credit after the buyer’s inspection: minus $3,500
- Four months of payments, insurance and utilities while prepping and listed: minus $9,000
- Estimated net: about $250,500
Cash path, for example
- Cash purchase price, house taken in present condition: $252,000
- Brokerage fee: none
- Seller closing charges, assumed: minus $2,500
- Repairs, staging, concessions: $0
- One month of carrying cost until closing: minus $2,250
- Estimated net: about $247,250
Within this imaginary scenario, listing edges ahead by a few thousand dollars, but only if every assumption holds. Push the repair bill up, add two more months on the market, or lose a buyer at the appraisal stage, and the cash figure overtakes it. Change the house to one that needs almost nothing, and listing could pull well ahead. The point is not which column wins here; it is that the comparison has to be done line by line.
Where sellers misjudge the numbers
Underestimating the repair list. Contractors’ quotes have a way of growing once walls open. Atlanta houses built decades back especially conceal surprises behind plaster and under subfloors.
Forgetting time. A listing that takes longer than expected keeps billing you every thirty days. If the property is vacant, add insurance considerations for an empty house.
Assuming the list price equals the sale price. Offers often arrive below asking, and appraisals do not always reach the contract figure.
Ignoring your own labor. Weekend trips to manage contractors, keep the yard trimmed and clear out for showings cost something even if they never appear on a closing statement.
When each path tends to make sense
Listing generally pays off for houses that are close to move-in ready, in neighborhoods with steady buyer demand, for owners with time and cash to prepare. A direct sale tends to fit homes needing substantial work, owners on a deadline, inherited or tenant-occupied properties, or anyone who would prefer one known outcome over a range of possible ones.
Our company does both, which is why one walk-through produces both a purchase figure and a marketing proposal for the seller. Stack them against each other using this comparison tool, and see how each route works on the ways to sell overview. If repairs are what is holding you back, our repair-heavy houses page is worth a look.
For anything involving capital gains or how proceeds affect your taxes, a Georgia CPA should review your specific numbers.
Would you like those six lines completed using genuine estimates for your property? Start at the request form, or try Nil’s team on 678-954-8484, mentioning the commission math article.