7 Questions to Ask a Cash Buyer Before You Sign

You got a postcard in the mail. Or someone knocked on your door near the Aldi on South Tryon Street in Steele Creek. Or you searched online and found three companies that all say they'll buy your Charlotte home for cash, fast, no repairs needed. The offers sound good, but you've never sold a house this way, and you're not sure who to trust.

That instinct is right. Most cash-home-buyer companies are legitimate businesses, but the industry also attracts wholesalers who never intend to buy your home and lowball operators who profit from your urgency. Cash sales made up 41.7% of all U.S. home purchases in the first quarter of 2026, according to ATTOM's Q1 2026 Home Sales Report. That's a lot of legitimate deals, but it's also a big enough market to attract bad actors. These seven questions separate the real buyers from the ones you should walk away from.

TL;DR: Cash buyers made 41.7% of U.S. home purchases in Q1 2026 (ATTOM). Most are legit, but some aren't. Before signing, ask: Are you the actual buyer? Will you show proof of funds? Is there an upfront fee? Can I cancel? These 7 questions protect you.

Are you a real company — and can I look you up?

A legitimate cash buyer can prove they exist. Of the 1,020 unique corporate entities that bought homes in the Charlotte metro in April 2026 alone, according to iBuyer.com's Charlotte Investor Report, the vast majority are registered businesses with public records. Ask for the company's legal name, physical office address, and state registration number. Then verify it yourself: in North Carolina, search the NC Secretary of State business registry; in South Carolina, use the SC Secretary of State portal. If the company isn't registered in the state where they're offering to buy, that's a red flag. Also search for the company name plus "reviews" online, and check their Better Business Bureau profile. A real company will have a track record you can verify.

A real cash buyer can tell you their company name, show you their office, and give you references. If they can't do all three, keep looking.

Are you the buyer, or are you flipping this contract to someone else?

This is the single most important question, and most sellers never think to ask it. A wholesaler is someone who puts your home under contract and then sells that contract to another buyer for a fee, without ever purchasing the home themselves. They make money on the spread between what they offered you and what the real buyer pays, and that spread can be $10,000 to $30,000 or more. South Carolina enacted HB 4754 in 2024 specifically to restrict this practice, making it illegal to market a property for sale when you only hold a contract on it. Ask directly: "Will YOUR company be the one on the deed at closing?" If they hesitate, or say something vague like "we work with a network of buyers," you're likely talking to a wholesaler. That doesn't automatically make it a bad deal, but you should know it going in. Our guide to "We Buy Houses" companies breaks down the different types of buyers and what each one typically pays.

Will you give me a written offer with zero upfront fees?

Legitimate cash buyers don't charge you money to make an offer. No "processing fees," no "appraisal deposits," and no "earnest money from the seller." If someone asks you to pay anything before they buy your home, walk away. The Federal Trade Commission flags upfront fees as one of the most common indicators of a real estate scam. The offer itself should be in writing, on company letterhead, with a specific dollar amount, a proposed closing date, and clear terms about who pays closing costs. A verbal promise over the phone isn't an offer. If the buyer won't put numbers on paper, they aren't serious about buying your home.

Even large, well-known companies have crossed lines on fees. The FTC ordered Opendoor to pay $62 million in refunds in April 2024 after finding the company misled sellers about how much they'd net from their offers. The takeaway: even when the buyer is a publicly traded company, read every line of the contract before you sign it.

How did you come up with that number?

A fair cash offer typically falls in the range of 80% to 90% of your home's market value, and the exact number depends on your home's condition, your neighborhood, and how much work the buyer expects to put in after closing. A UC San Diego study analyzing 2 million home sales found that cash buyers pay roughly 10% less than mortgage buyers on average, because sellers accept a discount in exchange for the certainty that the deal won't fall through over financing. Ask the buyer to show you how they calculated their offer. A good cash buyer will explain the math: they looked at recent sales of similar homes nearby, estimated repair costs, and subtracted their margin. If they can't explain it, or if their number comes in below 70% of your home's value with no clear reason, you're looking at a lowball. Our cash offer guide for the Carolinas walks through what a fair range looks like in this market.

You trade some price for speed and certainty. That's a real tradeoff, and a fair buyer will tell you so before you sign.

Can I see proof that you have the money?

A real cash buyer has real money. Ask to see a bank statement, a letter from their financial institution, or proof of a line of credit that covers the offer amount. This doesn't need to show account numbers or personal details — it just needs to confirm the buyer has the funds to close at the price they named. If someone says they're paying cash but can't produce a proof-of-funds letter within 24 hours, that's a warning sign. It often means they're planning to find the money after they lock you into a contract, which is exactly what a wholesaler does. Here's a scenario: a homeowner near the Harris Teeter on Rea Road in Ballantyne gets three cash offers. Two provide proof-of-funds letters within a day. The third says "we'll have that for you by closing." That third company is almost certainly going to assign the contract to someone else and take a fee out of the middle. The proof-of-funds question is the fastest way to separate buyers from middlemen.

Can I cancel after signing?

Read the cancellation clause before you sign anything. Some cash-buyer contracts include a window that lets you back out within a set number of days if you change your mind, while others lock you in immediately. Under a bill that passed the North Carolina House unanimously in 2025 (HB 797), homeowners selling to wholesalers would get a non-waivable 30-day right to cancel if the bill becomes law. It's still working through the legislature and isn't law yet, but it tells you where NC lawmakers stand on protecting sellers in these transactions. Meanwhile, the HomeVestors franchise network ("We Buy Ugly Houses") added a 3-day seller cancellation window after a ProPublica investigation in May 2023 documented franchisees targeting elderly homeowners with below-market deals. If the largest cash-buyer franchise in the country decided sellers needed a cooling-off period, you should insist on one too. Ask: "If I sign today, how many days do I have to change my mind without any penalty?" Write the answer into the contract. For a deeper look at how these different buyer types compare, our breakdown of what Charlotte cash buyers actually pay walks through the numbers.

Ask for a cancellation window. If the largest franchise in the industry gives sellers one, your buyer should too.

How fast can you actually close, and who pays closing costs?

Speed is one of the main reasons people sell for cash. A traditional Charlotte listing takes weeks on market plus 30 to 45 days to close. A cash sale can close in 7 to 14 days because there's no bank, no appraisal contingency, and no mortgage underwriting to wait on. But "fast" doesn't mean the same thing to every buyer, so ask for a specific date and then compare it to what the contract actually says. If someone promises "we can close in a week" but the contract says "closing within 60 days," believe the contract.

Ask about closing costs specifically. Many cash buyers cover all closing costs as part of the deal, which means the number on the offer is close to what you actually walk away with. But not all of them do. Some deduct repair credits, inspection fees, or other charges at the closing table that weren't in the original offer. Don't sign until you've seen a written breakdown of every cost you'll pay. Our cash offer vs. realtor comparison guide shows how the numbers typically work out across these paths.

The RobinOffer Take

The cash-buyer industry has a trust problem, and homeowners are right to be cautious. The Charlotte metro saw 36.5% of single-family sales go to corporate or LLC buyers in April 2026 alone, with 1,020 unique entities making purchases, according to iBuyer.com's Charlotte Investor Report. That fragmentation means there's no single brand to check. But these seven questions work on any buyer, from a $50-billion iBuyer to a one-person local operation. The honest players welcome the scrutiny because transparency is how they compete. The dishonest ones change the subject, rush you to sign, or get vague about their pricing. Pay attention to which reaction you get. Charlotte's market data consistently shows that homeowners who get multiple offers and compare them end up with better outcomes than those who sign with the first company that knocks on their door.