What We Pay
My Homebuyers aims to pay around 80% of what we believe your property could realistically sell for on the open market today.
We publish that figure because we think you should know what to expect before you make an enquiry. Very few companies in the cash-buying industry are prepared to put a figure on their website, but we believe being upfront about how we price properties is important. If you don’t understand how a cash offer has been arrived at, it’s difficult to know whether you’re getting a fair deal.
Below, we explain where the other 20% goes, show some worked examples in pounds, explain how we arrive at an offer for your particular property, and look at why an offer of 90% or more from a cash buyer may not be quite as attractive as it first appears.
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How much below market value do house buying companies offer?
Most genuine cash house buying companies will offer less than the price you might achieve by selling your property on the open market. In our experience, offers are commonly somewhere around 70% to 85% of a property’s realistic market value, depending on the company, the property and how quickly you need to sell.
That discount is there for a reason. A cash buyer is taking on the costs and risks of buying the property themselves, as well as giving you a quicker and more certain sale. They also need to allow for the costs of selling or refurbishing the property and, ultimately, make a return on their investment.
The important thing is understanding what you are actually being offered and how that figure has been worked out.
Very few cash house buying companies publish a typical percentage on their website. We do. My Homebuyers aims to pay around 80% of what we believe a property could realistically sell for on the open market.
So, rather than simply telling you that we offer a “fair price”, we think it is more useful to show you what that means in real terms, where the difference between the offer and market value goes, and how we arrive at an offer for your particular property.
Here’s how it works:
| Company | Published figure | Where it’s published |
| My Homebuyers | Around 80% — published | This page — with the full breakdown below |
| WeBuyAnyHome | Not published | — |
| National Homebuyers | Not published | — |
| Most of the sector | Not published | — |
The number that matters more than the percentage
A percentage only tells you part of the story. The more important question is: 80% of what?
Our 80% figure is based on what we genuinely believe your property could achieve if it were sold on the open market in current conditions. We look at things such as local sold prices, the property itself and information from local estate agents when assessing its likely market value.
This is important because two companies could offer the same percentage but arrive at very different amounts.
For example, 85% of a £200,000 valuation is £170,000, while 80% of a £225,000 valuation is £180,000. The higher percentage doesn’t necessarily mean the better offer.
That’s why, when comparing cash offers, we’d suggest looking at the actual amount you’re being offered rather than focusing too heavily on the percentage.
It’s also worth asking every cash buyer the same simple question:
“What do you think my property would realistically sell for on the open market, and how have you arrived at that figure?”
Once you know the answer, you can make a much more meaningful comparison.
Where the other 20% goes
The discount isn’t a mystery and it isn’t all profit. On a typical purchase it covers:
| Cost | Typical scale | What it is |
| Stamp duty (with second-home surcharge) | [~3–5%] | We pay SDLT plus the additional-property surcharge on every purchase |
| Your legal costs and ours, plus survey | [~1–2%] | We pay both sides’ conveyancing and the independent survey |
| Holding costs until resale | [~1–2%] | Council tax, insurance, utilities, finance costs while we own the property |
| Resale costs | [~2–3%] | Estate agent commission and legal fees when we sell — at the price we hoped for, if we were right |
| Risk | [~2–4%] | Survey surprises, market movement while we hold, resales that fall through or complete below hope |
| Our margin | [remainder] | We’re a business; the margin is what makes the certainty we sell real. A buyer with no margin is a buyer who renegotiates. |
What around 80% looks like in pounds
Three illustrative examples, using realistic selling prices and typical costs. The estate agent column assumes a sale at full value with a 1.5% (inc. VAT) commission, £1,500 conveyancing, and six months of mortgage and bills at £900/month while you wait:
| Realistic selling price | Our offer (~80%) | Your estimated net via us (~2 weeks) | Your estimated net via estate agent (~6 months) |
| £150,000 | £120,000 | ≈ £119,550 | ≈ £137,900 |
| £200,000 | £160,000 | ≈ £159,550 | ≈ £186,200 |
| £300,000 | £240,000 | ≈ £239,550 | ≈ £282,700 |
We show this table knowing the right-hand column is bigger. If you can wait around six months, your property is mortgageable, and your sale survives the one-in-three fall-through rate, the open market should leave you better off, and we’ll tell you that on the phone. Our offer is the better deal when the six months, the uncertainty or the property itself is the problem. That trade-off is the product; we’d rather you buy it with your eyes open.
Why we won’t offer you 90%
Add up the table above: stamp duty, two sets of legal fees, a survey, holding costs, resale costs and any margin at all comes to well over 10%. A company offering 90% or more is planning one of three things: to reduce the offer after you’ve committed and turned other options away, to charge you fees that claw the difference back, or to broker your details to someone else entirely. Independent guides to this industry say the same thing: treat anything above 85% as a warning sign, not a windfall. The most common version is the last-minute drop of a big offer, weeks of process, then a sharp reduction days before exchange when you’re least able to start again. Our offer is written, itemised against its assumptions, and valid for thirty days. It doesn’t move at exchange, because it was real when we made it.
How we calculate your offer
Every offer follows the same four steps,
- Establish the realistic selling price: local estate agent reports and comparable sold prices from HM Land Registry, for your street and property type, not a desktop algorithm
- Apply the published basis: around 80% of that figure, adjusted for condition, tenure and anything the survey needs to check
- Put it in writing: the offer, the assumptions it rests on, and a thirty-day validity period, no pressure, nothing to sign
- Hold it: the price only changes if the survey finds something material that wasn’t known, and then we show you the survey and re-derive the number with you
A cash sale isn’t the right option for everyone
A cash sale isn’t necessarily the best option for every homeowner.
If your property is fairly standard, can be easily mortgaged and is in a condition that should attract plenty of buyers, selling through an estate agent may make more sense. If you have the time to wait and don’t have a particular reason to sell quickly, holding out for the full market value could be worth more to you than accepting a cash offer of around 80%.
Where a cash sale can make more sense is when time and certainty are important.
That could be because you’re facing a repossession deadline, a sale has fallen through and you’re trying to keep a chain together, you’re dealing with probate, you’re moving overseas, or the property has an issue that makes it difficult for a buyer to obtain a mortgage.
We buy properties in all sorts of circumstances, but we don’t believe that selling for cash is automatically the right answer for everyone. It depends on your circumstances, your priorities and how much you’re prepared to trade in price for speed and certainty.
We’ve explained the different ways you can sell your property, and when each option might make sense, on our Sell Your House Fast page.
What we pay — frequently asked questions
Is 80% guaranteed?
It’s our published aim and where the substantial majority of our offers land, but it isn’t a fixed promise: condition, tenure, location and survey findings move individual offers either side of it. What is guaranteed: your offer is written, itemised, valid for thirty days, and doesn’t drop at exchange.
80% of what, exactly?
Of what we believe your home would sell for on the open market in current conditions — evidenced by local agent reports and Land Registry sold prices, and shown to you with the offer. Not of an inflated “market value” designed to flatter the percentage.
Do fees come off the offer?
No. There are no fees at any stage and we pay the survey and both sides’ legal costs. The figure we offer is the figure that arrives, minus only your own mortgage redemption and anything your solicitor is settling on your behalf.
Can I get more than 80% somewhere?
Yes — an estate agent sale at full market value is the obvious route if you have the time, and auctions sometimes beat cash-buyer pricing for desirable properties. From another genuine cash buyer, materially more than the high-70s to mid-80s is unlikely to be real: check what independent guides say about offers above 85%, and read our guide to checking a cash buyer before you commit to anyone.
Why do some companies advertise 85–100%?
Because it wins the phone call. The arithmetic of a genuine cash purchase — stamp duty, legals, survey, holding, resale, margin — doesn’t work above the mid-80s, so headline figures beyond that are typically reduced later, offset by fees, or belong to assisted-sale schemes that aren’t cash purchases at all. Ask any company advertising 90%+ to put it in writing, itemised, with a no-reduction commitment — and watch what happens.
Get your written offer
Around 80%, in writing, with the workings explained and thirty days to think, and nothing to pay whether you proceed or not.