Short answer: nothing. But we know “trust us, it’s free” is not a satisfying answer on its own, so let us walk through exactly what happens when you request an offer and why no money should ever change hands at this stage.
What Actually Happens When You Reach Out
You share the property address and some basic details, condition, size, anything relevant. We research comparable sales in your area, review what you have told us, and if needed, schedule a walkthrough. From there, we put together a written offer and send it to you. At no point in that sequence does a legitimate buyer ask you for payment.
This entire process, from first contact to a number in your hand, typically takes one to two days. None of it costs you anything, and none of it obligates you to accept whatever number comes back.
Why We Do Not Charge for This
Evaluating a property costs us time and a small amount of resources, but it is simply the cost of doing business, the same way a store does not charge you to walk in and look at what is for sale. We absorb that cost because most conversations do lead somewhere, even if not every single one results in an accepted offer, and charging homeowners just to find out a number would be an obvious sign of a scam operation rather than a legitimate one.
What a Real Red Flag Actually Looks Like
If anyone asks for a fee, a deposit, or payment of any kind just to provide an offer or schedule an evaluation, walk away immediately. This is one of the clearest and most reliable warning signs in this entire industry, and it is worth remembering even if everything else about a buyer’s pitch sounds convincing.
Legitimate buyers make money from the eventual purchase itself, not from fees charged during the evaluation stage. Anyone asking you to pay before that point is not operating the way real cash buyers actually work.
What Does Cost Money, Later, and Legitimately
Once you accept an offer and move toward closing, standard transaction costs apply, title fees, recording fees, prorated taxes. These are not evaluation costs, they are normal closing costs that exist in every real estate transaction, cash or otherwise, and they get paid from your proceeds at closing rather than out of pocket beforehand.
What a cash buyer actually charges you, if anything breaks down these later-stage costs in more detail, including how we handle them and what to ask any buyer directly about their specific fee structure.
Why This Matters Enough to Say Clearly
We know some homeowners hesitate to even request an offer, worried it might somehow cost them or commit them to something. It does not. Requesting an offer is information gathering, nothing more, and you are free to walk away at any point without consequence, whether that is the same day or three months later.
The Bottom Line
Getting an offer from us, or from any legitimate cash buyer, should never cost you a dollar. If it does, or if anyone asks it to, that alone tells you everything you need to know about whether to keep talking to them.
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