Sell to a cash buyer or list: the arithmetic on their own fees

The table compares a cash offer with a listing at the same headline price, and on that basis the fees are close: Offerpad's 5% service fee replaces agent pay, and Opendoor says its service charge is 'comparable to agent commissions'¹⁶. The real gap is the price. A cash buyer's offer is not the price your home would fetch listed, and both HomeLight and Offerpad say so on their own pages: 'Most sellers net more on the open market', and 'A cash offer gives you certainty, but a listed home could sell for more'¹⁸.

How far apart are they? Opendoor's article cites a February 2026 Clever Real Estate analysis of 409 Opendoor and 123 Offerpad sales from May 2023 to June 2025: Opendoor's offers averaged 8.79% below the home's eventual resale price and Offerpad's 13.89% below⁷. That resale price comes after the company's own repairs and marketing, so it is not a clean market price. As an illustration only, on a home that resells at $400,000: an offer 13.89% below is $344,440, which nets about $323,774 after Offerpad's stated 5% fee and about 1% closing costs, against $376,000 from a listing at $400,000 with 5% agent pay and 1% closing costs. Opendoor does not publish its fee, so we do not net its 8.79% figure.

Opendoor's own worked example points the other way, because it loads the listing with more costs. On a $350,000 home it uses an illustrative 5% service charge and shows an Opendoor net of $314,900 against $311,000 for a traditional sale that pays 5.5% in commissions, $5,000 in repairs, $1,500 in staging, $4,500 in holding costs and $3,500 in concessions⁶. Both are worth running with your own numbers: the concessions and repairs you would really face, and the agent pay you would really negotiate⁹¹⁰.

Timing. You pick the closing date: 8 to 60 days out with Offerpad, 21 to 60 with Opendoor, 10 to 60 with HomeLight Simple Sale¹⁶⁸. A listing needs showings, a buyer and that buyer's financing.

Repairs you cannot or will not do. Offerpad 'buys homes as-is' and settles repairs through a credit adjustment; Opendoor estimates repairs and deducts them from the offer¹⁴. Either way you pay for the repairs, just without hiring contractors.

Moving help and eligibility. Offerpad offers free moving within 80 miles, one 16-ft container². Opendoor says it generally buys homes built after 1930, priced up to $1.4 million, on lots up to 2 acres, and that its extended stay of up to 17 days is paid⁷.

HomeLight's Simple Sale puts a cash offer beside an open-market estimate from a local agent and says you 'will be told which case you are in'⁸. Whichever service you use, get the listing estimate in writing next to the offer.