Cash Buyer vs. Realtor vs. iBuyer: Which Way Should You Sell Your Florida House?

Do I get more money selling with a realtor or to a cash buyer?

Home Rescue Team is a cash home buyer — so yes, we have a stake in this comparison. That is exactly why this page is specific about the numbers, names its sources, and tells you plainly when the other two options serve you better. There are three realistic ways to sell a house in Broward, Miami-Dade, or Palm Beach County: list with a real estate agent, sell to an iBuyer, or sell to a local cash buyer. Each wins for a different kind of seller.

What Does It Really Cost to Sell With a Realtor in Florida?

Listing with a good agent usually produces the highest gross sale price — if the house shows well and you can wait. The honest math is about what comes off the top:

• Commission: Florida totals typically run 5–6% (industry analyses put the 2025–26 average around 5.4%). Since the 2024 NAR settlement, the buyer’s agent fee is negotiated separately rather than set on the MLS — but in practice most Florida sellers still offer roughly 2–2.5% to bring the buyer, so total costs have held fairly steady.
• State transfer tax (documentary stamps): $0.70 per $100 of the sale price in Broward and Palm Beach; $0.60 per $100 for a single-family home in Miami-Dade (per the Florida Department of Revenue). On a $400,000 sale that is $2,400–$2,800.
• Title and closing: in Broward and Palm Beach the seller customarily pays the owner’s title policy (state-promulgated rates); in Miami-Dade the buyer customarily does — one of the quirks of selling across county lines here.
• Concessions: per Redfin, nearly half of U.S. home sales (46.2%) in the three months ending May 2026 included seller concessions — repair credits, closing-cost help, or rate buydowns. Budget for the inspection negotiation, not just the list price.
• Time: median South Florida days-on-market is running roughly two months before contract, then a financed buyer typically needs another 30–45 days to close — call it 3+ months door to door, with taxes, insurance, and any HOA dues running the whole time. Single-family inventory sits near ~5 months of supply; condos are far heavier at ~10–12 months (MIAMI Realtors, June 2026), which is why condos in particular can sit.

Do iBuyers Like Opendoor and Offerpad Even Operate in South Florida?

Only partly — and this surprises people. Offerpad does not serve Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach at all; its Florida markets are Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa (per its own locations page). Opendoor does buy in the Miami region, with real limits:

• Fees: Opendoor’s service charge historically ran about 5%; the company now says it varies by transaction and only appears in your individual offer — so read the net number, not the headline.
• What it will not buy: per Opendoor’s own criteria — no mobile or manufactured homes, no 5+ unit properties, condos only case-by-case depending on the community (a major exclusion in condo-heavy South Florida), and homes built before the 1930s, with significant foundation issues, or with unpermitted additions are typically ineligible.
• Pricing: industry analyses report iBuyer offers commonly land around 70–80% of market value once fees and repair deductions settle — convenient, but not the retail number the word “offer” suggests.

An iBuyer can be a fine fit for a newer, conventional, well-maintained house whose owner values speed over top dollar and falls inside the buy box. Much of South Florida’s housing stock — older homes, condos with assessments, anything with title or condition complications — simply is not eligible.

What Does a Local Cash Buyer Actually Offer?

Straight answer: a cash offer is below full retail value. Any cash buyer who tells you otherwise is not being honest. What you are trading that margin for is certainty and everything you do not pay or do: no commission, no service fee, no repairs, no showings, no appraisal, no financing contingency that can collapse the deal days before closing — and a closing in as little as 7–15 days on the date you choose. We buy exactly the inventory the other two paths screen out: probate and heir property, houses full of contents, code violations and liens, tenants in place, fire and storm damage, condos carrying special assessments.

The only honest way to compare is net proceeds and time, not sale price: list price minus commission, doc stamps, title, concessions, repairs, and months of carrying costs — against a cash number with none of those. Sometimes the listing still wins. When it does, we say so.

So Which One Should You Choose?

List with an agent if the house is retail-ready (or worth preparing), you can carry it for 3+ months, and maximizing price matters more than speed. This is the right answer for most well-kept, owner-occupied homes.

Consider Opendoor if your home is newer, conventional, inside its buy box, you value speed, and the net after its transaction-specific fee still beats other paths — get the actual offer and read the net line.

Call a local cash buyer if the house needs work, has tenants, is tied up in probate or title issues, carries liens or assessments, is full of belongings, or you simply need a certain closing on a hard date. That is the situation this entire company was built for.

Figures above are cited from the Florida Department of Revenue, MIAMI Realtors (June 2026), Redfin, and the companies’ own published criteria, current as of July 2026; markets move, so verify current numbers when you sell. This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice.