Seven questions to ask a cash buyer before you sign anything.

Why this is worth four minutes

When you put your address into a form that says we buy houses, what usually happens next is not one buyer calling you. It is your details being distributed, and a series of people calling who occupy very different positions in the transaction.

Some of them will complete the purchase. Some are hoping to find somebody else who will. And some are not buying anything at all, they are collecting your details and selling them on. The difference matters, because an offer from someone who still has to find the real buyer is not a commitment. It is an option on your house, and the cost of it is your time and your closing date.

You do not need to become an expert. You need seven questions.

1. Will you be the one closing, or are you looking for someone else to take this on?

This is the one that matters most, and it is why it is first. You are asking whether the person in front of you intends to complete the purchase themselves, or whether they are hoping to hand your contract to somebody else.

A buyer who closes says so plainly, because it is the straightforward thing about their business. What you are listening for is the opposite: an answer built around their network, their investor group, or what they can “get done” for you. The phrase my buyer, early in a first conversation, usually means the person you are speaking to is not the one buying.

Note that this is a different question from whether the contract is assignable. Plenty of buyers who fully intend to close keep an assignment clause for ordinary reasons, which is question three.

2. Can you show me proof of funds?

A bank letter or a recent statement showing the money exists. A real cash buyer has this ready, because every seller and every title company asks for it.

Be a little careful here, because proof of funds is also the easiest thing to produce convincingly. A letter from a private lender or a transactional funding outfit is not the same as money in a bank account. If it is a letter rather than a statement, ask who issued it and what it is conditional on.

3. Is the contract assignable, and if so, why do you need it?

Most cash contracts are assignable. On its own that tells you very little, and advice telling you to strike the clause on sight is too blunt to be useful.

There are ordinary reasons a buyer who fully intends to close still wants it:

• Taking title in a different entity. The same buyer, holding the property in a different LLC they also control.
• A funding partner coming in. Another investor joins the purchase after the contract is signed.
• Avoiding a re-signing. Without the clause, either of the above means new paperwork and your signature again, possibly weeks in. Sellers are not always reachable, and some are not in a position to sign a second time at all.

None of those change what you get. The reason to be wary is different: a buyer who needs the clause because they cannot complete the purchase without finding someone else first. Then your closing depends on a third party you have never spoken to, and if that person does not appear, neither does your sale.

So ask the question directly, and listen for a specific answer. “In case we take title in another entity or bring a partner in” is a real reason. A vague answer about flexibility, or discomfort at being asked, is not.

Then pin down the part that actually protects you:

• “If this is assigned, does my price change?” The answer should be no, and it should be in the contract.
• “Does my closing date change?” Same answer.
• “Are you funding this yourself?” Pair it with question two. A buyer who can fund the purchase does not need an assignee to rescue the deal.

One more thing worth checking while you are in the contract: whether they can record a memorandum of contract against your property. That clouds your title and makes it hard to sell to anyone else while the contract is live.

4. How much earnest money, and when does it go hard?

Earnest money is the deposit the buyer puts with the title company to show they are serious. Two numbers matter: how much, and when it stops being refundable.

A $500 deposit that stays refundable until the day of closing is not a commitment, it is a placeholder. It costs the buyer nothing to walk, which means they will walk if something better appears. A meaningful deposit that goes non refundable after a short, defined inspection period means the buyer has something real at risk alongside you.

Also confirm it goes to a title company or an attorney's escrow account. Not to the buyer, and not to an account the buyer controls.

5. How long is your inspection period, and can you cancel for any reason?

A short due diligence window is normal and reasonable. Any buyer should be allowed to look at the property.

What you are listening for is a long period combined with the right to cancel for any reason at all. Thirty days to terminate at will is not due diligence, it is free time to find someone to take the contract. If they cannot, they cancel on day twenty nine and you have lost a month. If you are in a foreclosure timeline, that month may be the whole thing. See selling a house in foreclosure.

6. Can this offer change after you have seen the house?

Retrading is the practice of making a strong offer to win the contract, then reducing it once you are committed and the alternatives have gone away. It is the single most common complaint about this industry, and it is worth asking about directly.

What a straight answer sounds like: the offer holds unless they find something materially different from what you described, and they will tell you specifically what that would be. Structural damage nobody mentioned, an active lien, a tenant who was not disclosed. Those are fair. "Repairs came in higher than we expected" is not, because estimating repairs was their job.

Ask the follow up too: does the offer you have given me already account for the condition I described? If the answer is anything other than yes, you do not yet have an offer.

7. Are you licensed, and what is your license number?

Most cash buyers are not licensed, and that is not by itself a problem. Buying property for your own account does not require a license in Florida.

But it is worth knowing which you are dealing with, because a license changes what the person is accountable to. A licensee operates under state licensing rules, a professional code, and a regulator you can complain to. An unlicensed buyer is accountable to the contract and nothing else.

If they say they are licensed, ask for the number. Florida licenses are publicly searchable through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and it takes a minute to confirm.

Two more worth adding while you are at it: which title company do you use, and can I see your reviews? A buyer who closes regularly has a title company they work with by name, and a trail of named reviews from people in your area.

What to do with the answers

You are not trying to catch anybody out. You are trying to find out whether the number you have been given is a real commitment from a buyer who can complete, so you can compare it honestly against listing with an agent, or against doing nothing for now.

Any of these should end the call: refusal to show proof of funds, a vague or irritated answer about why the contract is assignable, a nominal deposit paired with a long free look, or an offer the buyer will not confirm is based on the condition you already described.

And one more thing, which is not a question. Get more than one offer. Nobody serious will object.

Our answers, for the record

It would be strange to publish this and not answer it ourselves.

• On the deed: we close in our own name. Our contracts do include an assignment clause, and here is exactly why: if we take title in a different LLC, or a funding partner comes in with us, nothing has to go back to you for a second signature. Your price and your closing date do not change either way.
• Licensed: David Melman is a licensed Florida real estate professional, license number 3627860, under RE/MAX Palm Realty. When we buy for our own account we act as a principal in the transaction, not as your agent.
• Track record: more than 250 properties purchased across the Gulf Coast, and a family that has been buying in these markets for 25 years.
• Title: we close through established local title companies.
• Honest routing: because we are licensed, we can tell you when listing would net you more. Sometimes it will, and we will say so.

We are not providing legal, tax or financial advice, and anything unusual in your situation deserves a Florida real estate attorney’s eyes.

Common questions