How to price a wholesale deal for cash buyers

How do you price a wholesale deal?

You price a wholesale deal from what buyers near you will actually pay. The wholesale price is your contract price with the seller plus your assignment fee — the total the buyer pays for the contract. Start from the buyers' price, and your fee is what's left after your contract price.

If you're new to this, here's the whole deal in one picture. You sign a purchase contract with a homeowner — say for $140,000. You don't buy the house yourself. Instead, you find a cash buyer (usually a flipper or a landlord) who takes over your contract and pays you a fee for bringing them the deal. The buyer pays the seller the $140,000 you agreed to, pays you your fee, and ends up owning the house. The price you "send" to buyers is the total they'll pay: $140,000 plus your fee.

Most beginners price the deal backward. They take their contract price, add the fee they'd like to make — often a round $10,000 — and send that number out to see what happens. The problem is that this price reflects what you want, not what the house is worth to a buyer. Sometimes buyers would pay far more, and you never find out. Sometimes they'd pay less, and the deal sits while your contract deadline gets closer.

This guide walks through pricing the right way: starting with the buyer, understanding how much different buyers can pay, and choosing a price on purpose. New to assignment fees? Start with the complete guide to wholesale assignment fees.

How do you price a wholesale contract?

Pricing a wholesale contract means setting the total a buyer pays to take it over: your contract price with the seller plus your assignment fee. Buyers don't price your contract and your fee separately — they price the house. So start from what the house is worth to them after repairs and costs, and your contract's price follows. That's what wholesale deal pricing really is: finding the buyer's number, not adding yours. If you're searching how to price a wholesale contract for the first time, that one shift — buyer's number first — is most of the answer.

Does a wholesale deal have one buyer price?

No — a wholesale deal doesn't have one buyer price. It has a curve. As your price goes up, your fee grows, the buyer's profit shrinks, and more and more buyers decide the deal isn't for them. There's no single "cash buyer price" — there's a range of prices, each with a different number of buyers still willing to buy.

Here's what that looks like on a real sample deal: a house worth $300,000 once it's fixed up (its after-repair value, or ARV), needing $30,000 of repairs, under contract for $140,000. In this price range, 271 investors near the property are active buyers:

Read the table from top to bottom. At $170,000 almost every buyer says yes — but you're leaving them a 24% profit, far more than most need, and your fee is only $30,000. At $205,000 your fee would be $65,000, but the buyer would keep just 7.2%, and only 67 of the 271 buyers are still interested. Somewhere in between is the price that balances your fee against the number of buyers you still have.

That's the real pricing question. Not "what will it sell for?" — it will sell for many different prices to many different buyers — but "where do I want to be on this curve?" The rest of this guide helps you answer it.

What price should you send to cash buyers?

Send the price that fits how hard you want to push. Each step up the curve means a bigger fee and fewer buyers. On the sample deal, three sensible places to price are:

Which one is right depends on your situation, not on a rule. Choose the lower price when you need the deal to close no matter what — a tight deadline, a seller counting on you, or a house with unknowns that might scare buyers later. Choose the middle when you have normal time and a normal deal. Choose the higher price when you have plenty of time, strong buyers and a house with no surprises.

Notice that even the "safe" price here is $37,150 — nearly four times the $10,000 many beginners would have added to the contract. That's the cost of guessing: on a deal like this, a round-number fee would have handed the buyer tens of thousands of dollars they'd happily have paid you.

Why can one cash buyer pay more than another?

One cash buyer can pay more than another for the same house because their costs and plans are different. Beginners often picture "the cash buyer" as one person with one maximum price. In reality, every buyer does their own math, and their numbers can be very different:

• Money costs. A buyer using a hard-money loan might pay 12% interest plus points. A buyer using their own cash pays none of that, so they can afford a higher price.
• Repair costs. A buyer who hires contractors at retail prices spends more than a buyer who owns a construction crew.
• Time. A buyer who can finish the rehab in three months has lower holding costs (taxes, insurance, utilities, loan payments) than one who needs six.
• Plans. A flipper cares about the resale price. A landlord cares about rent and may happily pay more for a house that rents well.

The highest price usually comes from the buyer the house fits best. That's why reaching the right buyers matters so much: the more of them who see your deal, the further up the curve you can sell. See how much profit to leave your cash buyer for how buyers work out what they need.

How do cash buyers judge your price?

Cash buyers judge your price with their own numbers, not yours. Before a buyer says yes, they'll quickly work out four things: what the house will sell for once it's fixed (the ARV), what the repairs will cost, what it costs to buy, hold and resell the house, and how much profit is left for them at your price. If the profit is fair for the money, time and risk, they buy. If it isn't, they counter or go quiet.

What they almost never do is judge your price by your fee. A buyer doesn't care whether you're making $10,000 or $50,000 if the deal still works for them at their total price. That's worth remembering, because many beginners shrink their fee out of fear that buyers will think it's too big — when the buyer is only looking at their own numbers.

So make their math easy. Send your price with the numbers that support it:

• The ARV and the comps behind it — recent sales of similar fixed-up houses nearby, so buyers can check your value.
• A repair estimate — ideally broken down by room or trade, with photos.
• What the buyer keeps at your price — after their buying, holding and selling costs.
• The basics — address, beds, baths, square footage, access for viewings, your closing date and the deposit you require.

A buyer who can check your math in five minutes decides in five minutes. A buyer who has to rebuild your numbers from scratch often doesn't bother.

How much will a cash buyer pay for your deal?

A cash buyer will pay what's left after they take their costs and their profit out of what the house will sell for. On the sample deal: the house sells for $300,000; selling costs take $24,000; to keep 15% on everything they put in, they can put in at most $240,000; take out $30,000 of repairs, $18,400 of holding costs and about 2% buying costs, and the most they'll pay is about $187,800.

Different buyers land on different numbers — cheaper money, their own crew or a rental plan can push it higher — which is exactly why a deal has a curve of buyer prices rather than one. See how much profit to leave your cash buyer.

Why does the price you send matter more than your fee?

The price you send matters more than your fee because it's the only number buyers act on. Your fee is simply what's left after your contract price — it's not something buyers price separately. They price the house.

That changes how you should think about pricing. If you start by asking "how much do I want to make?", you're pricing your wish. If you start by asking "what will buyers pay for this house?", you're pricing the market — and your fee follows automatically. Get the price right, and the fee takes care of itself. Get the price wrong in either direction, and no amount of negotiating over your fee will fix it.

What limits your wholesale price: the deal or your buyers?

Two different things can stop your price from going higher, and it helps to know which one you're up against.

The deal itself. At some price the buyer's profit becomes too thin for the money, time and risk involved. On the sample deal above, that's what happens first: past about $187,800, the buyer keeps less than 15%, and buyers start dropping out because the numbers stop making sense.

Your buyers. Sometimes the numbers still work at a higher price, but few buyers near you shop at that price. On a $600,000 house under contract for $250,000 with no repairs, the buyer would still keep 35% at a $122,000 fee — plenty of profit — but only half the buyers in that price range would still buy. The limit there isn't the deal. It's how many buyers are active at that price.

The fix is different for each. If the deal is the limit, finding more buyers won't help — you need a better seller price, lower repairs or a more accurate ARV. If your buyers are the limit, the numbers are fine; you need to put the deal in front of more of the right buyers before you cut your price. See what the maximum assignment fee is.

Should you start high and cut the price later?

Starting high and cutting later is one of the most common beginner strategies — and it usually costs more than it looks. The idea is simple: send the deal at a high price, and if nobody bites in a day or two, drop it, and keep dropping until someone says yes.

The trouble is that buyers notice. The first price cut tells everyone on your list that the deal isn't moving. Some buyers start to wonder what's wrong with the house; others simply wait, expecting another cut. By the third drop, you're often selling for less than you would have gotten with a sensible price on day one — and you've burned days off your contract deadline doing it.

It also teaches you very little. When the deal finally sells, you know buyers would pay the last price. You don't know whether they'd have paid more at a price you skipped, or whether an earlier price failed because of the number or because the right buyers hadn't seen it yet. Know the curve first, then start where you actually mean to sell.

Should you price low and let buyers compete?

Pricing low on purpose to start a bidding war can work — but only in the right conditions. It needs deep demand (many active buyers for this kind of house), a house that clearly stands out, and a process that lets buyers compete: for example, a set deadline for offers and a clear rule that the best offer wins.

The risk is that nobody bids up. If you take the first yes at your deliberately low price, you haven't run an auction — you've simply underpriced the deal. Beginners often find this out the hard way when a buyer accepts in minutes and the "bidding war" never happens.

If you try it, decide in advance the lowest price you'll actually accept and how long you'll collect offers, and tell buyers both. Better still, know from the data where the curve is, so you know whether an offer is strong or just the first one in.

Should you leave room to negotiate?

Leave room to negotiate inside what buyers actually pay — not by padding the price above it. Many beginners add $10,000 "because buyers always negotiate." But a price above what buyers will pay doesn't start a negotiation; it stops one before it begins. Buyers look at the number, see that their profit is too thin, and move on to the next deal in their inbox.

If you want room to give a little, build it into your fee instead. Price at a point on the curve where plenty of buyers are still in, and treat a small concession as part of your plan. You keep more buyers interested, you still price from data, and when you give $2,000 back it's from a number that was real to begin with.

What should your wholesale asking price be?

Your wholesale asking price should be a point on the curve you've chosen on purpose — not your contract price plus a round number, and not a padded figure you expect to negotiate down. A good asking price is one you can explain with the buyer's own numbers, that leaves enough buyers in to sell before your deadline, and that you'd be comfortable holding if a buyer pushes back. If you can't explain your asking price in one sentence of the buyer's numbers, it's probably a guess.

Should you send a fixed price or ask for offers?

Send a fixed price you've worked out from what buyers pay, and let offers come in against it. A clear price does three things: it tells buyers exactly what they're deciding on, it filters out bargain hunters who were never going to pay a fair price, and it makes you look like someone who knows the deal's numbers.

Asking for "best offer" with no price hands the number to the buyers. And buyers are rational — their first offers are almost always their lowest. You end up negotiating up from the bottom instead of from a fair price. If you do take offers, know your number first, so you can instantly tell a strong offer from a lowball one.

Is an instant sale a sign you priced too low?

It can be, and it's the kind of mistake you'll never notice unless you look for it. Imagine you send a deal at 10:00 a.m. By 10:10, eight buyers have replied and the first one says, "I'll take it — where do I send the deposit?" It feels like a win. But ask yourself: why was that decision so easy?

Sometimes it's a great deal and a great list. But often it means the price was well below what buyers would have paid. When you price too high, the market tells you: buyers go quiet and you adjust. When you price too low, the market says nothing — the deal closes, everyone is happy, and the money you left behind stays invisible.

On the sample deal, a $10,000 fee would sell in minutes — because buyers would have paid up to $47,800. A fast sale proves buyers would pay at least your price. It never proves they wouldn't have paid more. See what a good assignment fee is.

How do you know if your wholesale deal is overpriced?

You know your wholesale deal is overpriced when the buyers who should want it don't — no replies, no viewings, or offers well below your price. But before you cut, find out why, because the fee is often not the real problem. Work through these in order:

• Recheck the ARV. Are your comps really similar houses — same area, similar size, fixed up to the same level, sold recently? If buyers keep saying the house won't sell for your number, look at your comps again.
• Recheck the repairs. If every experienced buyer sees $25,000 more work than you do, the price problem started with your estimate, not your fee.
• Recheck the buyer's costs. Buying, holding and selling costs can add up to more than $46,000 on a $300,000 flip. Leave them out and any price looks affordable on paper.
• Look at your contract price. If buyers will pay $180,000 and you signed at $178,000, there simply isn't room — cutting your fee to $2,000 won't make it a good deal for anyone.
• Read the counteroffers as a group. One buyer offering $150,000 is one opinion — maybe a lowballer, maybe someone with expensive money. Five buyers independently landing between $168,000 and $171,000 is information about what the market will pay.

Two warnings. Don't let the lowest bidder set your price just because they were the loudest. And don't bank on the highest offer until you've seen the buyer's deposit and their record of actually closing. See can an assignment fee be too high?

Is the highest offer always the best buyer?

No — a higher price only pays if the deal actually closes. Compare two buyers on the same deal. Buyer A offers $2,500 more, but puts down a $1,000 deposit, wants a three-week inspection period, and you've never worked with them. Buyer B offers slightly less, puts down $10,000, can close in ten days, and has closed with you three times before.

For many wholesalers, Buyer B is the better choice. If Buyer A backs out after two weeks, you may have lost your best buyers to other deals and have only days left on your contract. The $2,500 was never really yours.

So weigh every offer on four things: the price, the size of the deposit, the terms (inspection period, closing date, any conditions), and the buyer's history of closing. Price gets you paid only when the deal closes.

How does your contract deadline affect your price?

Your contract with the seller has a closing date, and that deadline changes how much risk you can afford to take. With several weeks to go, you can price nearer the top of the curve and give buyers time to view the house and come to you. With only a few days left, a sure sale matters more than the last few thousand dollars — so price where more buyers are still in.

The deadline doesn't change what the house is worth to buyers. It changes what happens to you if the deal doesn't sell in time: a missed closing can mean losing your earnest money deposit and your reputation with the seller. Plan your price around the time you actually have, and start marketing the day you sign — not the week before closing.

How do you price a wholesale deal with a small buyers list?

Price it from what investors near you have actually paid, not just from the handful of buyers you already know. When investors buy houses, those purchases are recorded — the price, the date, and often the fact that the buyer paid cash or used a company (an LLC). Those records show you what real buyers in your area pay for houses like yours, even if you don't know those buyers yet.

Your list decides who hears about the deal. It doesn't decide what the house is worth to buyers in your area. If your own buyers stop short of what the area's investors actually pay, that's a sign to market the deal more widely — not to cut your price to fit your list.

And judge your list by how many buyers are right for this particular house, not by its total size. Twenty buyers who flip houses in this neighborhood at this price are worth more than two thousand email addresses of people who buy somewhere else.

For how to find and read those recorded purchases step by step, see how to determine your assignment fee from real buyer data.

What are the most common wholesale pricing mistakes?

Almost every wholesale pricing mistake starts from something other than what buyers will actually pay:

• Contract price plus the fee you want. The most common beginner method. The price reflects your goal, not the house — so it's too low on good deals and too high on thin ones.
• Using the 70% rule as the price. The 70% rule (70% of ARV minus repairs) is a quick screen for whether a deal might work. It isn't what buyers near you pay — see why the 70% rule doesn't set your fee.
• Leaving out the buyer's costs. Buying, holding and selling costs can be $46,156 on a $300,000 flip. Ignore them and your price will be too high.
• A wrong ARV or repair estimate. Every dollar you're off flows straight into your price. An ARV $15,000 too high means a price $15,000 too high.
• Stopping at the first yes. The goal isn't just to find a price that sells — it's to know where buyers start saying no.

Can you price the deal before you sign with the seller?

Yes — and it's one of the best habits you can build. Once you know what buyers near you will pay for the house, you know how much you can offer the seller and still leave room for your fee. That's your maximum allowable offer (MAO): what buyers will pay, minus the fee you need.

Pricing first protects you from the worst beginner mistake: signing a contract at a price no buyer will pay above. Once that contract is signed, no marketing, no buyers list and no fee cut can create room that was never there. Price the deal first, then make your offer. See MAO vs. assignment fee.

How to price a wholesale deal, step by step

Here’s the whole process, from the numbers to the price you send. The sample deal: ARV $300,000, repairs $30,000, your contract $140,000.

1. Work out what a buyer can pay.
   Backward from the resale at the return buyers here accept: $187,800. Every line: how to calculate your assignment fee.
2. Build the buyer-supported range.
   From recent investor purchases: $183,000–$189,900, most likely $188,500. How: how to determine your assignment fee from real buyer data.
3. Count buyers at each price.

   Price	Investors at or above
   $183,000	6 of 8
   $187,800	5 of 8
   $188,500	4 of 8
   $189,900	2 of 8

4. Pick your price for the situation.
   A close deadline or a small list: the low end. Normal time: the middle. Plenty of time and strong repeat buyers: the high end. Send one fixed price, not a padded one.
5. Send the price with its proof.
   ARV comps, the repair scope, photos, access and the closing date. Buyers pay more when they can check your numbers.
6. Read the first few days.
   Several full-price offers right away: you were low; note it for next time. Silence: recheck ARV and repairs, then re-price once to the buyer-supported range.

How do you find the right price?

You find the right price from the buyers, not from your contract price plus the fee you want:

1. Get the deal right — a defensible ARV, real repairs, the buyer's buying, holding and selling costs.
2. Work out what buyers can pay at the profit buyers near you accept.
3. Check it against what investors here actually paid and who's still buying at each price.
4. Choose your spot on the curve — more buyers and a surer sale, or a bigger fee and fewer buyers — and send that price with the numbers behind it.

Questions