The short answer
“Cash buyer” covers four different things in Las Vegas. A direct buyer closes with its own funds. A wholesaler signs your contract and sells it to someone else. An iBuyer such as Opendoor or Offerpad makes a cash offer and charges a service fee. A listing can still end with a cash buyer, found on the open market.
They differ in who ends up on the deed, what comes out of your proceeds, and how likely the deal is to close. When the house shows well and you have time, a listing usually nets more. Work out your net on each route before you sign anything.
We buy houses for cash in the Las Vegas Valley, so we are not a neutral party. We are also the company that tells sellers when a listing will serve them better, and we take no referral fee when we do.
Cash was 21.9% of Las Vegas sales in August 2026
In August 2026, Las Vegas REALTORS reported that cash transactions made up 21.9% of all local property sales, down from 22.9% a year earlier.
That figure counts every kind of cash purchase. A “we pay cash” letter or yard sign could come from any of the four routes below.
Route 1: A direct buyer closes with its own funds
A direct buyer signs a purchase contract in its own name, funds the purchase itself, and takes title at closing.
You get no showings, no repairs, no buyer’s lender to fall through, and a closing date you negotiate. You give up price. Repairs, holding costs, resale costs and the buyer’s margin all come out of what it can pay.
To confirm you are dealing with one, ask for proof of funds and check that the entity named on it matches the entity on the contract. Our guide on vetting a Las Vegas cash buyer covers this step by step.
Route 2: A wholesaler assigns your contract to someone else
A wholesaler signs a contract to buy your house, then transfers (“assigns”) that contract to another investor before closing. That investor pays the wholesaler a fee and closes the purchase.
South Carolina’s Real Estate Commission, in a November 2024 advisory opinion, broke wholesaling into four elements. They are a contractual interest in the home, marketing the property before owning it, expecting compensation, and using an assignment to pass the interest to a third party.
How to spot an assignment clause
FortuneBuilders, an investor training site, tells wholesalers to write “and/or assigns” next to their name in the buyer line. That lets them hand the contract to another buyer. The same right can also sit in a separate assignment paragraph.
In any cash offer, check:
- The buyer line. “ABC Homes LLC and/or assigns” means ABC Homes may never be the buyer.
- An assignment section. Look for words like “assign,” “assignee,” “designee” or “nominee.”
- The inspection or due-diligence period. A long period with a small, refundable deposit gives a buyer time to find someone else, or walk away.
- Photo and showing access. Ask about any clause letting the buyer bring “partners” or “investors” through the house before closing.
None of these proves bad intent. Each is a reason to ask, “Will your company be the one that closes and takes title?”
What Nevada law says about wholesaling
We could not find a Nevada statute written specifically for wholesalers. The current text of NRS chapter 645, revised September 9, 2026, does not use the word. Chapter 645 does define a real estate broker as someone who, for another and for compensation, sells, offers or solicits buyers for real estate (NRS 645.030). Acting as one without a license is unlawful (NRS 645.230).
Whether a given wholesaler’s marketing falls under that definition is a legal question for a Nevada real estate attorney or the Nevada Real Estate Division, not the company making you the offer.
For you, the bigger risk is at closing. If the wholesaler cannot find an end buyer at a price that leaves room for its fee, the deal may be renegotiated or cancelled, and you have lost the weeks it sat under contract.
Route 3: A national iBuyer charges a service fee
An iBuyer makes a cash offer online, buys the home, and resells it. As of September 29, 2026, two publish Las Vegas selling pages:
- Opendoor says it buys houses in Las Vegas for cash, with a closing window it lists as 21 to 60+ days. Its help center says it charges a service charge for “buying, holding, and reselling your home,” and that it does not publish a fixed service charge percentage. The amount appears in each offer. Opendoor also deducts estimated repair costs after its assessment. The seller’s closing costs include items such as title insurance, escrow fees and recording fees.
- Offerpad says it buys across the Las Vegas Valley, including Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City. It says it can close in as few as eight business days or as many as 60 days. Its seller FAQ states a 5% service fee, plus the seller’s own closing costs, which it puts at approximately 1% of the purchase price and says may vary by state. Needed repairs can be handled as a credit to Offerpad.
Fees and terms change. Read each company’s current fee page, and compare net proceeds, not the headline price.
Route 4: Listing with an agent reaches every buyer
A listing puts the home in front of every buyer in the market, cash buyers included. In August 2026, Las Vegas REALTORS reported a median single-family sale price of $475,000. Of the homes that sold, 74.8% did so within 60 days, and there was a little over four and a half months of supply.
Agent compensation is set by agreement. The National Association of REALTORS’ settlement materials require a statement that broker fees and commissions are “fully negotiable and not set by law.” Since August 17, 2024, compensation offers to buyer’s agents can no longer be advertised on the MLS. Sellers can still offer them off the MLS.
A worked example: one hypothetical house, four ways
This is a made-up house. Every price and cost below is an assumption chosen to show the arithmetic. It predicts nothing about your home and is not an offer from us or anyone else.
The house is a Las Vegas single-family home worth $475,000 on the open market, the LVR August 2026 median. It needs about $10,000 of work to show well. The mortgage payoff is left out because it is the same on every route.
Our assumptions:
- The listing sells at $475,000 after about 60 days on market plus a 30-day escrow. That is three months of carrying costs.
- Carrying costs (mortgage interest, taxes, insurance, utilities, any HOA) run $2,500 a month.
- Total agent compensation on the listing is 5%, for the arithmetic only. Commissions are negotiable.
- Clark County real property transfer tax is $2.55 per $500 of value ($1.95 plus $0.60), per the Recorders Association of Nevada. On $475,000 that is $2,422.50. Buyer and seller are jointly and severally liable for it, so the contract sets who pays. We assume the seller pays on the listing and the buyer pays on the direct sale.
- Other seller closing costs on the listing (title, escrow share, recording) are $3,000, and the post-inspection repair credit is another $3,000.
- The direct buyer and the wholesaler’s end buyer both come in at $400,000, and the buyer covers closing costs by written agreement. The iBuyer’s price is $460,000 before its fee, less a $10,000 repair deduction. All of these prices are invented.
| Line | Listing | Direct buyer | Wholesaler | iBuyer (5% fee example) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $475,000 | $400,000 | $400,000 | $460,000 |
| Agent compensation or service fee | −$23,750 | $0 | $0 | −$23,000 |
| Repairs, prep or repair deduction | −$10,000 | $0 | $0 | −$10,000 |
| Inspection credit | −$3,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Transfer tax (seller share, as assumed) | −$2,422.50 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Other seller closing costs | −$3,000 | $0 | $0 | −$4,600 (about 1%) |
| Carrying costs | −$7,500 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Estimated net before payoff | $425,327.50 | $400,000 | $400,000 if it closes | $422,400 |
With these assumptions the listing nets the most. It also takes the longest, needs the repairs done first, and depends on a buyer’s financing and inspection.
The direct buyer and the wholesaler look identical on paper. The difference is who closes. If the end buyer hands the wholesaler $425,000 for your contract, the wholesaler keeps $25,000. You carry the risk that no end buyer appears.
The iBuyer lands in between, and the company sets the fee, the repair deduction and the offer.
Change one assumption, say $40,000 of work or five months on market, and the order can flip. That is why we run the numbers house by house.
Ten questions to ask any cash buyer
- Will your company close with its own funds and take title in its own name?
- Can I see proof of funds in the same entity name that is on the contract?
- Does the contract say “and/or assigns,” or let you assign it to anyone?
- Which title or escrow company will close this, and can I call them myself?
- How much earnest money, held by whom, and when does it become non-refundable?
- How long is the inspection period, and can you cancel during it for any reason?
- What would make you change the price after we sign, and how would you tell me?
- Who pays the closing costs and the transfer tax, in writing?
- What is my net after every fee, not only the offer price?
- Are you asking me for any money before closing? The BBB’s advice is never to give money to an investor before the closing date, and to complete the transaction through a closing or escrow agent.
On question 7, we do not cut a signed price at our discretion. If the contractor walkthrough after signing turns up a material hidden condition, such as foundation damage, we may propose a written amendment that documents exactly what was found. The signed contract governs what either side can do.
When listing is the better choice
A listing is usually the stronger route when:
- The house is in good shape and would show well with little work.
- You have time to wait through showings, negotiation and a financed buyer’s escrow.
- You can cover the mortgage, taxes and utilities while it is on the market.
- You are fine with strangers touring the home and with inspection negotiations.
A cash sale makes more sense when the house needs work you cannot fund, or a deadline is fixed (a foreclosure date, a move, a probate timeline). It also fits when tenants live there, or when a known closing date matters more to you than the last dollar.
Talk it through with us
We are a local company based in Henderson, founded in 2017, buying across the Las Vegas Valley and Boulder City. We are not an agent or brokerage, and we never list homes.
When we buy, we buy as-is, charge no agent fees or commissions, cover standard closing costs, and close on your timeline. When a listing will serve you better, we say so and tell you which agents we have had good experiences with. We take no referral fee for it.
Request a free, no-obligation cash offer or call us to run these numbers on your house. You will get a straight answer, including when that answer is “don’t sell to us.”