The numbers · August 12, 2026 · 7 min
The walk-away number is the only number that matters
List price is a wish. What you keep after the mortgage, the fees, the repairs, and the months of waiting is the actual decision.
By Sean · Silverkey Home Offer
A house can be “worth” $385,000 and still leave you with $98,000. Another house can be “worth” the same and leave you with $170,000. The difference is not the Zillow number. It is everything that happens between a wish and a wire.
What the walk-away number is
It is what hits your account after:
- The mortgage and any liens are paid off
- Selling costs are paid (or not)
- Repairs you had to fund yourself
- The months you kept paying the house while it sat
That is the number you live on. Not the list price. Not the cash offer on its own. The net.
Why listings look bigger on paper
An agent is not lying when they say the house could bring more. A repaired house, shown well, with time on the clock, often will. What they cannot put in the flyer:
- 5.5% commission
- 1.5% seller closing costs
- Buyer credits after inspection — about 2% of sellers pay some form of this
- Cash to make the house look like the comparable sales
- 75 to 90 days of mortgage, tax, and insurance
On a house that needs real work, those line items eat the “higher price.” On a house with a short clock, the listing is not even an option. The buyer’s lender will not close inside your deadline.
Why a cash number looks smaller — and sometimes isn’t
Silverkey makes cash offers on houses as-is. The offer prices in repairs, holding, risk, and margin so the house can be a home for someone else. That is why the offer is below the fixed-up value. It is supposed to be.
Run the tool on this site with your own numbers. If the listing net is higher and you have the time and the cash to get there, list it. If the cash net is the one you can actually collect, that is the honest trade.
What this is not
The walk-away tool uses national averages. It is not an appraisal. It is not Sean’s offer. His number depends on the house, the title, and the market he is walking that week.
Take the numbers to him anyway. A real offer is a piece of paper with a dollar figure and a closing date. Everything before that is a conversation.