Momentum Housing Data · Selling under pressure
Every postcard, billboard and late-night search result wants to sell you one answer. There are six, and the right one depends on how much time you have, how much you owe, and what shape the house is in. This page lays them out side by side with Florida’s actual rules and the recorded numbers from our MLS research, then gets you the two figures nobody else shows together: a written cash offer and what the house would net on the open market.
A written cash offer within 48 hours from Momentum Offers, our network of vetted Florida cash buyers, plus what the house would likely net on the market from recorded sales. Any condition, no repairs, no cost to you for the offer, and no obligation to take either.
Momentum Realty is a licensed Florida real estate brokerage, not a lender, law firm, credit counselor or government program. We don’t charge you for an offer, and we can’t promise to stop a foreclosure or that a lender will approve a short sale. Cash offers come from independent buyers and can be below market value; compare them with the listing number before you decide. For legal or tax questions, talk to a Florida attorney or CPA. Equal Housing Opportunity.
| Path | How fast | What you typically net vs. market value | Best when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| List it on the open market | Median Florida community: about 55 days list to contract, then 30 to 45 days to close with a financed buyer | Highest. Full market price less selling costs (commissions are negotiable; budget roughly 6 to 8 percent all-in for commissions, closing costs and typical concessions) | You have 60 to 120 days and the house shows reasonably well | Financed buyers ask for concessions (74 percent of FHA and 63 percent of VA purchases in NE Florida in 2026 recorded one), inspections, appraisal risk |
| List it as-is | Similar to above; often faster at the right price | Market price for the condition, less selling costs. Cash buyers on the MLS paid about 91 percent of list under $269,000 in 2026, within 1.5 points of financed buyers above $460,000 | The house needs work you cannot or will not do, but you still have time | Pricing: as-is listings that are priced like renovated ones sit. The listing still goes to every buyer, including investors, which is how you make them compete |
| Cash offer (Momentum Offers network) | Written offer within 48 hours; close in 7 to 21 days | Lowest, usually 15 to 30 percent below market after repairs for off-market investor offers; the written offer tells you exactly | You need certainty or speed more than the last dollar: auction date set, relocation, estate that must close, property that cannot be financed | Any cash buyer who will not put the offer in writing, charges a fee, or asks you to sign anything before you have seen your listing net |
| Loan modification or forbearance | 30 to 90 days with the servicer; you keep the house | Not a sale. Missed payments are added to the loan or a repayment plan | The hardship was temporary and you want to stay | You must call the servicer’s loss-mitigation line and send the paperwork; nothing happens automatically. Keep every confirmation number |
| Short sale | 60 to 120 days or longer; lender approval required | Zero to you (the lender takes less than owed), but a negotiated approval can waive the deficiency | You owe more than the house is worth and cannot keep paying | The lender decides, not you; a weak file is denied. Get a Florida real estate attorney involved early. See the short sale guide |
| Deed in lieu, or let the foreclosure run | Deed in lieu: 30 to 90 days. Foreclosure: judicial in Florida, commonly a year or more from lis pendens to auction | Zero, and a foreclosure judgment can include a deficiency the lender may pursue | Nothing else is possible and the lender agrees to a deed in lieu | A foreclosure stays on credit for seven years; a sale that pays the loan before the auction ends it. See how to stop a foreclosure in Florida |
Figures: Momentum Research analysis of realMLS closed sales, January to July 2026, Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Putnam, Baker and Bradford counties (method and full tables); statewide days on market from our 86 Florida market pages. The off-market cash range is an approximate industry range, not a recorded figure; your written offer is the real number.
| Your situation | First move this week | Then read |
|---|---|---|
| Behind on payments or served with foreclosure papers | Call the servicer’s loss-mitigation line and ask for the options packet; at the same time get your two numbers above so you know what a sale would do | How to stop foreclosure in Florida · Florida foreclosure statistics · Facing foreclosure in Jacksonville |
| Owe more than the house is worth | Pull your payoff letter and a records-based value; if the gap is real, the path is a short sale or a modification, not a listing | Florida short sale guide · Short sale or foreclosure? |
| Inherited a house or the owner has died | Find out whether probate has been opened and who the personal representative is; nothing can be signed until Letters are issued | Selling a house in probate in Florida · Selling an inherited house (Jacksonville) |
| Divorce or separation | Agree, in writing, on who decides and how proceeds split before the house is listed; the court order usually controls | Selling a house in a divorce |
| Needs repairs you cannot afford | Get the as-is listing number before you take a cash offer; the gap is often smaller than the postcard implies | Cash offer vs. selling with a Realtor · Selling as-is |
| Tenant-occupied rental | Check the lease end date and Florida notice rules before anything else; investors buy with tenants in place, owner-occupant buyers do not | Selling a rental property |
| Liens, code violations or back taxes | Order a title search now; liens get paid at closing out of proceeds, but surprises at the table kill deals | Selling a house with liens |
| Relocating on a deadline | Decide whether you can carry two payments for 60 days; if not, the as-is listing or the cash offer is the honest comparison | Selling for a relocation · Sell before you buy |
Suppose the house would appraise at $300,000 fixed up and needs about $20,000 of work. Listed as-is at a realistic $275,000 and sold to a financed buyer with a typical concession, you might net roughly $253,000 after about 8 percent in commissions, closing costs and concessions. Listed to a cash buyer on the MLS at the recorded 2026 discount for that price band, roughly $250,000 gross and about $237,000 net. An off-market investor offer at 75 percent of the fixed-up value less repairs is about $205,000, with no commission and a close in two weeks. The spread between the first and last number is about $48,000. Sometimes two weeks is worth $48,000, when there is an auction date or a job across the country; usually it is not, and the only way to know is to have both numbers in writing. That is what the form above does.
Each county page shows how fast homes there actually sell, what share close for cash, and the same two-number form:
Alachua CountyBaker CountyBay CountyBradford CountyBrevard CountyBroward CountyCalhoun CountyCharlotte CountyCitrus CountyClay CountyCollier CountyColumbia CountyDeSoto CountyDixie CountyDuval CountyEscambia CountyFlagler CountyFranklin CountyGadsden CountyGilchrist CountyGlades CountyGulf CountyHamilton CountyHardee CountyHendry CountyHernando CountyHighlands CountyHillsborough CountyHolmes CountyIndian River CountyJackson CountyJefferson CountyLafayette CountyLake CountyLee CountyLeon CountyLevy CountyLiberty CountyMadison CountyManatee CountyMarion CountyMartin CountyMiami-Dade CountyMonroe CountyNassau CountyOkaloosa CountyOkeechobee CountyOrange CountyOsceola CountyPalm Beach CountyPasco CountyPinellas CountyPolk CountyPutnam CountySanta Rosa CountySarasota CountySeminole CountySt. Johns CountySt. Lucie CountySumter CountySuwannee CountyTaylor CountyUnion CountyVolusia CountyWakulla CountyWalton CountyWashington County
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Six, roughly in order of what you keep: sell on the open market (you keep the equity), sell as-is or to a cash buyer (faster, less), a loan modification or forbearance with your servicer (you keep the house), a short sale if you owe more than it is worth (lender takes less than owed, usually with no deficiency pursuit if negotiated), a deed in lieu of foreclosure, or letting the foreclosure run, which in Florida goes through court and usually takes a year or more. The first call should be to the servicer's loss-mitigation line, the second to a licensed agent who can show you what the house would net; the form on this page gets you the second in writing within 48 hours.
On MLS-listed Jacksonville-area homes in 2026, cash purchases of homes under about $269,000 closed at 90.9% of list price, 8.1 points below financed buyers in the same band; above $460,000 the gap was about 1.5 points. Off-market investor offers, the kind you get from a postcard or a 'we buy houses' site, usually land further below market, commonly 15 to 30 percent below after repairs. That is why we send you both numbers, the cash offer and a records-based listing net, and let you decide on paper.
Yes, but not until a personal representative has Letters of Administration, and in some cases not without court confirmation of the sale. Florida's summary administration is available for estates under $150,000 or when the decedent has been dead more than two years. The buyer pool, the as-is reality and the three-month creditor period all shape timing; our probate guide walks through it step by step.
A closed sale that pays off the loan ends the foreclosure. Florida foreclosures are judicial, so there is normally time to sell between the lis pendens and the auction date, but the clock is real and a listing takes longer than a cash sale. If an auction is already set, tell us the date on the form; the answer is different at 90 days out than at 10.
No. Momentum Realty is a licensed Florida brokerage. Momentum Offers is our network of vetted Florida cash buyers; we get you their written offer and, next to it, what the house would likely net listed with us. There is no fee for the offer and no obligation to take either. We are not a lender, law firm, credit counselor or government program, and we do not promise to stop a foreclosure or that a lender will approve a short sale.
Usually. Both hurt, but a completed short sale typically allows a new mortgage sooner than a foreclosure under most loan programs, and a negotiated short sale can include a waiver of the deficiency (the shortfall the lender could otherwise pursue). Every file is different; our short sale guide covers the Florida specifics and when a lawyer should be in the room.
Compiled from recorded MLS data and Florida statutes as of October 2026; deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Momentum Realty is a licensed Florida and Georgia brokerage, not a lender, law firm, credit counselor, instant-offer company or government program. Nothing here is legal or tax advice; a short sale, probate sale or foreclosure defense should involve a Florida attorney. Cash offers can be below market value. Equal Housing Opportunity. © 2026 Move With Momentum LLC. Disclosures