Comment by terminalshort 3 days ago
Cash doesn't really give you much more leverage. A seller really couldn't care less where the money comes from as long as they get paid. Cash will get you a better price in the case where a seller really needs to sell instantly, but that's a rarity. Most of the time the higher offer wins regardless of how the buyer finances it.
According to my friend, the issue is that financed deals frequently fall apart at the last minute.
Cash is more secure, when you turn down a bunch of offers for one that goes belly-up, at the end.
The leverage cash gives you is convenience. A normal buyer will have very specific times they can do the transaction (since they need to almost finish selling their house before they can buy yours). Showing up with cash offers means that the buyer can be done right now.
When we were buying a house, we made offers on around 30 properties, and about 10 of them lost out to lower dollar value cash offers. In a hot real estate market, nobody wants to deal with any contingencies.