SoldHouse.com is a Chicago buyer, and nothing else.

How we actually make money

This is the question everyone is too polite to ask, so here is the answer. We buy a house below what it would be worth renovated, we pay for the renovation, and we either sell it or keep it as a rental. The gap between those two numbers is where our profit comes from, and the size of that gap is the whole negotiation.

That means two things worth saying out loud. First, our offer will be less than a fixed up house on your block sells for, and any buyer who tells you otherwise is not being straight with you. Second, we have no reason to lowball you, because a lowball offer just gets declined and we have wasted a trip. The market for houses like yours is competitive enough that our number has to be real.

How we decide whether to make an offer

We look at three things: what the house needs, what a renovated house on the block actually sells for, and what is sitting on title. If those three numbers leave room for a fair offer, you get one, in writing, with the comparable sales attached.

If they do not, we say so rather than lowballing you to see what sticks. Sometimes that means telling you your house belongs on the market. That is the version of this business we are interested in running, and it is the part we would rather be judged on.

How we price a house

Three recent comparable sales, as close to your block as we can get and as recent as we can get. Then our estimate of what the house needs, built from what we have actually paid contractors in Chicago this year rather than from a national cost table. Then title: liens, tax sale certificates, estate issues, anything that has to be cleared. You see all three inputs, because you should be able to check our math.

You are dealing with a company, not a personality

Plenty of buyers in this market are built around one person's name and face. That works right up until that person is on vacation, or busy, or gone. SoldHouse.com is set up the other way round: the process is the product. The same three inputs price every house, the same contract goes out, the same title company closes it, and you get the same answer whoever you happen to speak to.

Which means the thing to judge us on is not who we are. It is whether we explain how we got to the number, whether we put the comparable sales in writing, and whether we tell you to get your own attorney. Ask any buyer those three things and you will learn more than a biography would tell you.

What we are not

• We are not a licensed real estate brokerage and we do not represent you. When you sell to us, we are the buyer, with our own interests. You should have your own attorney.
• We are not a lender, and we do not offer loans, advances, or foreclosure rescue products.
• We do not wholesale your contract to a stranger without telling you. If a partner is going to be involved in a closing, you will know before you sign.
• We are not attorneys or tax advisors. Nothing on this site is legal, tax, or financial advice.

Where we work

The city of Chicago first, then the seven Illinois counties around it, Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Will, Kendall and McHenry, and then across the state line into Lake and Porter counties in northwest Indiana. The core of it is about forty miles from our Elmhurst office. It is still a deliberate limit. Knowing which blocks in Portage Park sell and which do not, what a Berwyn two flat rents for, and how long a Will County closing takes is the entire advantage a local buyer has, and none of it travels.

See every city and neighborhood we buy in