- Home
- How it works
Five steps, about two weeks, and nothing hidden in the middle.
Most people have never sold a house to a buyer like us and have no idea what to expect. So here is the whole thing, including the parts that are inconvenient for us to say out loud.
- 24 hrsFrom address to a written offer, most of the time same day
- 7 daysFastest realistic closing once title comes back clean
- $0Fees, commission, and normal seller closing costs
- 3 compsRecent sales we show you so you can check our math
You send us the address
Call, text, or fill in the form. The address is genuinely all we need to begin. Before we call you back we pull the PIN from the Cook County Assessor, the tax history and any sale certificates, the permit record, and every closed sale within roughly a quarter mile in the last six months. That way the first conversation is about your house instead of about generalities.
If you tell us what is driving the sale, we can be more useful faster. A foreclosure sale date, a tax redemption deadline, a probate court date, or a closing on your next place changes what we recommend, sometimes away from selling to us at all.
We walk the property with you
Twenty to thirty minutes, usually the next day. Do not clean, do not fix, do not stage, and do not apologize for anything. We have walked houses with holes in the roof and thirty years of belongings in them.
What we are actually looking at: the age and condition of the roof, the furnace and the water heater, electrical service and whether it is still knob and tube, the sewer line, the foundation and any water in the basement, the kitchen and bath layout, and whether anything was built without a permit. That list is the offer. There is no secret second inspection later.
You get the number and the math behind it
Most sellers get the offer on the spot. If the property is unusual, if title looks complicated, or if a contractor needs to price something, it takes another day and we tell you that instead of guessing.
With the offer you get three recent comparable sales, our estimate of what the house needs, and a side by side against listing it with an agent, including commission, seller closing costs, likely repair credits, and what carrying the house for three months costs you. If listing wins, we say so. That is not a sales technique. It happens, and it is the reason our clients send us their friends.
Contract, attorney review, and title
We use a standard residential contract for the state the house is in, Illinois or Indiana. You should have your own attorney read it, and if you do not have one we will give you three names and you pick, or you find your own. We do not use an attorney who works for us to represent you. In Illinois an attorney review period is normal on both sides. In Indiana closings usually run through the title company without one, which is exactly why you should still have somebody read it.
Title work opens immediately. This is where deals go sideways in Cook County, and it is where local experience earns its keep: a tax buyer's certificate, an old mechanic's lien, a deceased co-owner who was never removed from the deed, an unreleased mortgage from 1998, a City of Chicago water balance that has to be certified before a transfer stamp is issued. We find these early and work them instead of discovering them the week of closing.
You pick the closing date and we wire the funds
Seven business days is realistic when title is clean and you are in a hurry. Fourteen is typical. If you need ninety days so a kid can finish the school year, or so the estate can be opened, we hold the date. Closings happen at a local title company, and the funds are wired the same day.
Take what you want and leave the rest, furniture and all. We handle the cleanout.
What we pay for, and what you pay for.
Cash-buyer offers get compared badly because people compare a gross number to a net number. Here is the line by line.
We cover
- Title insurance and the title company's fees
- State, county, and municipal transfer stamps
- Survey, if the municipality requires one
- Recording fees and the closing escrow
- Every repair, from a roof to a full gut
- Cleanout and hauling of anything left behind
You are still responsible for
- Your mortgage payoff and any liens against the property
- Property taxes accrued through the closing date, prorated
- Unpaid water, and any city or village final bills
- Your own attorney, if you hire one, and you should
- HOA or condo assessments owed through closing
All of it comes off the settlement statement at closing. Nothing is asked of you out of pocket before then.
Ready to see the number?
One address, one walkthrough, one honest comparison. Then you decide, with no pressure from us either way.
Start your offer.
We answer the phone. Prefer to talk it through first? Use the number on the left.