Sell your Cleveland house fast for cash

Point-of-sale inspections and violation escrows

Cleveland and a number of surrounding Cuyahoga County municipalities require a point-of-sale inspection before a residential property transfers. The inspection produces a list of violations, and depending on the municipality either the seller corrects them or funds must be escrowed for the buyer to do so.

On a century-old house that list is rarely short. Sellers regularly discover they are expected to fund thousands of dollars in corrections on a property they were selling because they had run out of money for it.

Programs and requirements vary by municipality and change over time, so verify yours directly. What matters practically is that we buy properties with open violations and handle the process ourselves, which is one of the main reasons owners here call us.

When repairs cost more than the house is worth

In parts of Cleveland this is not a figure of speech. A house that might sell in the fifties or sixties needs a roof, a furnace, electrical work, siding and a sewer line, and those quotes together can exceed the achievable sale price.

No amount of fixing changes that arithmetic, which is why "renovate then list" is bad advice in these neighborhoods specifically. You would be putting cash into a property that will not return it.

We buy at whatever the property is genuinely worth in its current state. Sometimes that number is small, and we would rather tell you a small honest number than a large one we cannot close on.

Doubles, vacancies and absentee ownership

Cleveland has an enormous stock of two-family doubles and a large volume of out-of-area ownership, much of it bought sight-unseen during various investor waves and never properly maintained.

Long vacancy in this climate is destructive: copper theft, vandalism, frozen pipes, and roof failures that go unnoticed for a season. We buy vacant, damaged and occupied properties, and the title company can run a remote closing so you never travel.