A McHenry house with 23 burst pipes, sold as-is for cash
Health issues had made the house too much to keep up. Then the heating system froze — 23 pipes split — and a house with no working heat is a house no lender will finance. This is exactly the kind of sale cash exists for.
4-bed, 3-bath two-story · 2,012 sqft · built 1978 — 2017 W Oakleaf Dr · McHenry County
The situation
What the seller was facing.
Some houses can’t be sold the normal way even if the owner wants to. This 1978 two-story was original throughout — a full rehab project by any measure — and when it sat cold through winter without proper winterization, the hydronic heating system froze. Twenty-three pipes split. No working heat means no appraisal, and no appraisal means no financed buyer: the traditional market was simply closed to this house.
For the owner, whose health had already made the place too much to manage, the math was impossible — put tens of thousands into heat and rehab they couldn’t oversee, or watch the house sit. They needed the third option.
The deal, day by day
From first call to closing.
First call
The owner reached out. Health issues had made a 2,000-square-foot house from 1978 impossible to keep up with — and the heating system was down after the house sat cold and 23 pipes froze and split.
Same week — walkthrough
We walked it as it sat: original 1978 interior, full-rehab scope, dead hydronic heat. A conventional buyer couldn’t finance this house in that condition — an appraisal requires functioning heat.
Days later — written offer
A written cash offer with the rehab and the heating repair priced in. No lender, no appraisal contingency, no repair demands back on the owner.
A few weeks later — closing
Closed fast and clean. The owner walked away from the house, the broken system, and the repair bill all at once.
Our part
How we handled it.
This is what cash is actually for. We don’t need an appraisal, a lender’s sign-off, or working mechanicals — we buy the house as it stands and price the problems honestly. The written offer came within days of the first call, with the heating repair and full rehab scope factored in.
No repairs, no cleanout, no waiting on a bank. The closing happened a few weeks later, on schedule.
The outcome
Where it left the seller.
The owner sold a house that no conventional buyer could touch — in days, not seasons — and walked away with cash and zero further responsibility for the repairs. We took on the broken system and the project.
After we bought it
We fixed what mattered, and were honest about the rest.
Not every house we buy becomes a full flip. This one needed its heat back first — we replaced all 23 split pipes and got the system running — then cleaned it out and listed it honestly as a project home, priced for the next owner to renovate their way.
- Full cleanout and haul-off
- Hydronic heating system repaired — all 23 split pipes replaced, heat restored
- Deep clean throughout
- Professional photography and an honest as-is MLS listing, priced as a rehab project
Facing something similar with a McHenry house?
Same process as this one: drop the address, get a written cash offer within 24 hours, pick your closing date. Or call (224) 267-9324 — a real person picks up.
Keep reading