An inherited renovation that stalled, sold as-is in Lakemoor
The family inherited a 1920 cottage mid-renovation — gutted to the studs, foundation problems, support posts holding up the basement. No agent could list it and no bank would finance it. We bought it in days, exactly as it stood.
3-bed, 1-bath 1920 cottage · 1,101 sqft · well & septic — 207 S Highland Dr · McHenry County
The situation
What the seller was facing.
Inheriting a house is complicated. Inheriting a construction site is worse. This 1920 Lakemoor cottage came to the family mid-renovation: the interior had been gutted to the framing, and the foundation underneath had problems serious enough that temporary support posts were holding parts of the structure.
A house in that condition can’t be listed in any normal sense — there’s no kitchen to photograph, no appraisal that passes, no bank that lends on it. The family’s realistic options were to fund and finish a structural renovation on a house they never planned to own, or find a buyer who takes houses exactly like this. That’s us.
The deal, day by day
From first call to closing.
First call
The heirs reached out about a house nobody knew what to do with: a renovation someone had started and couldn’t finish. Interior stripped to the studs, foundation issues, temporary posts carrying the load in the basement.
Same week — walkthrough
We walked it exactly as it stood. No staging, no apologies, no pressure to explain how it got that way — half-finished projects are something we see all the time.
Days later — written offer
A written cash offer with the structural work priced in honestly. No appraisal to fail, no lender to walk away — the two things that make a house like this unsellable on the open market.
Closing — fast and smooth
The estate closed the sale and the family was done — no cleanout, no contractors, no finishing someone else’s project.
Our part
How we handled it.
We made a written cash offer within days of walking it, with the foundation and rebuild scope priced in honestly. Cash matters here for one simple reason: there was no version of this sale that survives a lender’s checklist.
The family fixed nothing, cleaned nothing, and hauled nothing. The house sold exactly as it stood — support posts and all.
The outcome
Where it left the seller.
The estate got a clean, fast exit from a house that would have swallowed money and months. And we were straight about our end: this one wasn’t ours to rebuild. We passed it on with full disclosure of the foundation condition to a renovation company equipped for exactly that kind of structural work.
After we bought it
This one went to a specialist.
Not every house we buy becomes our renovation. This cottage needed a structural crew and a full rebuild plan — so our job was the honest middle step: give the family their exit, then hand the project, fully disclosed, to a renovator built for foundation work. The after photos of this house belong to them.
- Bought mid-renovation, exactly as it stood — nothing required of the family
- Full disclosure of the foundation condition to every prospective buyer
- Priced honestly for the structural work it needed
- Sold as-is to a renovation company equipped for foundation repair
Facing something similar with a Lakemoor 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.
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