We Bought a Penbrooke Meadows House As-Is, After 46 Years

V filled in the form on this website, we went to see her house the next day, she had a written cash offer within 24 hours, and the sale has now closed, with nothing repaired, nothing cleaned, and anything the family did not want to take left exactly where it was.

This is how that sale went in Penbrooke Meadows, in Calgary's southeast, from the form to the closing.

Forty-six years in Penbrooke Meadows

V and her husband F have lived in the house since 1980, which makes it forty-six years in the same house in Penbrooke Meadows SE.

When V decided it was time to sell, she was clear about how she wanted it done: she wanted to sell soon, she did not want to fix anything, and she did not want to clean anything before she left.

That is a very normal wish after so many years in one place. Forty-six years in a house leaves forty-six years of belongings in it, and getting a house like that ready for the market means paying for the repairs a buyer's inspector will find, sorting and clearing out every room, and then keeping it ready for weeks of showings on somebody else's schedule, which is exactly what V wanted to avoid.

It started with the form on this website

V found us online and filled in the form on our contact page with her name, the address and a phone number, and we texted her back and booked a visit for the next day.

On a first visit we mostly listen, walking through the house with the owner, going room by room and down to the basement, and hearing why they are selling, what they need from the sale and when they need it done, and nobody signs anything on that first visit.

One thing we say at the start of every visit, because it changes what kind of conversation it is, is that we are the buyer, not your agent. Direct Home Buyer buys houses for its own account, so nobody at V's table was there to list her house or to act for her in the sale. We were the people on the other side of it, and she was entitled to know that before anything else happened.

A written offer within 24 hours

Within 24 hours of that visit, V had our offer in writing, a cash offer on the terms she had asked for:

• No repairs of any kind.
• No cleaning, before closing or after it.
• Anything the family did not want to take could stay in the house.
• Closing in about three weeks.

We do not publish what we pay for anyone's house, because that number belongs to V and not to us. If you want to see how we arrive at a figure, how we work out the price sets out what we start from and what comes off it, including the costs that come off at the lawyer's office on any sale.

Three weeks is a normal pace for us: the fastest we can close is about seven to ten days on a clean title, two to three weeks is more usual, and later is fine if that is what you need. The steps are the same four set out on how selling to us works, and V's sale was one run through them with real people attached.

She took the offer home to her family

V did not sign on the spot, she took the offer home and talked it over with her family, which is exactly what an offer like this should get. There was no reason to rush it, because there was no competing buyer who could take the house from her and no bank approval that could run out, since we were paying cash.

Everyone on the title signs, so we met at a Denny's

When V came back to us, it was to set up a second meeting, and this one needed more people at the table, because an in-law was also on the title.

That matters more than most people expect. A house belongs to everyone whose name is on the title, not only to the person who lives in it or the person who first got in touch with us, and it can only be sold if every one of them agrees and signs. Alberta's land titles office puts it plainly: the transfer "must be signed by all of the current registered owners" (alberta.ca).

So the contract needed every owner's signature as well. We met V and her family at a Denny's, went through the contract with them, and everyone on the title signed it there. Signing does not have to happen at your kitchen table, and for V's family it happened at a restaurant table instead.

If you are not sure whose names are on your title, a title search will tell you, and title searches are available through SPIN2 or any registry agent (alberta.ca). If you are married and your spouse is not on the title, Alberta's Dower Act can still require their written consent, which we explained in how dower catches Alberta sellers late. Your own lawyer is the right person to confirm exactly who has to sign on your sale.

Firm, and then closed

Once everyone had signed, the contract was firm. There were no conditions in it, so there was nothing for either side to waive and nothing left to fall through, and it bound us exactly as much as it bound the family.

Firm is not the same as closed, and the difference is worth being precise about. Ownership moves when the lawyers register the transfer at Alberta Land Titles on closing day and the money changes hands, which is a separate event that usually comes weeks later, and your own lawyer is the person to walk you through both steps on your own sale.

V's offer set closing about three weeks out, and the sale has now closed. Everyone at that Denny's table was happy with the offer and with the timing, and V, F and their family can now start the next chapter of their lives.

What "as-is" meant in this house

As-is is an easy phrase to put on a website, so this is what it meant at V and F's house.

The basement was unfinished, with open joists overhead, insulation showing behind bare studs and sheets of drywall leaning against the wall, and the kitchen had dark wood cabinets and a worn vinyl floor. None of it was fixed before the sale, and none of it had to be.

Nothing was cleaned for us, nobody was shown through the house, there was no inspection condition and no financing condition, and there was no commission, because a commission pays an agent to sell your house, and nobody sold this one, we bought it.

The family did not have to empty the house either. Forty-six years of belongings is a lot to sort through in three weeks, and the offer said plainly that anything they did not want could stay, so what they took was up to them, and we deal with whatever is left.

If you want the longer version of what as-is does and does not excuse you from in Alberta, because there are still a few things a seller has to provide, we wrote it up in selling as-is in Alberta.

When this is the wrong way to sell

If your house is in good shape and you have time, listing it will usually bring more money than we will pay, often even after the commission comes off. A well-kept house, priced properly, with a few buyers competing for it, is exactly what the open market rewards, and saying so is not an argument against listing.

What V got from us was not the highest possible number, it was a sale with no repairs, no clean-out and a closing about three weeks away, and the price of that is the gap, if there is one, between our number and what the same house might have fetched on MLS after the repairs, the clean-out and the showings she wanted to avoid.

If you are somewhere in between, get both numbers. Ask a Realtor what your house would list for and what it would net after commission and time on the market, then ask us what we would pay, and compare two real figures instead of a figure and a feeling.