We buy Southern California homes in any condition. No repairs, no cleaning, no staging, no commissions. Written cash offer in 24 hours, close in as little as 7 days.
Why repairs rarely return what they cost
The advice sellers get is to fix it up first. For a house with real problems, the arithmetic usually does not support it.
Two reasons, and the second is the one people miss.
Most remodelling returns less than it costs. Industry cost-versus-value studies have shown for years that the great majority of projects recoup well under 100% at resale. There are exceptions, and they tend to be the small cosmetic ones rather than the expensive structural ones.
Repair spending is not what stops a discount, condition category is. A house with foundation movement is priced as a foundation house whether you spent $30K or $60K on it. Buyers and their inspectors respond to the category. Half-fixing a serious problem often costs real money and moves the price very little, because the disclosure still says what it says.
Where fixing first does pay: paint, flooring, landscaping and decluttering on a house that is otherwise sound. Where it usually does not: foundation, roof, sewer lateral, full rewires, mould remediation, and anything requiring permits. Those are the ones sellers borrow to fund and then do not recover.
What financed buyers cannot get past
Understanding this explains why a distressed house sits on the market while the seller keeps dropping the price.
Roughly nine in ten retail buyers use a mortgage. That lender orders an appraisal, and the appraiser is inspecting for more than value. Government-backed loans set explicit minimum property requirements around safety, soundness and habitability. Conventional lenders apply their own conditions.
Things that routinely stop a loan funding:
- Missing or non-functioning heating
- Active roof leaks or visible water intrusion
- Exposed wiring, or a panel type an insurer will not cover
- Missing flooring, missing handrails, broken windows
- Non-functioning kitchen or bathroom
- Standing water, mould, or evidence of infestation
- Foundation movement of any significance
The loop that follows is predictable: you accept an offer, the appraisal comes back with conditions, the buyer cannot fund until the work is done, you cannot fund the work until you sell, and the buyer's rate lock expires while everyone argues. Two rounds of that and the listing is stale, which costs more than the repairs would have.
A cash purchase has no appraiser and no lender conditions. That is the whole difference.
As-is does not mean undisclosed
Selling as-is is widely misunderstood, including by people selling to us.
As-is governs who pays to fix things. It does not govern what you must tell the buyer. California's disclosure obligations survive an as-is sale intact: the Transfer Disclosure Statement, the natural hazard disclosure, lead paint on pre-1978 homes, and known material defects.
Our position, and it is in your interest more than ours: tell us everything, in writing, up front. We would rather price a known problem than discover it during escrow and come back asking to renegotiate. Sellers hate a renegotiation more than they hate a lower opening number, and rightly.
A seller who conceals a defect has not protected the deal. They have created a claim against themselves that survives the closing by years.
What we actually mean by any condition
Not a slogan. The categories we buy routinely:
- Fire and smoke damage, including total losses
- Water damage and mould, including long-running leaks
- Foundation and structural movement
- Hoarding conditions and full contents, which we clear ourselves
- Deferred maintenance measured in decades
- Unpermitted work, including conversions and ADUs
- Termite and pest damage
- Vacant and vandalised property, including stripped copper
- Failed septic and sewer laterals
- Properties with tenants, squatters or occupants in place
You do not need to clean, clear, repair, or be present. Contents included means exactly that: leave what you do not want and we deal with it.
The rare times we walk away
Every cash buyer says any condition. Being straight about the exceptions is more useful than repeating the slogan.
Rarely, but yes, we walk. The cases:
The lien stack exceeds the value. When what is recorded against the property is worth more than the property, there is no price at which the sale works for you, and we will say so rather than waste your time.
Structural condemnation that is not economically curable. Occasionally the cost of correction plus demolition plus the land's constraints means the numbers do not close. It is uncommon, and it is honest to name it.
Environmental contamination. Some soil and materials issues carry liability tails beyond what we take on.
Title defects requiring litigation nobody will fund. Where a quiet title action is genuinely the only route and no party will pay for it.
If your file is one of these, we will tell you at the offer stage, not after tying you up for three weeks. And in most of these cases the right next call is an attorney or a specialist, and we will say which.
Your timeline with My Home Sold
Step 1: Describe it honestly
The worse it is, the more useful the detail. Nothing you say disqualifies the property; it just prices it.
Step 2: We walk it
You do not need to clean, tidy, or be there. We have seen worse, and that is not a figure of speech.
Step 3: Written offer in 24 hours
Condition priced in openly, so you can see what we assumed and judge whether it is fair.
Step 4: Close on your date
Contents included. Take what you want, leave the rest.
Your options compared
| Factor | Repair, then list | List as-is retail | My Home Sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Out of pocket first | Repairs, often financed | Cleanout at minimum | $0 |
| Survives a lender's appraisal | Usually | Often not | Not applicable |
| Time to close | Months of work, then 60–120 days | Sits, then renegotiates | 7–14 days |
| Inspection renegotiation | Yes | Yes, usually worse | None |
| Who carries the surprise behind the wall | You | You | Us |
The tradeoff, plainly: we buy below retail, usually 10–20% depending on condition and market. If the problems are cosmetic, you can fund them, and the house would show well afterwards, repair and list. You will net more and we will tell you so on the call.
The cash route earns its discount when the work is structural, when you cannot fund it, when a financed buyer has already walked, or when the certainty of a number on a date is worth more than the last slice of price.
Compare the routes in our guide to selling a house fast in California, or read about condemned and red-tagged property.
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Common questions
Questions people ask about this
- What conditions will you actually buy a California house in?
- Almost anything: fire damage (full loss to partial smoke), water damage and mold, foundation problems including major settlement, structural failures, hoarder homes with full house contents, vandalism, code violations including red tags, vacant for years with deferred maintenance, partial demolition. The exceptions are rare, usually properties where lien stacks exceed value or environmental contamination is unbounded.
- Will you buy a fire-damaged California house?
- Yes. We've bought California houses with everything from kitchen-fire smoke damage to full-loss burn-downs. The worse the damage, the more we factor into the offer, but we still close. Don't wait for insurance settlement before calling us, sometimes selling fast and letting us pursue the insurance is the better outcome.
- Do I need to clean a hoarder home before you'll tour?
- No. We tour hoarder homes weekly. Don't move anything, don't throw anything away. Take what you want when you leave; we'll handle the rest after closing. Disposing of contents costs $5K–$30K, that's our problem to solve, factored into the offer.
- What about mold or asbestos?
- We buy with both. Mold remediation in California runs $5K–$50K depending on extent; asbestos abatement is similar. Both factor into the offer. We don't require pre-sale testing or remediation, disclose what you know and we'll handle the rest.
- Are there California houses you actually walk away from?
- Rarely, but yes. Properties with environmental contamination of unknown extent (former meth labs, leaking underground tanks). Properties where lien stacks plus condition cost exceed retail value. Properties with title defects that can't be cured economically. We'll tell you upfront if we walk and why.
Written by
Adrian HernandezCEO/Owner, My Home Sold
Adrian Hernandez founded My Home Sold in 2015 and has led it through more than 900 direct home purchases across Southern California. He has appeared on FOX 11 Good Day LA discussing the shift in the Southern California market and what it means for homeowners whose listings are not moving.
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