A cash offer from buyers who already know what a 1920s Old Brooklyn bungalow costs to fix, what the city inspector will flag, and how long a Cuyahoga County title search really takes. No repairs, no commissions, no listing.
Address, rough condition, and your timeline. A local buyer reviews it and calls you back with a real number and the reasoning behind it.
Your details stay with us. We never sell or resell leads.
Send a local cash buyer the address and condition, get a written offer within about 24 hours of a walkthrough, then close at an Ohio title company in as few as 7 days. In Cleveland the two things that actually control the timeline are the municipal point-of-sale inspection your city may require before transfer, and the lien and tax payoff work in Cuyahoga County — not the buyer's funding. Selling to a cash buyer means no agent commission, no repairs, and no financing contingency, in exchange for a price below full retail.
Sell Fast Buyers Cleveland buys directly across Cleveland proper, the inner-ring suburbs and Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Summit, Geauga and Portage counties.
Cleveland has some of the oldest housing stock in the country. That's why out-of-state "instant offer" companies keep walking away from houses here after inspection: their models were trained on 1990s Sun Belt subdivisions. Ours weren't. Here's what we expect to find, by era, and why none of it stops a sale.
Tremont, Ohio City, Detroit-Shoreway, Slavic Village, Buckeye, Hough, the older stretches of Lakewood and Cleveland Heights.
Old Brooklyn, West Park, Parma, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Euclid, Bellaire-Puritas, Collinwood.
Strongsville, North Olmsted, Brunswick, Mentor, North Ridgeville, Twinsburg, Stow, Avon.
Across Greater Cleveland, many municipalities require a city inspection before a house can change hands. The inspector writes up violations, and the city expects them corrected — or the money escrowed — before transfer. Retail buyers see the report and walk. We read the report and keep going.
Roof and gutters, driveway and walks, porch and steps, railings, siding and paint, windows, garage condition, furnace and water heater venting, electrical service, plumbing, and any open permit history on the parcel.
Depending on the city, you may need repairs completed before closing, funds escrowed against the work, or a certificate the buyer accepts responsibility for. Mortgage buyers rarely accept that risk, which is why failed reports so often end with a cancelled contract.
We take the violations on as the buyer. We don't ask you to fix the porch, replace the service line, or fund an escrow out of your proceeds. The repair list becomes our problem after closing, and it's already priced into the number we give you.
Scheduling the inspection and getting the report back is often the single longest step in a Greater Cleveland closing. Tell us your city on the first call and we'll build the calendar around its actual queue instead of promising a date we can't hold.
Programs, fees and escrow rules are set by each municipality and change often. Confirm current requirements with your city's building or housing department before you rely on them — or send us the address and we'll tell you what we're seeing in that city right now.
These are the details that decide whether a sale closes in two weeks or falls apart in month three. None of them are deal-breakers if you know about them going in.
Ohio bills property tax in arrears, in two installments. That means a portion of tax has accrued on your house that hasn't been billed yet. At closing it's prorated and credited to the buyer out of your proceeds — it isn't an extra fee, but it changes your net.
Cuyahoga County TreasurerOhio charges a state conveyance fee plus a county permissive fee at transfer, and Cuyahoga sits at the higher end of the permissive range. It's calculated on sale price and paid at the recorder along with a per-parcel transfer fee. Verify the current rate with the county before you budget around it.
Ohio Rev. Code 319.54 · Cuyahoga County Fiscal OfficeOhio is one of the last states that still recognizes dower. A non-owner spouse generally has to release dower rights on the deed for clean title to pass. Title companies catch this late, and it stalls closings when the spouse is out of state or estranged.
Ohio Rev. Code 2103.02Ohio allows a release from administration for smaller estates, with a higher ceiling when a surviving spouse inherits everything. A recorded transfer-on-death affidavit skips probate entirely. Before you assume you're locked into a year of court, have the will and deed reviewed.
Ohio Rev. Code 2113.03 · 5302.22In Ohio your right to redeem runs until the court confirms the sheriff's sale — not until the gavel drops. Confirmation typically follows the auction by a short window, and Cuyahoga sheriff sales now run on an online auction platform. That gap is often just enough time to close a cash sale instead.
Ohio Rev. Code 2329.33Delinquent Cleveland Water and regional sewer balances can be certified against the property and collected with the tax bill. They don't disappear when you move out of a vacant house. They get paid from proceeds at closing, which is a far better outcome than a lien sitting on the parcel.
Cleveland Division of WaterOhio's residential property disclosure form is required for most owner sales, and selling "as-is" doesn't excuse hiding a known defect. Fiduciary transfers, including many estate sales by an executor or administrator, are exempt. Tell us what you know; we're buying the problems anyway.
Ohio Rev. Code 5302.30The City of Cleveland requires lead-safe certification for covered pre-1978 rental units, and federal lead disclosure applies at sale. For tired landlords that's often the tipping point. We buy tenant-occupied, non-compliant and mid-eviction, and take the certification burden with the building.
City of Cleveland Lead Safe CertificationMost cash buyers won't show you this. The formula isn't complicated and it isn't a secret: what the house is worth fixed, minus what fixing it costs, minus what it costs to carry and resell it, minus a margin. If a number doesn't add up, ask us to walk the line items with you.
Illustration only. Every property, street and condition changes these figures — this is the shape of the math, not a quote.
Values in Cleveland change block to block. A house two streets over in a different school or municipal boundary is not a comp, and we don't treat it as one.
We don't make a high offer and then re-trade you after the city report comes back. If we miss something, that's on us.
Mortgage payoff, delinquent Cuyahoga taxes, water certifications and judgment liens are settled at the title company from proceeds. You bring nothing to the table.
Ask for the repair assumptions and the comps we used. If our estimate is wrong about your house, tell us — we'd rather revise than lose a fair deal.
A realistic Cuyahoga County timeline, assuming clear title and no probate. Point-of-sale inspection queues in some cities can add a week or two — we'll tell you upfront which side of that your address falls on.
We pull the parcel, tax status and permit history before we ever set foot on the property.
Twenty minutes at the house, or a video walk if you're out of state. The written offer follows within a day.
An Ohio title company runs the search while we schedule any municipal inspection your city requires.
Sign locally or by mobile notary. Funds are wired the same day. Leave anything you don't want inside.
We're buying on both sides of the river and out through the inner and outer ring. If your street isn't listed, it almost certainly still qualifies — send the address.
Dense pre-war stock, doubles and bungalows, strong rehab demand from Ohio City outward.
Estate and inherited property, long-held family homes, and landlords exiting after decades.
Same terms, same closing process, across the wider Northeast Ohio metro.
We also buy in Berea, Middleburg Heights, Independence, Solon, Brook Park, East Cleveland, Painesville, Amherst, Avon, North Ridgeville, Wadsworth and Barberton. If it's in Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Summit, Geauga or Portage County, submit the address and we'll confirm the same day.
We'd rather tell you now than waste your week. Cash buys speed and certainty; you pay for that with price. If your situation is on the right-hand side of this list, list the house instead — and we'll say so on the phone.
In many Greater Cleveland municipalities, yes — a city inspection is required before a residential property can transfer, and the resulting violation list has to be corrected, escrowed, or formally accepted by the buyer depending on local rules. Requirements differ city to city and change over time, so confirm with your building or housing department. When you sell to us, we take the violations on as the buyer, so you aren't funding repairs or an escrow out of your proceeds.
Seven days is realistic when title is clean, there's no probate, and your city doesn't hold up transfer with an inspection queue. Two to three weeks is the honest average. Probate, a tangled title, or a municipal inspection backlog can push it further — we'll give you a date range on the first call rather than a headline number we can't hit.
Yes. Delinquent taxes, a tax lien certificate, water and sewer certifications and judgment liens are all paid from the sale proceeds at the title company. You don't pay them ahead of closing and you don't bring money to the table. If the payoff totals exceed the offer, we'll tell you straight away and talk through the options rather than let you find out at signing.
Usually not, but timing is everything. In Ohio your right to redeem generally continues until the court confirms the sale — not the moment the auction ends — which sometimes leaves a narrow window to close a cash sale and pay the lender off instead. Call as early as you can, and speak with an attorney about your specific case. The earlier we start title work, the more room there is.
Often yes. Ohio offers a release from administration for smaller estates, and a recorded transfer-on-death designation avoids probate altogether. Where full administration is required, we can get the property under contract and close once the court authorizes the sale. Our title company coordinates with the estate's attorney, and we buy houses full of belongings — nothing needs to be cleared out first.
No commission, no listing fees, no repair spend, and we cover standard seller closing costs at the title company. What does come off your side is what you already owe against the property: mortgage payoff, prorated taxes, liens and the county conveyance fee. Everything else in the offer is yours. Ask for the estimated settlement statement before you sign — you should see the number in writing.
Yes — occupied, behind on rent, mid-eviction, or without current lead-safe certification on a pre-1978 unit. You don't have to remove anyone or bring the building into compliance before selling. Send the leases and rent roll with the address and we'll factor them in from the start instead of re-trading you later.
No. We can do the walkthrough by video or with a neighbor or family member present, and Ohio title companies routinely close with a mobile or remote notary and overnighted documents. Funds are wired to your account. We close with out-of-state heirs and landlords regularly — it doesn't slow anything down.
Algorithmic buyers price for standardized, move-in-ready homes and often reduce or cancel after inspection. Most of Cleveland's housing stock doesn't fit that model, which is why so many local sellers get an attractive number and then watch it drop. We look at the house, price the repairs and the city's requirements before we commit, and we don't re-trade the number afterward.
Yes. The offer is free, there's nothing to sign to get it, and you can take it to an agent for comparison — we'd encourage it. If listing nets you more, we'll tell you so ourselves. We'd rather be the buyer you call back next year than the one who pressured you this week.
Send the address. We'll pull the parcel, look at the house, and come back with a real number and the reasoning behind it — usually within 24 hours of the walkthrough.
Sell Fast Buyers Cleveland is a private real estate investment company that purchases property directly from owners. We are not a licensed real estate brokerage and do not list homes for sale. Offers are made property by property after review and are not guaranteed. Municipal point-of-sale requirements, county fees and statutory timelines described on this page are general information current at the time of writing and are set by the relevant city, county or state — confirm details with the applicable authority. Nothing on this page is legal, tax or financial advice.