Real Case Study: Tax Auction

Tax Auction Hoarder House with a lot of belongings and heirlooms

This is a real story of how we helped Margaret, an elderly lady in St. Charles, sell her long-time family home. This purchase will always be special to me. While there were a lot of challenges along the way, I was able to provider her money, give her time to secure new housing, and help with moving belongings (including saving special items).

Quick Takeaways:

• House was hoarded full of 50+ years of belongings
• I personally helped pack and move belongings… including on a 10 degree, freezing rain night
• Furnace went out while she was still living there and I had it replaced next day
• Picked her up to bring to closing
• While we were renovating the house, once it got warm enough I dug up her rose bush, placed in planter, and brought to her new home
• Found/saved several items the owner had been looking for, but was unable to find, including her grandfather’s Spanish-American war uniform and a painting of him wearing it.

An elderly woman was living in a deteriorating house in Saint Charles, Missouri. It was a display home her father bought in 1958. She had a long history in that home and it showed with decades of belongings from various family members. It really was an unhealthy place to live. It was in need of extensive repairs and was a bit of a hoarder house. She had decades of belongings from various family members and her health restricted her ability to keep up with maintenance. Her son’s had tried convincing her to sell and move on, but she was incredibly attached, which is understandable. By the time she decided the best option was to sell the house in it’s current condition (as-is), there were only 6 days left before her home was lost from being sold at the 2018 tax sale (the 1 year redemption period was almost expired).

Luckily, we were able to close on the last day possible (I actually picked her up and drove her to the title office), but this was just the beginning of helping her. She didn’t have anywhere to go yet, so we worked it out so she could stay in her home a little longer, so she would have time to go through belongings and find a new home. We’re not always able to do this, but in this case we were happy to be able to offer this.

In the middle of December it was set to get down to 22 degrees. She texted me stating the furnace went out. Luckily her son came over and restarted it by the time she told me this. The next day it went out again, but I had a great, local Heating and Cooling company come out to look at it. The good news was they were able to restart it again to keep her warm through the night. The bad news was they were going to need to replace the furnace. I didn’t hesitate to have them replace the furnace the next day at my expense. No bickering or frustration. Just focused on taking care of the issue at hand and doing what’s right.

She was having difficulty getting around, so going through her things was taking longer than expected. She found a new home and was already staying there when she called to tell me she hadn’t been able to get through the majority of her things that were still at her previous home. We scheduled a couple days for me to come over and help and she wasn’t kidding. I was helping her go through belongings until 10pm that night. We packed stuff into a truck and got to the storage facility at 11pm. It was incredibly cold at 10 degrees, with a 10+ mile per hour wind, and a nice freezing rain to top it off. It actually froze the entrance doors to get into the storage buildings! Luckily I found one that was propped open and was able to get everything moved in.

I went back a couple more days without her to look for things she kept thinking of. Some of the things I was able to find includes a painting of her grandfather wearing his Spanish-American war uniform, his jacket from the Spanish-American war, an old camera along with family pictures, vinyl records, and much more. I even waited for the ground to thaw and dug up an old rose bush, potted it, and brought it to her new home.

This real story isn’t just about how we bought the house as-is on a very short timeline. It’s about how we helped someone improve their life and move on with dignity. It’s about how we helped ease the pain of the transition. People First isn’t just a name to me. It’s how we actually approach this business. We understand there’s a person behind every house and we want to help as much as possible. If you’re interested in selling and want to work with someone LOCAL that will put your needs ahead of all else, then simply fill out the below form or give us a call.