Selling an older home is never simple. Nearly 87% of first-time homebuyers want their homes to be move-in ready. An unfinished basement tends to scare off exactly the kind of offer a seller is hoping for.
Tennille’s home in West Fargo checked several of those boxes, and not in a good way. Built in 1972, the 1,120 square feet had an unfinished basement that was still waiting for someone to turn it into something more.
The listing described the basement as a “value-add opportunity.” In other words, there was work left for the next owner.
Yet, Tennille’s home went under contract in 21 days, right in line with what time a typical home in West Fargo takes. But the real story isn’t how fast she got an offer, it’s what happened afterwards.
14 days after going under contract, the sale was closed and paid in full.
So, the question isn’t simply “Did Tennille sell fast?”
It’s, “What made the rest of the process move without any friction?”
Tennille’s Journey to Closing
Tennille listed her West Fargo home through Houzeo Cash Offers on March 23, 2026, and had the sale fully closed and paid by April 27.
Here’s how it unfolded:
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| On Market / Making Offers | March 23, 2026 |
| Under Contract | April 13, 2026 |
| Closed, Awaiting Payment | April 16, 2026 |
| Closed, Paid | April 27,2026 |
| Time to Contract | 21 Days |
| Time From Contract to Paid | 14 Days |
Fives weeks, from listing to payment.
The first 21 days of that were spent finding the right offer. The next 14 days were about getting from an accepted offer to a completed sale and money in hand.
The second part is where Tennille’s sale gets interesting.
The Home Wasn’t the Easy Kind to Sell
There was nothing unusual about the home being older. But the unfinished basement added another layer to the sale.
The listing itself called it a “value-add opportunity,” signaling that the next owner would have room to make improvements. For a buyer looking for a move-in-ready home, that could be one more thing to consider. In an open market, Tennille would have received a lower offer, a repair request, or a buyer walking off.
That’s exactly the situation Cash Offer is built for. By putting the home in front of Houzeo’s vetted cash buyer network and the open market, Tennille wasn’t relying on a single buyer pool. She had more than one shot at an offer that would actually work for her.
That approach led to a contract in 21 days.
The home didn’t need to be transformed before it could be sold. And Tennille didn’t have to wait indefinitely for the right buyer to come along.
Close to Full Value
An online valuation tool estimated the home was worth $208,600. Tennille walked away with $206,000. That’s a different of just $2,600 from the estimated value.
That’s close enough to call it full value. The home was built in 1972, had an unfinished basement, and still sold for a price close to the online valuation.
Then came the part that mattered just as much: the timeline. That’s the part worth paying attention to.
In the end, Tennille didn’t have to choose between a good price and a fast, certain sale. She got both.
Once she was under contract, there was no financing contingency to wait and no lender underwriting to clear. Tennille went from an accepted offer on April 13 to closing on April 16. She received full payment by April 27. That is just 14 days.
The result was a sale that combined two things sellers often have to weigh against each other: the price they are willing to accept and how quickly they need the transaction completed.
For Tennille it was $206,000 sale price. 21 days to contract. 14 days from contract to paid.
What Came Next
Selling 45 Center St wasn’t the end of Tennille’s journey. It was what made the next one possible. She used the sale to move into a home at 2606 33rd Avenue South in South Fargo, purchased through Houzeo Cash Offers.
The new home was a very different property.
It is a 2,204-square-foot, four-bedroom, two-bath home built in 1989, with a five-stall garage and a decade’s worth of updates already done. It sold in 23 days on the market, for $370,000.
So, Tennille’s story wasn’t simple about selling an older home with an unfinished basement. It was about completing one sale on defined timeline and using that transaction to move into the next home.
The first property took 21 days to go under contract. Fourteen days later, the sale was closed and paid in full.
From an unfinished basement to a new front door in five weeks. For Tennille, the sale wasn’t just the end of one homeownership chapter. It was what made the next one possible.
Related Resources
- How to Sell a House As-Is
- “We Buy Houses for Cash” Companies
- Houzeo Home Worth Calculator
- U.S. Housing Market
How We Source Our Customer Stories
This case study is based on verified transaction data from Tennille’s Houzeo Cash Offers sale, including listing, contract, and closing dates and sale price. We sourced market comparison figures, including the typical time to sell in West Fargo, from the housing market data. We generated the home’s estimated value using an online valuation tool.
