Sold As-Is · All Cash · No Repairs Required
5526 114th Ave NE
Kirkland, WA 98033
Houghton · Near Northwest University · Sold April 2024
This home was in rough shape. Traditional buyers with financing couldn't close. But I knew exactly who the right buyer was — and I delivered a clean, all-cash close for my seller. No repairs. No staging. No contingency drama. The investor who bought it renovated and flipped it four months later for $1,400,000. That's the power of knowing your buyer pool.
$890K
Sold Price · As-Is Cash
5+
Offers Received
$1.4M
Post-Flip Sale Price
Transaction Summary · MLS #2073564
$890,000
✓ Closed · All Cash · April 2024
3 Bed / 1 Ba
Configuration
1,250 sf
Finished Area
9,590 sf
Lot Size
1968
Year Built
Investor Resale · August 2024
$1,400,000
Post-renovation flip · +$510K value created · 30 days on market
Houghton Context
The Seller's Situation
When Your Home Needs Work, Most Agents Don't Know What to Do
This Houghton home hadn't been substantially updated since 1968. The seller knew it needed major renovation — and they needed a broker who could find the right buyer, not just throw it on Zillow and hope for the best.
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🏚️Deferred Maintenance ThroughoutMoss-covered roof, original siding, outdated systems. Lenders wouldn't finance it — which eliminated the majority of traditional buyers from the start.
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❌Five Offers. None Could Close.We had strong interest — but financing kept collapsing. Some were all-cash buyers who still couldn't perform. This wasn't a demand problem. It was a buyer-qualification problem I had to solve.
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💰The Seller Couldn't Invest to SellWith $200K+ needed in renovation, asking the seller to fix the home before listing wasn't realistic. The strategy had to be: sell to the right buyer as-is, at the right price, on a clean timeline.
"Most agents would have lowered the price again and again hoping someone would bite. Freddy had a completely different approach — he went looking for the buyer who saw exactly what this lot was worth."
— Houghton Seller · 5526 114th Ave NE · Kirkland WA
The Problem With Distressed Home Sales
Traditional agents list. They wait. When financing falls through, they lower the price. Then they wait again. After 209 days, a distressed home has accumulated market stigma that makes it even harder to sell. The solution isn't patience — it's precision targeting of the right buyer class from day one.
The Expert Explanation
Why Traditional Buyers Couldn't Close — And Who Could
Understanding why this kept happening is the first step to solving it. Here's the financing reality that most sellers don't know until it's too late.
01
🏦
Lender Condition Requirements
Fannie Mae and FHA lenders require homes to meet minimum property standards. A moss-covered roof, failing siding, or outdated electrical fails these thresholds automatically — meaning the buyer's financing is denied at appraisal, no matter how motivated they are.
02
📋
Inspection → Lender Rejection Loop
Buyers submit offers, inspections reveal condition issues, lenders require repairs before funding, sellers can't afford repairs, deal collapses. This loop repeated itself with multiple buyers here — not because of bad intent, but because of a broken financing pathway for this property type.
03
🎯
The Solution: Investor-First Targeting
Cash investors and developers aren't constrained by lender requirements. They evaluate the land, the lot, and the after-renovation value — not the current condition. By marketing directly to this buyer class through my network, I bypassed the financing problem entirely and delivered a clean close.
The Transformation
Same Lot. Same Address. $510,000 More Value.
This is what the investor bought from my seller — and what they created from it. The before photos show exactly what I marketed and sold. The after shows why land and location always win.
Before — As Listed & Sold · April 2024 · $890,000
Before · Original Condition
Before · 9,590 sf Lot · Aerial View
After — Post-Renovation · Sold August 2024 · $1,400,000
After Renovation · Sold $1,400,000 · +$510K Value Created
📋 Squarespace Image Block Guide — Exact Placement & SEO Data
Row 1, Slot 1 — BEFORE Street View
Filename: Houghton_lot_for_sale.jpg
Title: 5526 114th Ave NE Kirkland Before Renovation — Sold As-Is $890K
Alt: Aerial view of 5526 114th Ave NE Kirkland in original 1968 condition — moss roof, deferred maintenance, sold as-is all cash $890,000 by Freddy Delgadillo
Row 1, Slot 2 — BEFORE Aerial
Filename: FullSize05_Birds_Eye_View.jpg
Title: 5526 114th Ave NE Kirkland Lot Aerial — 9590 sq ft Houghton
Alt: Birds eye drone view of 5526 114th Ave NE Kirkland — 9590 sf lot in Houghton neighborhood before renovation, sold as-is to investor April 2024
Row 2 — AFTER (Full Width)
Filename: GetMedia.jpg
Title: 5526 114th Ave NE Kirkland After Renovation — Sold $1,400,000
Alt: 5526 114th Ave NE Kirkland after investor renovation — modern mid-century flat roof cedar exterior, sold August 2024 for $1,400,000 on same Houghton lot purchased as-is for $890,000
Interior After Photos (GetMedia 1–6)
GetMedia(1).jpg through GetMedia(6).jpg
Add below After row once uploaded — living room, kitchen, bath, laundry, backyard
Alt pattern: "Interior of renovated 5526 114th Ave NE Kirkland — [room name] after flip, original lot purchased as-is for $890K"