Client Stories

In their own words.

These are real accounts from families who have been through difficult property situations — inherited homes, foreclosure, tax-sale, divorce, deferred repairs — and the professionals who work alongside them. We've changed nothing except names, formatting, and identifying details where families requested privacy.

A note on these stories: We don't curate for happy endings. Some of these families didn't work with us. Some of them we referred to an attorney or a HUD counselor and that was the right call. We include those accounts because they're honest, and honesty is the only thing we're selling.

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Extended Accounts

Margaret T.

Rosedale, Baltimore County

Inherited Property

My mother died in February and left a row house in Baltimore. Four of us — me and my three siblings — were supposed to figure it out together, which, if you knew my family, you'd know was already a problem. My brother wanted to sell right away. My sister thought we should rent it out. My youngest brother would go two weeks without answering a text.
The cash buyers found us before we'd even started. Three of them called within two weeks of her passing — I don't know how they find out so fast. One of them knocked on the door twice. He told me the house was maybe worth $80,000 and that the estate was going to complicate things and I should move quickly. I had no way of knowing if that number was even close to accurate.
Someone from our church had a card from Residios. I called mostly because I didn't know who else to call. The woman I spoke with said she wasn't going to try to buy the house, that she'd put together a document with the actual numbers for every option and we could take our time reading it. She said that twice — that there was no deadline except one we chose ourselves.
The review came back and the house was worth considerably more than $80,000. It laid out five options with the real numbers for each — what we'd net, how long it would take, what the costs were. At the end it said we should list with a local agent and gave us three names.
We listed it. The house sold for $171,000. I wish I'd called before the buyers had put a number in my head that I kept second-guessing.

Outcome: Listed with an agent — Residios's recommendation

Darnell & Keisha P.

Park Heights, Baltimore City

Facing Foreclosure

We were four months behind when my wife found a flyer at our community center. I'll be honest — I didn't want to make another call. I'd been calling our servicer for two months and every time I got transferred to someone who didn't have the notes and I had to start the whole thing over from the beginning.
We'd also had two investors reach out after we mentioned the situation to someone we shouldn't have. One of them came over with paperwork already drawn up and wanted a signature before we'd talked for an hour. We said no and I felt stupid about the whole situation.
The first phone call with Residios was different. The advisor asked a lot of questions and then said she wasn't there to buy the house. She said she was going to help us understand what the servicer could actually offer, whether a sale made any sense, and what foreclosure would really mean for us financially if we let it go all the way. That was the first conversation where I felt like someone was explaining things to me instead of working toward something.
She knew the servicer's programs better than the servicer had bothered to explain. There was a forbearance and then a modification that we qualified for — neither of which anyone at the servicer had mentioned to us in two months of calls. She got in touch with a HUD housing counselor and was on the first call with us.
We kept the house. Residios didn't come away with anything from that outcome. I still think about that sometimes.

Outcome: Loan modification secured through servicer

James K.

Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County

Inherited Property

I'm going to be upfront: I thought it was a scam. My wife sent me the link and I told her that's just a buyer with a nicer website. We'd already been contacted by four different investors after my uncle died — I figure it was the obituary, maybe one of them runs searches — and I was done picking up the phone.
She made the appointment without asking me. I went because it was easier than the argument.
The advisor asked us questions for maybe forty minutes. Condition of the property, did we know about liens, what mattered most to us, what our probate situation was. Before any of that she showed us a disclosure form explaining that Residios could be one of the options in the review — alongside listing, renting, holding, a few others — and that we weren't obligated to do anything. She did this before we'd given her any information.
The review came back and flagged something none of us knew about. My uncle had hired a contractor years back and hadn't paid him. There was a lien. It would have come out in any sale and derailed everything. They gave us the name of an attorney who handles that.
Once the title was sorted, we sold — not to Residios, as it turned out, but to someone they knew. I looked up the comps. It was fair. I've still never fully understood how their business actually works, but my brother-in-law had something similar happen and I told him to call.

Outcome: Direct sale to independent buyer

More Stories

Claudette R.

Catonsville, Baltimore County

Inherited Property

They looked at everything and said list it with an agent. My brother thought they'd try to buy it themselves. They didn't. We listed it, sold in nine days, $22,000 over the first cash offer we'd gotten. I still have the paperwork somewhere in my filing cabinet. The numbers turned out to be right.

Priya M.

Silver Spring, Montgomery County

Divorce / Co-Ownership

My ex and I had been going in circles about the house for close to a year. He thought his number was right and I thought my number was right and neither of us trusted the other enough to use anyone the other person had suggested.
A mutual friend mentioned Residios. That's the only reason we both agreed — neither of us had picked them.
The review laid out the market value, what a sale would net, and what a fair buyout would look like. It didn't tell us what to do. It just gave us numbers that neither of us could really dispute because neither of us had chosen who produced them.
We still had attorneys involved and it was still not a fun process. But we stopped fighting specifically about the house number, which freed us up to fight about everything else we actually needed to deal with.

Outcome: Buyout — one party purchased the other's share

MT2

Michael T.

Baltimore City

Facing Foreclosure

I'd been getting calls about my situation for months. Nobody explained anything — they made offers and said they could close fast. Residios was the first place that actually told me what a short sale is, what it costs me versus a full foreclosure, what I was really looking at. I had the review for maybe a day before I knew what I was going to do.

Linda O.

Glen Burnie, Anne Arundel County

Deferred Repairs

I had four cash buyers tell me the house was worth around $110,000. I couldn't afford to fix it up and I figured that was just the reality of the situation. The roof had issues, the kitchen was original 1970s, and there was foundation work that needed doing in the back.
The Residios review changed my mind — with math, not reassurances. They showed what targeted repairs would cost versus what they'd actually do to the sale price. Not a full renovation — specific things. A new roof, some cosmetic work in the kitchen. It changed who would buy it, which was the thing I hadn't understood.
I borrowed money from my sister to cover the repairs. Listed at $187,000, sold at $194,000. Paid my sister back, paid commission, and came out with considerably more than any cash offer. I genuinely didn't know that was possible. I assumed the investors knew what the house was worth and I didn't. Turns out I just didn't have the numbers in front of me.

Outcome: Repaired, then listed — netted $43,000 more than as-is offers

Anita H.

Pikesville, Baltimore County

Aging Parent

My mother is 84 and has been in her home for 51 years. Three investors called within a week of us mentioning to one neighbor that we were thinking about selling — I don't know how that gets around so fast. Residios called and just asked questions. The document showed up a few days later. No deadline on it anywhere, which was the main thing.

Robert W.

East Baltimore

Tax Sale

When the tax-sale letter came I panicked. I didn't really understand what it meant — I knew it was bad but not how bad or how soon or what I could do about it.
I called three people that afternoon. Two were cash buyers. The third was Residios because my neighbor had a card. The Residios advisor was the only one who explained the actual process — what a tax-sale auction is, what a redemption period means, how much time I actually had. The buyers had let me believe the deadline was much sooner than it was.
I eventually sold. Not because I had to, but because once I understood the full picture, selling voluntarily before the auction made more financial sense than anything else. The proceeds paid the tax debt and there was money left over. I just wish I hadn't spent a week thinking I had no real options.

Outcome: Sold before tax-sale auction

Kevin D.

Bowie, Prince George's County

Deferred Repairs

I was ready to take $130,000 as-is. The review said with $9,000 in specific repairs the house would probably go for $162,000, maybe more. I did the repairs. It sold for $168,000. I kept expecting the projection to be off. It wasn't.

Patricia R.

Seat Pleasant, Prince George's County

Facing Foreclosure

I almost didn't call anyone. I kept thinking if I'd managed things differently I wouldn't be in this situation, and part of me didn't want to say it out loud to a stranger. It took me probably two weeks after I knew I was in real trouble before I picked up the phone.
The advisor at Residios didn't make me feel judged. She asked practical questions — what was owed, what the property was worth, where things stood — and just treated it like a problem to figure out.
The house was worth less than I owed, so a regular sale wasn't going to work. She explained short sales, which I'd heard of but didn't understand, and flagged something I hadn't known about — that a lender can sometimes pursue a deficiency judgment after a short sale and there are ways to protect yourself. She had me set up referrals with both a real estate attorney and an accountant before we went any further.
I did the short sale. The foreclosure didn't go on my record. I found out later that a lot of people in my situation don't know about the deficiency issue going in. I didn't either.

Outcome: Short sale — avoided deficiency judgment

Denise Y.

Halethorpe, Baltimore County

Divorce / Co-Ownership

My ex and I couldn't agree on anything related to the house. We agreed on Residios only because neither of us had chosen them — a mutual friend suggested it and we both had the same reason to be skeptical. Once we had something neutral on paper, the argument moved off the house value and onto everything else we actually needed to settle. That was useful.

Barbara & Frank N. (their son, writing)

Ellicott City, Howard County

Aging Parent / Estate Planning

I'm writing this for my parents, who are 79 and 81. We'd started talking about whether the family home was getting to be too much for them to manage and within a week I was already getting calls from investors — I don't know who told them, nobody did — and the pressure was immediate.
My parents have been in that house for over forty years. They're not naive people. But they were being pulled in different directions at the same time they were just trying to figure out where they were going to live next.
Residios was the only one who asked about their timeline first. Not the property — their timeline. When did they want to move, where were they thinking about going, what mattered most to them about how the sale went. Then she said she'd put something together and give them a few days to read it before they talked again.
They sold for more than any investor had offered. They're in a place two miles from the old house. My father calls the advisor "the woman who did all that paperwork."

Outcome: Parents downsized; house sold at full market value

Walter C.

Dundalk, Baltimore County

Tax Sale

Got a tax-sale notice and two buyers were at my door three days later. I have no idea how they find out. I called Residios instead of answering. The advisor explained the redemption period — I had more time than the buyers had made it sound like. I ended up selling, but because it made sense, not because I panicked about a deadline that turned out not to be as close as I thought.

Thomas E.

Towson, Baltimore County

Probate / Estate

My father died without a will and we found out after the fact that there was a reverse mortgage on the house that none of us knew existed. My sister and I had heard the term before but we didn't really know what it was — and we definitely didn't know what happened to a property when the borrower died or how tight the timeline was.
Residios was the first place that explained the mechanics in a way I could actually follow. The servicer's timeline, what we needed to do within what window, what would happen if we missed it. They also told us pretty directly that this was a legal situation before it was a real estate one and we needed a probate attorney first.
The referral they gave us led to an attorney who had handled this kind of thing before. Once probate was sorted, we came back and finished the sale.
I don't have a bigger lesson than that. It was complicated and we got through it.

Outcome: Referred to probate attorney, then sold

The Obafemi Family

Woodlawn, Baltimore County

Facing Foreclosure

We came to this country and bought this house twenty-two years ago. Falling behind was not something we expected. We also didn't know who we could trust. The advisor we worked with explained everything carefully, didn't rush, and never made us feel like we didn't understand our own situation. She found a housing counselor who spoke Yoruba. We still own the house.

Carol S.

Inherited from Baltimore City — Carol lives in Durham, NC

Out-of-State Heir

My father left me a rental property in East Baltimore. I live in North Carolina and had no idea what shape it was in, what it was worth, or what the tenants' situation was legally. I just knew it existed and that it was apparently now my problem.
The advisor walked me through what I needed to know without making me feel like I should already know it. She arranged an independent condition assessment and gave me a week to go through everything before we talked again — I wasn't making a decision in a thirty-minute call.
I ended up selling. I came to Baltimore once, for the closing. The rest was phone and email. It went pretty much how she said it would at the beginning, which honestly I hadn't expected.

Outcome: Sold — handled remotely

Jerome B.

Federal Hill, Baltimore City

Deferred Repairs

I'd owned the rowhome as a rental for eight years. Tenants moved out, I looked at the condition, figured just sell it. Had offers around $95K. The Residios review said the bones were solid and I was about to leave a lot of money on the table. Did some targeted work, sold six weeks later for $148,000. I almost didn't bother making that call.

Sandra L.

Randallstown, Baltimore County

Inherited Property

I kept waiting for the catch. A fee, a signature, something. The review came and it had everything they said it would. No ask afterward. I've sent three people their way. Two years later and I still can't fully explain how the business works, which I realize sounds like a strange endorsement, but here we are.

Grace F.

Owings Mills, Baltimore County

Aging Parent / Estate Planning

I'm a retired schoolteacher and I like to think I'm not easy to mislead. But after my husband passed I had two buyers at the door within a week and they were both polite and fast and they quoted me numbers I couldn't check. Residios gave me the time and the information to check them. Both offers were low. I sold for more than either, and I made that call myself.

Theresa M.

Pasadena, Anne Arundel County

Inherited Property — Multiple Heirs

Five siblings. Nobody agreed on anything — what the house was worth, who we'd sell to, none of it. The Residios document was the first thing all five of us looked at without immediately disagreeing. It didn't favor anyone. It just showed the options and what each one would actually net. We sold in March.

"The review came back and the house was worth considerably more than $80,000. The numbers for each option were honest — including what a direct sale would actually net us versus listing."

— Margaret T., Rosedale

"She was the first person that day who wasn't trying to close something."

— Robert W., East Baltimore

"Residios didn't make any money from that outcome. They referred us out and that was it. That's the part that still gets me."

— Darnell & Keisha P., Park Heights

Professional Partners

Attorneys, CPAs, and housing counselors who refer families to Residios — and why.

Catherine Chen, Esq.

Elder Law & Estate Planning — Towson, MD

Elder Law Attorney

I've been practicing elder law in Maryland for eighteen years. Families regularly come to me in probate with a house that needs to be sold and no agreement on how to do it. They've been grieving. They're tired. They've had investors showing up since before the obituary ran.
I refer those clients to Residios because they produce something I can't — a document that actually shows what each path costs financially. My job is the legal side. Their job is the financial picture. Those are different things and a client needs both before they sign anything.
I've sent them around a dozen clients in the past year and a half. The ones who come back to me come back more prepared and with fewer panicked questions. That's a real difference.

Raymond Foster, CPA

Estate & Trust Accounting — Columbia, MD

CPA / Estate Accountant

When an estate has real property, my clients often don't know whether to sell or hold, and the tax treatment depends a lot on which path they take and when. Real estate isn't my area — I'm a tax advisor. But I need clients to have accurate information before they make a choice that's hard to undo from a tax standpoint.
Residios fills that gap. The review gives me something concrete to work from — once I know what each option nets, I can model the tax side. I've recommended them to a number of clients now. The quality has been steady and they've stayed in their lane, which is something I pay attention to when I'm putting my name on a referral.

Marilyn James

HUD-Approved Housing Counselor — Baltimore City

Housing Counselor

I work with families in foreclosure every day. Most of them show up not knowing what their options actually are — the timeline, the numbers, what happens if they do nothing. When someone comes to me having already talked with Residios, we can skip past a lot of that and get to the actual situation. I send clients to them. They send clients to me. That's the right way for this to work.

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