Tilbury sits on the 401 at the west edge of Chatham-Kent — close enough to Windsor that the kids moved there, close enough to me that I can be in the house tomorrow.
Tilbury is a small town with older housing near the core and post-war bungalows around it, and a lot of it is original-owner. It's the kind of town people grew up in and left for Windsor or London, which means the adult children dealing with a full house here are usually an hour away with jobs and kids of their own, doing this on weekends they don't have.
A full house in a small town also has a small-town problem: everyone knows whose house it is, and a dumpster in the driveway for six weekends is a public announcement. Families feel that. It's one of the reasons the cleanout gets put off, and put off, until a by-law letter or a lawyer forces the issue.
There's a quieter way. I buy Tilbury houses as they stand — contents included, no bin, no showings, no parade. Here are the three options and what each one costs.
Their safety comes before the house, and if they own it and can make their own decisions, selling is their call. A continuing power of attorney for property lets you act for them while they're living; it ends the moment they die. How POA works when selling a parent's house.
If the house was in the deceased's name alone, the executor generally needs the Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee before a sale closes; held jointly, it passes to the surviving owner. Start that now — it takes longer than the sale. What an executor needs before selling.
A tenant can't be removed for hoarding without a Landlord and Tenant Board order (N5 for interference, N7 for impairing safety), and selling doesn't end the tenancy — the buyer becomes the landlord. I buy with the tenant in place and handle it lawfully afterward. Selling a house with tenants in Ontario.
Weekends, bins, a trailer, and every object looked at by someone with the right to decide about it. Chatham-Kent residents use the municipal waste depots, with the Ridge Landfill near Blenheim as the region's landfill; a full house is many loads. Makes sense when the family has the time, everyone's on side, and the house will be worth listing once it shows.
Two quotes from insured local companies; the price scales with volume, stairs and distance to the dump. Worth knowing: a heavy buildup of combustible material is a fire hazard under the Ontario Fire Code, and tilbury is inside Chatham-Kent, so a complaint goes through the municipality's customer service line or online form to by-law enforcement, which can issue a property standards order with a deadline. Makes sense when the house needs to show and the money is there up front.
Take what matters to your family and leave the rest where it is. No cleanout, no bins, no showings, no repairs, and a written number with the math shown. Makes sense when the cleanout is the thing stopping the decision — or when time, distance or health mean the first two were never really options.
Nobody sees the inside of it but me, and I've seen it before.
Tilbury is about 25 minutes from me down the 401. I walk every house before I put a number on it, and the number I say is the number I pay — priced after I've seen the basement, not before. Drive time approximate.
The form on the cash-offer page takes a minute, or text 548-290-8128. It comes to me, not a call centre.
Email-only if you prefer. Photos or a walk-through video before I visit are a good start.
With you, or with a key if you can't face going back in. I price the work room by room, cleanout included.
Worth done, minus the work, minus my margin — every line shown. If listing would net you more, I say so. You decide, on your schedule.
No fee, no obligation, one word ends it. If it's urgent, don't wait on the form — call or text.