A family of home buyers who work on rowhomes for a living, buying across Reading and Berks County in any condition and any situation. No repairs, no commissions, no closing costs to you, and you choose the closing date.
We're not going to tell you we're around the corner. We're a Baltimore family, about two hours south of Reading. What we are is the people who buy your kind of house every single week.
More than half the homes in Reading are attached rowhomes, and most of them were built before 1950. That is not a trivia fact to us, it's our entire trade. Baltimore is a rowhome city too, and a rowhome is a genuinely different animal from the suburban split-level that national cash-buying formulas are built around. It's why so many out-of-town offers on Reading houses get quoted high, then quietly cut after the walkthrough.
Party walls, and what it means when the house next door is empty or in worse shape than yours.
Rubber, rolled, and tar roofs at the end of their life, and what a real replacement runs.
Lath and plaster walls, old wiring still in the ceilings, fuse boxes that never got updated.
Stone and brick foundations, damp corners, and the difference between a nuisance and a real problem.
Street-parked blocks, narrow alleys, and how that actually affects what a house is worth.
Boilers, radiators, and cast-iron stacks that a suburban formula would badly misjudge.
Because we already know what's behind those walls, we don't have to guess high and correct later. The number we put in writing is the number that survives the walkthrough.
Marisa & Matthew LarkinFounders, Deep Roots REI
Here's a number worth knowing before you talk to anybody, us included. Selling inside the Reading city limits is more expensive than almost anywhere else in Pennsylvania, and it has nothing to do with your house.
Inside Reading: 3.5% to the city, 1% to the Commonwealth, 0.5% to the school district. Most surrounding Berks townships are closer to 2%. Custom is to split it with your buyer, but the contract decides.
The standard cost of listing, marketing, and negotiating the sale on the open market.
On pre-1950 rowhome stock this is the line that moves most, and you usually find out what it is after you're already under contract.
There's no agent in the middle, so there's nothing to pay one.
We cover the usual seller closing costs, and the offer spells out in writing exactly how the transfer tax is handled.
You fix nothing and clean nothing. The condition is priced into the offer once, up front, and it doesn't get revisited.
We're telling you this even though it's the kind of thing that might send you to an agent instead. Transfer tax rates change and vary by municipality, so the title company handling your closing will confirm exactly what applies to your address. And if listing really would net you more, we'll say so.
From the rowhome blocks of Reading itself out to Kutztown, Hamburg, and Boyertown, we buy houses in every corner of Berks County. A few of the communities we cover:
Don't see your town? We buy across all of Berks County. Just ask.
Deep Roots REI, a family-run cash home buyer, purchases houses in Reading, PA and across Berks County as-is, in any condition. The company is run by Matthew and Marisa Larkin and is based in Baltimore, about two hours south, with a specialty in rowhomes, the attached pre-1950 housing that makes up most of the city of Reading. They buy inherited houses, homes facing foreclosure, worn-out rentals, houses with tenants still in place, and homes that simply need more work than the owner wants to take on. Sellers pay no commissions, no fees, and no closing costs, receive a written cash offer usually within 24 hours, and choose their own closing date. You can reach them at 443.216.9475.
People sell for all kinds of reasons in Berks County, and they're the same reasons we've helped families through for years around Baltimore. Whatever yours is, there's a good chance we've been there.
Probate, an estate, a home you never planned to own.
How we helpForeclosure notices, missed payments, the calls.
How we helpBad tenants, repairs, a rental you are done with.
How we helpRepairs you cannot or do not want to take on.
How we helpA fair, fast, private sale and a clean break.
How we helpA money change that made the mortgage a worry.
How we helpIt sat on the market and never sold.
How we helpA house that has simply become too much.
How we helpHowever you came to this page, the path forward is the same simple one. We drive up to see the house ourselves, and everything else can happen by phone, email, and a title company. Most Berks County homeowners go from first call to closing in two to four weeks.
Call, text, or fill out the form. You tell us about the home and the situation. No pressure, no commitment.
We research the property, run comparable sales on your block, and come up to walk the house, usually within 48 hours.
A written, no-obligation cash offer, and we walk you through exactly how we got to the number.
Two weeks, two months, whatever you need. We handle the paperwork and cover the closing costs.
The biggest worry when selling to a cash buyer is being lowballed, or being quoted one number and handed a smaller one later. Here is exactly how we make sure neither happens to you.
Every offer is built on recent comparable sales on your Reading or Berks County block and the honest cost of the work the home needs, not a formula designed to grind you down.
When we present your offer, we walk you through exactly how we reached it, line by line. If a number doesn't make sense to you, we'll explain it until it does.
If listing with an agent would put more money in your pocket, we'll say so, even though it means we don't buy your house. Your best move matters more than our next deal.
We are, and we will not dress it up. Deep Roots REI is a family company from Baltimore, about two hours south of Reading, and we are not going to pretend there is an office on Penn Street. What we bring instead is the thing that actually protects you: Reading is a rowhome city and so is Baltimore, and rowhomes are what we buy every week at home. We know what is behind those walls before we walk in, so the offer we put in writing is the offer that survives the walkthrough. We come to you, our names are on the paperwork, and when you call 443.216.9475 you reach Matthew or Marisa, not a call center.
Yes. We buy across Reading and all of Berks County, including Wyomissing, West Reading, Shillington, Sinking Spring, Mohnton, Exeter and Muhlenberg townships, Fleetwood, Kutztown, Boyertown, Birdsboro, Hamburg, and every community in between. If you do not see your town listed, reach out anyway, because we buy throughout the county.
Rowhomes are our specialty, not our exception. A shared party wall is normal to us, including the situations that make other buyers walk: the neighboring house is vacant, the roof drains across both properties, or the block has more boarded doors than it did ten years ago. We price the house in front of us as it actually sits, on the block it actually sits on. You do not need to fix anything, clean anything, or explain anything away.
The City of Reading carries one of the higher realty transfer taxes in Pennsylvania. Inside the city limits it totals 5 percent of the sale price: 3.5 percent to the city, 1 percent to the Commonwealth, and 0.5 percent to the school district. Most of the surrounding Berks County townships and boroughs are closer to 2 percent. Pennsylvania custom is for the buyer and seller to split the transfer tax, though the contract is what actually decides. When we buy, all of it is in writing up front: we cover the usual seller closing costs, the offer spells out exactly how the transfer tax is handled, and the number we agree on is the number you walk away with. Rates do change and they vary by municipality, so the title company handling your closing will confirm exactly what applies to your address.
In most sales, yes. Pennsylvania’s Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law asks sellers to complete a property disclosure statement listing the material defects they know about, even when the house sells as-is. With us, that is nothing to dread: you tell the truth about the house, we price the work in, and nothing you disclose scares us off. Some transfers, like many estate sales, are exempt, and the title company handling the closing confirms exactly what applies to yours.
Most homeowners go from first call to closing in about two to four weeks, and we can sometimes move faster when there is a hard deadline like a foreclosure date. You also choose the date. If you need more time to pack, sort out an estate, or line up your next place, we close on your timeline, not ours.
Yes, and it is a common call in Berks County. You do not have to evict anyone, chase back rent, or get the property empty before you talk to us. Tell us what the lease situation actually is, month-to-month, behind on rent, or a tenant who has stopped answering, and we will factor it into the offer and take it on after closing.
Tell us a little about the house and we'll get back to you with a fair, no-obligation cash offer, usually within 24 hours. From a real family that buys rowhomes for a living, not a call center. No pressure, no repairs, nothing owed.
We'll respond personally, usually within 24 hours.