St. Croix County · Buying in Wisconsin since 2010
Sell my house fast in Somerset, Wisconsin.
Somerset is two places in one name: newer commuter houses built for people who work across the St. Croix, and older homes and cabins along the Apple River that have been in a family for a long time. We drive out from Appleton for both, and for both we put a figure in writing only after we have been through the property.
- Written cash offer in 24 hours
- Close in as little as 7 days
- No fees, commissions or repairs
Rather talk to a person right now? (920) 259-4326
The market here
What Somerset housing is actually like
The housing stock
Somerset is a village north of Hudson that has grown quickly with commuter housing, alongside older village property and recreational land along the Apple River. Much of the newer stock is post-2000.
Why Somerset sellers call us
Somerset mixes newer commuter housing with older river property, and the river property is the more complicated half.
Neighborhoods and areas we buy in
- Village centre
- Apple River area
- Main Street
Village of Somerset or Town of Somerset?
Plenty of people with a Somerset mailing address do not actually live in the village. There is a Village of Somerset, an incorporated municipality with its own hall and its own zoning, and around it a separate Town of Somerset, which covers the countryside around it. The two have different boards, different clerks and, for a property owner, some different rules.
For most of what a seller cares about, the difference is invisible. Both kinds of parcel are recorded by the St. Croix County Register of Deeds in Hudson, and in both cases the title company works out what is owed in taxes and settles it from the proceeds. The difference shows up mainly if your land touches water, because the statewide shoreland standards that counties enforce generally apply to unincorporated land. A riverfront lot in the town falls under the county's shoreland rules; a lot inside the village is governed by the village's own ordinances.
Why does that matter if you are selling? Because a buyer who plans to replace an old cabin or add on to it needs to know what will be allowed, and the answer depends on which side of that line the property sits. A financed buyer's agent will often want that question settled before anyone commits, which adds time.
We do not need the question settled to make you an offer. We look at the property as it is, take the rules as they come, and accept the risk that a future project might be limited. If you are not sure which municipality you are in, your tax bill will tell you, and so will the parcel lookup on the county's website.
River cabins and family places on the Apple River
The Apple River has drawn people to Somerset for a long time. The Harriman brothers came in 1856 to put up a mill, and in the century and a half since, the river has turned into a summer playground known for tubing. Along with that came cabins: small seasonal places built by families from the Twin Cities and from the area, many of them passed down through two or three generations.
By the time a cabin like that reaches us, it usually has a story. The parents who used it most have died or can no longer manage the steps down to the water. The siblings who inherited it live in different states and cannot agree on how often to use it, or who should pay the taxes and the insurance. The cabin was built with a crawlspace instead of a basement, has a holding tank or an older septic system, and was never insulated for winter.
Those are exactly the details that make a cabin hard to finance and slow to sell. A lender may balk at a seasonal building, a septic inspection may fail, and a buyer may discover that the shoreland rules limit how much bigger the building can become. We buy cabins in that condition. You do not have to winterise, repair or empty them first.
When several heirs own a place together, we deal with whoever has the authority to sign and can work with a personal representative or trustee through probate. Our inherited property page covers the basics, and our well and septic guide explains why those systems matter so much in a sale like this.
Newer houses north of Hudson and the reasons they sell
Much of what has been built around Somerset since 2000 is ordinary, well-built suburban housing: two-storeys and split-levels on generous lots, many bought by households with a job in Stillwater, the east metro or St. Paul. The St. Croix Crossing bridge, which opened in 2017, made that commute easier and added to the demand.
Houses like that rarely need much work. The calls we take about them are nearly always about a date. A transfer that takes the family out of state on short notice. A separation where neither spouse can carry the payment alone. A buyer for the new home who wants to close before this one has sold. In each case the owner is not looking for the highest possible number so much as a clear ending on a known day.
We will tell you plainly if listing looks like the better route. A recent, clean house in Somerset will attract plenty of financed buyers in a normal market, and they can often pay more than we can. Our offer is worth considering when the timing is fixed and the cost of waiting, whether in two mortgages, a lapsed job offer or a court date, is higher than the difference in price.
When that is your situation, the date is the thing we protect. You pick it, and our On-Time Guarantee pays you $5,000 if we fail to close on it. The comparison of selling options sets out the trade-off with listing in more detail.
How a sale from this distance works
Our office is in Appleton, which puts Somerset on the opposite side of Wisconsin from us. We are not local and will not pretend to know every road along the river the way someone who grew up here does. What we can do is make the trip, take the time to see the property properly, and put in writing exactly how we arrived at our number.
The first step is a phone call where we learn about the property and your timeline. Then we fix a day to visit, typically combined with other appointments in New Richmond, Hudson or River Falls. On a river property we walk the shoreline and look at the outbuildings and the septic area as well as the main building. If no one can be there in person, a neighbour or relative can let us in.
The written offer shows our resale estimate, the repairs we expect to make and what we keep. If you accept, a Wisconsin title company runs the search and the closing. Owners who live out of state can sign by mail with a notary. There is no fee to you at any point, no commission, and nothing to clean out.
For a seasonal property that sits empty through the winter, it also helps to know that we buy in every season. You do not have to wait for the ice to go out. Our guide to winter sales covers what changes, and the St. Croix County page lists the other towns we cover nearby.
What we take on
The Somerset property types we buy
Post-2000 commuter housing
Apple River recreational and seasonal property
Older village housing
Shoreland-restricted parcels
Estates and relocations
Free, no obligation
What is your Somerset house worth to us?
Send us the Somerset address and say whether it is inside the village or out in the town, and whether it sits on the river. That tells us which rules apply before we arrive, and the written offer follows the visit.
Rather talk to someone? Call or text (920) 259-4326 — a real person answers.
Somerset sellers ask us
Do you buy cabins and recreational property on the Apple River?
Can you close around a move to the Twin Cities or further away?
Our address says Somerset but the tax bill says Town of Somerset. Does that change anything?
Several of us inherited the family cabin. Do we all need to agree before you can buy it?
Free guides for Somerset sellers
Local resources
Local resources for selling in Somerset
- Somerset's own clerk and assessor
- Wisconsin DNR — lakes information
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center
- Wisconsin rules govern, not Minnesota
- Wisconsin DNR — shoreland zoning
Next steps
We also buy nearby
Get a cash offer on your Somerset house
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