After a fire, the house sits in a bad middle ground: a lender will not finance a buyer for it, the insurance claim can take months, and the county may have posted it as unsafe to occupy. A cash buyer is often the only way to turn it back into money without rebuilding it yourself.
What a fire-damaged house is worth to us
We price a fire-damaged house on what it will be worth after a full rebuild of the affected areas, minus the cost of that rebuild, our holding time, and our margin. Smoke and water damage from the fire department count too, because they usually reach rooms the fire never did. We look at the house in person, walk it with a contractor if the structure is in question, and give you a written number with that math shown.
The insurance claim question
- Claim already paid. You keep the money and sell us the house as it sits. That is the cleanest version.
- Claim still open. You can keep pursuing it while we close, or the proceeds can be assigned at settlement. Your adjuster and our title company sort out which.
- Underinsured or denied. We still buy. The offer just reflects the full rebuild cost.
Condemned or posted houses and open code violations
A county unsafe-structure notice or an open code violation does not stop us. In Baltimore City it may come with a vacant building notice and a citation schedule, in the counties it is usually a placard and a deadline to secure the property. We buy through the violations, the title company settles any fines out of proceeds, and the permits for the rebuild are our problem after closing.
Questions we get
- Can I sell a fire-damaged house before the insurance claim settles?
- Yes. You can keep pursuing the claim after closing, or assign the proceeds at settlement. Your adjuster and our title company work out the mechanics. Either way, the sale does not wait on the insurer.
- Do you buy houses with smoke and water damage but no structural fire damage?
- Yes. Smoke and the fire department’s water usually do more damage than the flames, and lenders treat it the same way. We price the cleanup and repair into the offer.
- What if the county has posted the house as unsafe?
- We still buy it. The placard and any fines are handled through the title company at closing, and the rebuild permits become ours.
Get a cash offer on the house as it stands
With or without a settled claim. Written, usually within a day.
Get my cash offer