Do you buy homes with fire damage?

From smoke damage to a total loss

Fire damage runs a wide range, and so does what a buyer will do about it. Ours covers the whole range: a scorched kitchen, partial structure damage, smoke that got into everything, a lost roof, and a house that has to come back from the studs.

If the house is a total loss, that is not automatically the end of the conversation either. A totally destroyed home can sometimes be purchased based on the value of the lot, and we can often still make a reasonable offer when the lot itself is worth something.

How the repair math works

Fire repair is the widest range we deal with: typically $30,000 to $200,000 or more depending on severity. Smoke is the part people underestimate, because it travels through a house that looks untouched two rooms away.

We factor that cost in openly rather than using it as leverage later. The offer you get is built on what you tell us about the damage, and we will read the price and termination sections of the agreement with you before you sign.

Why a financed buyer usually cannot help

A traditional sale depends on a buyer who can get a mortgage and insure the property, and fire damage commonly disrupts both. That is why these houses tend to sit, and why the buyers who can actually move on one are cash buyers comfortable with the fix. That is the position we are in.

Repairing first can net you more if insurance covers it and you have the time. If it does not, or you do not, a cash sale avoids the wait.

If there is an insurance claim open

Sometimes it makes sense to pursue the claim first and sometimes it makes sense to sell first. It depends on the claim, the timeline and what you need. Before you sign anything, talk to your insurance adjuster, or a public adjuster, about what a sale does to an open claim. Selling can change who receives the money, and your mortgage lender is often a co-payee. We will talk it through honestly rather than pushing you toward whichever one suits us, and if the claim is the better path we will say so.

You do not need to clean up, board anything, or remove anything before we come.

Read the as-is guide for the full condition list, or get a written offer.