Where these sales get stuck
A conventional or FHA loan generally requires the property to be habitable and intact. A house with
fire damage, an active leak, standing water history, or visible mold usually fails that test, which
removes almost every retail buyer from the pool. What is left is cash buyers — so the real question is
not whether you sell to one, but which one and on what terms.
The other common trap is the half-finished repair. An insurance claim paid out, work started, the
contractor left or the money ran short, and now the house is opened up with permits pulled and
nothing finaled. That property is harder to sell than one that was never touched.
What we buy
- Fire damage, from a contained kitchen fire to a substantially burned structure
- Water damage, slab leaks, sewer backups, and long-term moisture problems
- Mold-affected houses, remediated or not
- Properties with an open or partially completed insurance claim
- Houses opened up mid-repair with permits pulled and work stopped
- Red-tagged and unsafe-to-occupy properties
About the insurance claim
How the claim is handled in a sale depends on whether it is settled, whether proceeds have been
released, and whether a lender is holding them. This gets negotiated deal by deal, and it is worth
talking to your adjuster and your attorney before you sign a purchase agreement with anyone —
including us. Sometimes the right move is to settle the claim first and sell after; sometimes it is
not. We will tell you honestly which one we think it is for your situation, and you should verify
that independently.
Do not clean it up first
Demolition, tear-out, and cleanup done before a sale usually costs the seller money and occasionally
destroys evidence needed for a claim. Leave it. We price what is there.
