When it comes to fire damage, homeowners have a lot to deal with. Not only do you need to bring in professionals to help clean up the damage, but unless you have the money to undergo an expensive renovation, you might be better off selling your house with fire damage.
You’re not alone. In fact, according to the National Fire Protection Association, there were over 360,000 houses with structural damage in 2018, which cost homeowners $8 billion.
If you’re living in a house with fire damage, the issue at hand is whether you’re looking to sell it as a move-in ready property, which could require lots of costly repairs, or if you want to sell it “as is.” If you have some money saved up, you’ll get more out of your investment with a move-in ready home — though you’ll still need to get your home back into tip-top shape before you even think about listing it.
Unfortunately, this could cost tens of thousands of dollars or more depending on the extent of the fire damage, and you might need to hire a cleanup crew, as well as builders to help restore your home. If you’re still on the fence, get an estimate of how much it’ll cost to repair it all. If you have the money to cover it, renovating is a great way to help maximize your investment.
That said, it could take months to effectively see a large renovation project through, and in the meantime you’ll also have to pay for another place to live. Unless you have tens of thousands of dollars available to pay your current mortgage, as well as the rent on a temporary home, in addition to the renovation itself, you’ll actually be digging yourself a bigger hole with each passing day as expenses and bills pile up.
Your other option is what’s called an “as is” sale. Instead of renovating, listing and then selling your home to an individual, couple or family that will pay market value for a move-in ready home, you’ll instead be passing on the repairs to whoever buys it. Because of that, their offer will have to take into account the repairs that have to be made, so be prepared for offers that take this into account.
But if you do put your home on the market with the help of a realtor, you could be looking at months until a legitimate offer comes in. Most people looking to buy homes are looking for a place to live, not a project, which means you’ll probably get a healthy serving of looky-loos with sporadic offers sprinkled in. Even if one of those offers matches your financial goals, you’ll still have to contend with banks, loans and mortgages, and it could take months or longer to get the right offer and see it through.
Instead, the best way to sell a home with fire damage is to sell it to us. We have the capital needed to buy your home outright without the lag of a traditional mortgage, and we’ll even give you an official offer in as little as 24 hours. Because it’s an “as is” sale, you’ll also get to keep more of the money from the sale as there are no real estate agents, inspectors and other middlemen to grab a piece of the pie. Seriously, there are no fees, commissions or any added costs, which is just as good as putting more money in your pocket.
If you need some extra time, we’ll even let you pick the sale date so that you can wrap up everything you need to do without worry that you’ll be pushed out before you’re ready, like if you need to line up another place to live. Once you sell us your house with fire damage, we’ll meet you at a local title company right here in the San Antonio area to finalize all the paperwork and ensure that all the funds are distributed properly.
Learn more about selling a house with fire damage.