Home / Fire-damaged houses

Fire or water damage

Selling a fire-damaged house in Detroit

After a fire, it's one problem stacked on another: the insurance company, the mortgage, the city, the cleanup. You don't have to fix the house before you sell it. Here's how it usually works.

The first few days

  • Make it safe and secure. Board up broken doors and windows. An open, burned house draws scrappers, squatters and city tickets.
  • Call your insurance company and get a claim number. Take photos of everything before anything is moved, and keep every receipt.
  • Don't sign anything in a hurry. Anyone knocking on your door the week of the fire can wait until you've talked to your insurer.

Insurance, the mortgage and a sale

If you have a mortgage, the insurance check for the house is usually made out to you and your lender together, and the lender decides how it's released.

In Michigan cities that take part in the state's fire insurance withholding program, part of the payout (up to 25%) can be held back until the property is repaired, secured or cleaned up. Unused money goes back to you.

Selling the house doesn't automatically end your claim for a fire that happened while you owned it, but ask your insurer or adjuster before you sign a purchase agreement, and tell the buyer what has already been paid. Any mortgage and back taxes are paid off from the sale at closing.

Your options

  • Sell it as-is to us. We price in the repairs, so you don't clean up, demolish or fix anything. You get a written cash offer and pick the closing date.
  • Rebuild with the insurance money, then live in it or sell it. That means months of hiring and managing contractors, permits and inspections, and covering whatever the payout doesn't.
Water damage too. Burst pipes, a bad roof or a flooded basement work the same way: we buy the house as it stands and price in the repairs.

How it works with us

  1. Send the address and what happened. Photos help but aren't required.
  2. We walk the house once and send a written cash offer with the numbers behind it.
  3. A licensed title company pays off the mortgage and any taxes and pays you the rest on the date you pick.

Quick answers

Can I sell a fire-damaged house in Detroit without fixing it?

Yes. We buy fire- and water-damaged houses as-is. You don't need to clean up, repair or demolish anything.

What happens to my mortgage if I sell a fire-damaged house?

It's paid off from the sale at closing by the title company. Talk to your lender and insurer about how any insurance money is released.

Other situations we buy in: Inherited houses · Behind on property taxes · Rentals with tenants · Blight tickets & code violations · Divorce · Vacant houses · Mortgage foreclosure