Sell a Fire-Damaged House in Eugene
After a house fire, the last thing you need is a long list of contractors, adjusters and decisions. If you want to sell a fire-damaged house in Eugene, OR Home Buyers will buy it for cash, as-is, with the debris, smoke damage and burned materials still inside.
Bob Bash started his first company in fire and water restoration, so he knows what a fire job really costs to fix and prices it fairly.
Get a Cash Offer for Your Fire-Damaged House
How it works when your house has fire damage
1.
Make sure the house is safe and secured
Keep utilities off and openings boarded
until the fire department or a contractor clears them. If you've moved out, let your insurer know the house is empty.
2.
Keep your claim paperwork
You don't need the claim settled to call us. The fire report, the adjuster's estimate and your photos help us price the work accurately.
3.
A walkthrough with a restoration eye
4.
A written offer with the repair math shown
5.
Sort out the insurance side
Your claim and the sale are separate. Your adjuster and the purchase agreement spell out who keeps which payments. Payments for your belongings and temporary housing are usually yours either way.
6.
Close and walk away
Leave the debris and damaged contents. Cleanup and demolition are our job after closing, and any mortgage is paid off through the title company.
Can I sell a house after a fire without repairing it?
A house with fire damage usually fails a lender’s minimum property standards until it’s
repaired, which removes most of the normal buyer pool. That is why a fire damaged property buyer who pays cash is often the realistic option. Lane County saw this firsthand after the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire along the McKenzie River, when many owners had to choose between rebuilding and selling.
Because we buy as-is, you can sell your house as-is in Eugene without hiring a cleanup crew
or a single contractor.
Should I take the insurance payout or sell as-is?
Often you don’t have to choose. Most owners can collect their insurance payout and still sell the house as-is. The real question is whether managing a rebuild yourself is worth the time, stress and risk compared with selling now.
Many homeowner policies pay in two steps. The first payment is based on actual cash value, and the insurer pays the difference up to the full repair cost only after the work is finished. Ifyou sell without rebuilding, you may not collect that second payment, so ask your adjuster how much is being held back before you decide.
If you still have a mortgage, the repair check is usually made out to you and your lender together. When you sell, the lender is paid off at closing. Every policy is different, so talk to your adjuster, and to an attorney or public adjuster if the claim is large or disputed.
How do cash buyers value a fire-damaged house?
We start with what the house would be worth fully restored, then subtract the restoration cost and our holding and selling costs. The restoration estimate moves the offer more than anything else, so it matters who makes it.
Fire jobs are hard to price from the curb. Smoke travels through ducts and wall cavities,
water from firefighting soaks floors and insulation, and charred framing may or may not need replacing. Bob’s restoration background means he knows what can be saved and what can’t, so there is less guessing and less padding in the number you get.
What about smoke and soot damage in the rest of the house?
Smoke and soot usually spread far beyond the room that burned. Odor, stained ceilings and soot in ducts, insulation and electrical boxes all count as fire damage, and we price them into the offer so you don’t have to clean them up.
Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house. Cleaning it properly oftenmeans sealing surfaces, replacing insulation and cleaning or replacing ductwork. Owners who try to list a smoke-damaged house often find buyers walk away after one showing.
When you sell a burned house as is to us, none of that is your problem. Our guide on the
best way to sell a Eugene house as-is explains how as-is sales work in more detail.
Why owners of fire-damaged homes chooseOR Home Buyers
- Bob started his first company in fire and water restoration, so he prices fire damage the way a restoration contractor does.
- Over 25 years serving Lane County, born and raised in Springfield and Eugene
- We buy with our own cash and restore the homes ourselves. No contract assignment, no commissions and no fees.
Bob Bash,
Founder, OR Home Buyers
Fire-damaged house FAQs
No. You can sell while the claim is still open. The claim is between you and your insurer, and the sale is between you and us. Tell your adjuster you plan to sell, and make sure the purchase agreement says which insurance payments you keep after closing.
No. Leave the burned materials, damaged furniture and debris where they are. Board-up, cleanup, demolition and hauling are our job after closing. You only need to take the belongings you want to keep and anything your insurer asked you to hold for the claim.
Yes. Oregon sellers generally must disclose known material defects, and fire damage is one of them. With us, disclosure is simple: we see the damage during the walkthrough and price it in, so there are no surprises later and no reason for the deal to change at closing.
Yes. We regularly buy houses that are boarded up or posted as unsafe to occupy. We don't need to live in the house or get a loan on it, and we handle the permits and inspections needed to restore it after we buy it.
The mortgage is paid off from the sale proceeds at closing, through the title company. If your insurer sent a repair check made out to you and your lender, ask your lender early how those funds will be handled when the loan is paid off.
Once we've walked the property, we can usually make an offer within 24 hours and close in as little as five days. Many owners choose a date a few weeks out so they can finish documenting the claim with their adjuster first.
Talk to someone who has restored fire-damaged homes
Call Bob at (541) 722-2000 or fill out the form. We'll walk the house, explain what can be saved and give you a written cash offer, with no obligation.
