1. You Send the Address and What Burned
An address, a sentence about the damage, and photographs if you have them. That is enough to start. If the fire department attended, the incident number is useful but not required. We do not need the property cleaned, boarded, or made safe, and we do not need you to have decided anything yet.
2. We Price It, and Show You the Arithmetic
Pricing a burned house is subtraction, and there are only four terms in it. What the property is worth restored. What it costs to get there. What it costs to carry through that period. And the margin the buyer needs to justify the risk.
What we do that most buyers do not is show you those four numbers rather than only the result. If the finished value is $285,000 and reconstruction is $290,000, you should be able to see that, because it explains an offer that would otherwise look insulting. On roughly a third of the properties we look at, that arithmetic tells the owner to do something other than sell to us, and we say so.
Underwriting a Houston-area file also means resolving the jurisdiction before the number is fixed: which office permits a rebuild, whether floodplain rules force an elevated foundation, which county records the deed. Those change the answer materially, which is why our service area pages exist and why we do not quote a figure before we know which one applies.
3. Title, Liens, and the Claim
Everything moves through a title company. They run the search, produce the commitment, and handle the funds. Three things commonly need work at this stage:
- Unreleased liens. Old mortgages and judgment liens that were paid but never released. Routine to clear, slow if found late.
- Heirship. Where the owner of record has died without probate, the deed cannot be delivered until the heirs are established. This is measured in months, and it is the most common reason a fire file sits.
- The insurance escrow. Where a servicer holds proceeds for restoration, its release process runs on its own schedule. We start that conversation the week we go under contract rather than the week before closing.
4. You Pick the Closing Date and Get Paid
Signing happens at the title company, or remotely if you are not in Texas. Funds are wired the same or next business day. The deed records with the county clerk that week, and the demolition permit, the debris and the sewer disconnect become our responsibility from that point.
What We Do Not Do
- We do not charge you anything, at any stage.
- We do not ask you to repair, clean, or clear the property first.
- We do not adjust your insurance claim or advise you on it. That is a separate licensed role, and the fee cap and licensing rules for it are on our page about Texas public adjuster and claim rules.
- We do not put your property under contract and then shop it to somebody else. If you want to know why that distinction matters, how to tell Houston cash buyers apart explains it.
- We do not sell or share your contact details.
Common Questions About the Process
What Does It Cost to Get an Offer?
Nothing, at any stage. There is no fee for the offer, no commission on a sale, and no requirement to spend anything on repairs, cleaning or debris removal. If you decline the offer there is no charge and no obligation.
How Fast Can You Close on a Houston Fire-Damaged House?
Once title is clear, funding takes days rather than weeks. Realistically most files close in two to six weeks, and the pacing item is almost always title work: unreleased liens, heirship gaps where the owner has died, or a mortgage servicer holding insurance proceeds in escrow.
Do I Need to Be in Houston to Sell?
No. Out-of-state and overseas owners are common on these files, particularly inherited property. Documents can be signed remotely with a mobile or remote online notary, and funds are wired to your account.
What If I Decide Not to Sell?
Then you keep the analysis. Owners regularly use our figure as a benchmark against a restoration estimate or another buyer's offer, and that is a reasonable use of it. There is no obligation attached.