Selling a storm damaged house on the Gulf Coast.

Why damaged Florida property is so hard to sell normally

A buyer who needs a mortgage also needs insurance, and that is where these sales collapse. Carriers decline roofs over a certain age, decline homes with open claims, and decline properties with unrepaired damage. No insurance means no loan, which means the contract falls through, usually several weeks in.

On top of that, Florida premiums have climbed to the point where a buyer who can get a policy sometimes walks anyway once they see the quote. Owners end up cycling through contract after contract with nothing closing.

The fifty percent rule catches people out

If a property sits in a flood zone and the cost of repairs reaches fifty percent of the structure's market value, local rules commonly require the whole building to be brought up to current flood elevation standards. That can mean elevating the structure, which turns a repair job into something far larger.

Owners frequently discover this partway through getting quotes, and it stops the project dead. We buy properties in exactly that position, because we go in knowing what the compliance path looks like.

Open claims and unfinished repairs

We buy with claims still open. Depending on the situation, the claim proceeds can be assigned as part of the transaction or settled separately, and the title company handles the mechanics. We also buy half finished repairs, which are common after a major storm when a contractor took a deposit and never came back.

Since the last major hurricanes there is a lot of this on the Gulf Coast, particularly around North Port, Englewood and Lee County. It is a normal purchase for us rather than an exception.