Sell a Fire Damaged House in Florida
We Buy Fire Damaged Houses In Florida.
In Florida, you can sell a fire damaged house as-is, for cash, without fixing a thing.
You don't have to clean it. You don't have to be there. We have worked 32 fire damaged homes in Florida and bought 6 of them.
Selling a fire damaged house is not like a normal home sale, and most Florida sellers find that out the hard way. If you want to sell your fire damaged house for cash, or you just want to know how to sell a fire damaged house at all, this page walks you through it.
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Fire Damaged Home in Florida? Get a Fair Offer Today
Request a cash offer from Fire Cash Buyer and we'll give you a call to scheduled when we can walk it. Then give you an offer in 24 hours
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Can You Sell A Fire Damaged House In Florida?
Yes. No Florida law stops you, and you do not need to repair it first. Florida requires that you tell the buyer what you know about the fire. Selling a house with fire damage means selling it as-is to a buyer who prices the repairs themselves. That is what we do.
Will You Buy My House?
Probably. Here is what we buy:
Houses that burned all the way down
Houses with smoke or water damage only
Houses the county has tagged or ordered torn down
Houses with no insurance
Mobile and manufactured homes no carrier will cover
Houses still in probate
Houses with a mortgage still on them
Condos and homes under HOA pressure to repair
Land where the house has to come down
You can leave anything you don't want inside. We handle the rest.
Who Buys Fire Damaged Houses In Florida?
Four kinds of buyer. They are not the same, and the difference matters.
Companies That Only Buy Fire Damage
That's us. We price fire repair every day, so our number holds up after the inspection.
Regular "We Buy Houses" Companies
They take a fire deal now and then. Most guess wrong on the repair cost, then lower the offer later or walk. If a company's website never says the word fire, that's what you're looking at.
Wholesalers
They put your house under contract, then sell that contract to someone else. Ask straight out whether the person talking to you is the one paying.
Regular buyers and small builders
Real, but rare. Loans backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the FHA require the house to be safe and livable, and a burned house usually isn't. So most of these deals die at the bank, which is why cash matters here.
What Will You Pay Me?
We can't say until we see it. Anyone who gives you a price over the phone is guessing.
But here is what we can tell you. When a seller names their price first, we agree at a median of 88% of what they asked.
Based on 19 sales. Figure as of Q3 2026. We update it every 3 months. Ask us for today's number.
You pay nothing. No commission. No repair costs. No closing costs. No cleaning.
Why Can't You Just Tell Me A Price Now?
The price depends on the damage, and nobody can see damage over the phone. Smoke travels further than it looks. Roofs get cut open. Land value changes by county. We look at the house, then give you a number within 24 hours.
Will Anyone Buy A Burnt House?
Yes. We buy total losses.
Some houses can be fixed. Some can't. If yours can't, that's not bad news. It just means the value is in the land, and every repair quote you've been handed doesn't matter.
Your house may be a teardown if the fire hit the roof beams, the foundation moved, or the cost to rebuild is close to what the house would be worth after.
If you can't afford to tear it down, tell us. That is not a reason we say no.
What The Fire Department Did To Your House
Most people don't expect this part.
1 in 5 houses we buy has a hole cut in the roof by the fire department. They also break walls to find fire hiding inside them, and the water they use soaks the floors.
None of that is their fault. It's how you stop a fire. But it means the damage is almost always bigger than what you can see from the street.
In Florida the water matters more than it does most places. Humidity here means mold starts fast in a house with no power and no air moving.
One more thing that surprises people: more fires start in the garage than in the kitchen. We've looked at 186 of them.
Do I Have To Tell Buyers About The Fire?
Yes, if you know about it. Florida is different from most states here, and it trips people up.
Florida Has No State-required Disclosure Form
What Florida has instead is a rule from a 1985 Florida Supreme Court case, Johnson v. Davis. It says a home seller must tell the buyer about known problems that seriously affect the value and that the buyer could not spot on a normal walkthrough. A fire is exactly that.
Selling "as is" does not get you out of it. A Florida appeals court confirmed the rule still applies to as-is sales. Most sellers use the standard Florida Realtors disclosure form even though no law forces them to.
The practical version: write down what burned, what was repaired, and who did the work. Hand it over. A seller who tells the truth up front does not get sued two years later. Ask a Florida real estate attorney about your title.
Read the law: Johnson v. Davis, 480 So. 2d 625 (Fla. 1985). Florida also requires specific written notice about radon gas under Section 404.056(5), Florida Statutes.
Does My Insurance Company Have A Deadline?
Yes, and in Florida it is shorter than most people think. Two clocks run at the same time. One is yours. One is theirs.
Your Clock
Under Section 627.70132, Florida Statutes, your claim is barred unless you gave your insurance company notice within one year of the date of the fire. A supplemental claim — asking for more money on a claim you already filed — is barred after 18 months.
The clock starts the day of the fire. Not the day you found the damage. Not the day your contractor quit.
Your own policy may give you far less time than the law does. Many require notice within days. Read the conditions section and go by whichever is sooner.
Their Clock
Under Section 627.70131, Florida Statutes, your insurance company must:
Acknowledge your claim — within 7 calendar days
Inspect the property, on a non-hurricane claim — within 45 days of your proof of loss
Pay or deny the claim in writing, with a reason — within 60 days of notice
If they pay late, interest can be owed on the payment. Florida also gives you a list of rights called the Homeowner Claims Bill of Rights under Section 627.7142 — your insurer has to send it to you.
Read it: Florida Statutes Sections 627.70132, 627.70131 and 627.7142 at flsenate.gov.
Who Do I Call If My Insurer Stalls?
The Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS). Their Insurance Consumer Helpline is 1-877-693-5236, open 8am to 5pm Eastern, Monday through Friday. Out of state, call 850-413-3089.
DFS also runs a free mediation program for home insurance claim disputes under Section 627.7015. Your insurance company pays for it, not you. Ask for residential property mediation at myfloridacfo.com.
DFS licenses public adjusters, so you can check anyone who offers to fight your claim for you. DFS is also home to Florida's State Fire Marshal, the division that investigates arson.
Can I Get My Property Taxes Back While The House Sits Empty?
A lot of Florida owners don't know this one, and it is real money.
Under Section 197.319, Florida Statutes, if a home is left uninhabitable for at least 30 days by a catastrophic event, you may be able to get a refund of part of the property taxes you paid for that year. A fire counts. The one thing that does not count is damage the owner caused on purpose.
You apply to your county property appraiser — not the tax collector, not your city — on state form DR-465, and the deadline is March 1 of the year after the fire. Bring utility bills, insurance paperwork, contractor statements or permit records to prove the house was empty.
That's the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser in Tampa, the Orange County Property Appraiser in Orlando, the Duval County Property Appraiser in Jacksonville, the Polk County Property Appraiser in Lakeland, or the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser. Call yours and ask.
One more thing worth knowing: the Florida Real Estate Commission licenses real estate agents and brokers. We are a buyer, not a brokerage. Nobody here earns a commission on your house.
Florida Isn't One Market
What happens after a fire changes depending on where you are.
Tampa Bay and the Gulf Coast
Wet air means mold grows fast. Flood maps decide what you're allowed to rebuild.
The I-4 corridor
Orlando to Tampa is lightning country. Higher values, so rebuilding pencils out more often here.
South Florida
Condos and HOAs. Boards push you to repair on their timeline, whether or not your claim has paid.
Southwest Florida
Insurance is hardest to get and keep here. Fire claims can sit behind a backlog of storm claims.
North Florida and the Panhandle
Older homes, lower values, fewer contractors. Rebuild cost often beats what the house would be worth.
The Flood Zone Question Nobody Warns You About
If your house is in a mapped flood zone and the repair bill is large compared to the building's value, floodplain rules can force you to bring the whole structure up to today's code — not just the burned part. Fire can trigger that the same way a storm does.
The threshold and the way they measure your building's value are set locally. Call your county floodplain administrator and ask before you plan a rebuild.
Where We Buy In Florida
In the Tampa area we bought in Wimauma, in Hillsborough County, from a family whose insurance company fought them for more than a year first. We buy across Hillsborough and Pasco, including Tampa, Dade City and Hudson, where one owner lost a house to an electrical fire that started in the Florida room.
In Central Florida we closed in Apopka, in Orange County. We work the whole I-4 corridor — Orlando, Maitland, Kissimmee, Sorrento, where a generator exploded, and Poinciana.
In Polk County we bought in Auburndale, and we buy in Lakeland and Winter Haven.
On the First Coast we closed in Jacksonville, and we buy across Duval County and down through St. Augustine.
In North Florida we bought in Gainesville. We also work Ocala, Tallahassee and the small Big Bend towns like Mayo and Homosassa, where local buyers are hardest to find.
In the Panhandle we closed in Panama City, and we buy in Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach.
Down south we buy in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Davie, West Palm Beach, and on the west side in Sarasota, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, Naples and Clewiston. We've also worked with owners in Vero Beach and Port St. Lucie.
Small towns count too. Being far from a big city does not disqualify your house.
How Fast Can I Sell My Fire Damaged House In Florida?
Most people who call us need to sell my fire damaged house fast — their words, not ours. Here are our real numbers:
Most sales: 14 days
Fastest: 1 day
Slowest: 157 days
Slow ones are usually probate, an old lien, an unfinished estate, or an insurance claim that has to settle first.
None of those make us walk away. We once paid for a lawyer to speed up a probate. We spent months tracking down a mortgage payoff from a bank that closed in the 1990s. If your situation is messy, that's the kind we're built for.
I Don't Live In Florida Anymore. Can I Still Sell?
Yes. Half the houses we look at, we look at without the owner there. We send someone, or we work from photos.
We have closed for owners living in another state and for one seller's father living in another country, whose signature we got through a U.S. embassy. We have worked through a daughter when her parents spoke no English, and gone slow so nobody signed a page they didn't understand.
Florida People We've Worked With
Wimauma
The insurance company disputed the damage, the belongings and the policy itself. It took a lawyer and over a year, and the attorney's share was more than 30% of what the fight recovered. We waited it out and bought the house as-is when it was over.
Vero Beach
A kitchen fire. She had already been through another company that misled her, so she checked us out before calling. Her review says the process was straightforward and the title work was handled.
An HOA-Pressured Owner In Florida
No insurance, no money to repair, and a board demanding the property be made safe. We moved quickly to get the house compliant and out of her hands.
What Florida Sellers Actually Tell Us
These are from our own intake records, not a survey:
A 1971 mobile home in Sarasota. No insurance, because no carrier would write it. A rodent chewed the wiring.
An Orange County owner whose fire started in an outside pool pump. He filled in four of our forms to urgently call him back.
Two lightning strikes, both along the Orlando–Tampa corridor, both in 2025.
A Pasco County house where the county ordered demolition two weeks after the fire, before the owner had decided anything.
How To Check Us — And Everyone Else
If you're worried about getting taken advantage of, you should be. Three of our reviewers said they were scared of exactly that.
Ask every buyer these four questions:
How many fire damaged houses have you bought, and when? Ours: 798 worked in 38 states. 6 bought in Florida. Ask them to name the cities.
Will you show proof of funds before I sign? We will. Every time.
Can I talk to someone you bought from? We'll connect you.
Are you buying, or selling my contract to someone else? We buy.
If someone offers you a huge number, be careful, not happy. We've watched sellers get a big promise from a company with no reviews and no track record, then get cut after the inspection.
What Happens Next
Send us the address. Photos help but aren't needed.
A real person calls you, usually within a day.
We look at the house. You don't have to be there.
You get a number within 24 hours.
If it doesn't work, tell us your number.
We close through a title company. You pay nothing.
Questions People Ask
Can I Sell Without Fixing Anything?
Yes. No repairs, no cleaning, no clearing it out.
Can I Sell My House As Is With Fire Damage Still There?
Yes. Sell house with fire damage exactly as it stands, or sell fire damaged home and land together.
Can I Sell While My Insurance Claim Is Still Open?
Usually yes. About half our sellers were still mid-claim. Your claim and your sale are separate, but check your own policy and your lender first, because Florida policies differ on who the claim money follows.
What If I Still Owe On The Mortgage?
That's normal. The title company handles the payoff. Tell us early if you owe more than the house is worth.
My Fire Was Years Ago. Too Late?
Not to sell. Florida people wait longer than most — we've had owners reach us 203 days, 357 days and 566 days after the fire. It may be too late for the insurance claim, though. Check the one-year rule above.
Who Buys Burnt Houses And Total Losses?
We do. You don't need a standing house to sell.
What Companies That Buy Fire Damaged Houses Work In Florida?
A few fire damaged house buyers specialize in it. Most are general cash buyers who take a fire deal now and then. Ask any of them how many fire damaged homes they've bought and which Florida cities. We've worked 32 in Florida and bought 6.
Are There Cash Buyers For Fire Damaged Homes In Florida?
Yes. We pay cash and show proof of funds before you sign. Cash matters because FHA and conventional loans require a safe, livable house, so most non-cash offers on a burned home fall apart at the lender.
Can I Sell A Fire Damage House That's A Mobile Or Manufactured Home?
Yes. Older Florida mobile homes are often impossible to insure, which is exactly why owners get stuck with them. We buy them anyway.
Can I Sell Fire Damaged Property I Rent Out?
Yes. We buy rentals and investment property too. Landlords sell fire damaged property to us as-is all the time. If you claimed the loss, ask your CPA about a Section 1033 exchange — a fire counts as an involuntary conversion, and the rules are different from a 1031.
My Condo Burned And The Hoa's Insurance Is Holding Things Up. Can You Still Buy?
Yes. We've worked deals where the owner's insurer and the association's insurer disagreed for months.
Do you charge anything?
No. No commission, no fees, no closing costs.
What If I Need Help And Not An Offer?
Then don't sell. Housing, utilities, debris removal and claim help are free at housefiresolutions.com, and nobody there is trying to buy your house.
Fire Cash Buyer
We buy fire damaged houses across 38 states. 798 properties worked. 26 reviews, 5.0 stars. BBB Accredited, A+.
Fire Damaged Home in Florida? Get a Fair Offer Today
Request a cash offer from Fire Cash Buyer and we'll give you a call to scheduled when we can walk it. Then give you an offer in 24 hours