Sell a Fire, Storm, or Water-Damaged House in Miami — As-Is, For Cash
Fire, hurricane, flood, roof failure, mold, structural damage — you don’t have to repair it, and you don’t have to wait for your insurance claim to settle. We buy damaged Miami houses as-is, for cash, and handle the mess ourselves.
- Any damage, any condition — we buy anyway
- Open insurance claim? No problem — we can work around it
- No repairs, no cleanup — close in as little as 7–14 days
Prefer to talk? Call or text (305) 676-9384
20+
Homes Bought
5+
Years Experience
A+
BBB Rating
Get a No-Obligation Cash Offer in 24 Hours
Watch: How We Help Florida Homeowners
See how simple selling your house for cash can be — straight from our team.
Why a Damaged House Is So Hard to Sell the Normal Way
Here’s the trap most Miami homeowners run into after a fire or a storm: the vast majority of buyers use a mortgage, and a lender won’t fund a loan on a house with serious damage. To close, most Florida loans require the roof to have a few years of life left, no active water intrusion, and a passing 4-point and wind-mitigation inspection. A damaged house fails those checks, so financed buyers — the bulk of the market — simply can’t buy it.
And listing it isn’t simple either. You can’t show well with a blue tarp on the roof or smoke-stained walls — buyers scroll right past. The ones who do bid want a steep discount plus repair credits. Meanwhile your insurance claim and any buyer’s financing run on totally different clocks: insurers can take months to settle, but a financed buyer usually walks after 30 days. The common result is a listing that sits, price drops that stack up, and a contractor loan you never wanted — spending thousands just to keep a shaky deal alive.
A cash sale skips all of that. We don’t need a lender’s approval, we don’t need the roof to pass inspection, and we don’t need you to fix a thing. That’s why, for a seriously damaged home, cash is often the cleanest — sometimes the only — realistic path.
Damage We Buy Around
Whatever happened to the house, we’ve likely bought one like it before.
Fire & Smoke
Kitchen fires, electrical fires, full structure fires, plus the smoke and water damage the fire department leaves behind. We buy at any stage of the cleanup.
Hurricane & Wind
Roof damage, torn-off shingles, fallen trees, broken windows, destroyed screen enclosures, homes still under a blue tarp. Very common in South Florida.
Flood & Water
Storm surge, flooding, burst pipes, roof leaks, sewer backups — and the mold that follows within days. Miami’s flood zones make this a frequent one.
Mold & Rot
In Miami’s humidity, a small leak becomes a mold problem fast. Mold scares off retail buyers and lenders — but not us.
Structural & Foundation
Cracked slabs, settling, concrete spalling, corrosion, compromised load-bearing walls — the kind of thing that kills a financed deal on sight.
Termite, Cast Iron & Neglect
Termite destruction, failing cast-iron plumbing common in older Miami homes, and long-vacant or hoarder-condition houses that slipped into disrepair.
Yes — You Can Sell With an Open Insurance Claim
This is the part most people worry about, and it’s usually the easiest to solve. If you have an open or pending claim, we can structure the sale so the proceeds go to you, or are assigned to us as the new owner — whichever puts more money in your pocket. You don’t have to wait months for the claim to settle before you sell. And if your claim was denied or underpaid, that doesn’t stop the sale either; we simply price the offer around the home’s condition.
Wind vs. Flood — Why It Matters in Miami
If your damage came from a storm, one distinction can matter a lot. A standard Florida homeowners policy generally covers wind damage — including rain that gets in through a wind-created opening, like a hole in the roof. But damage from rising water, storm surge, or flooding is almost always excluded, and needs a separate flood policy through the National Flood Insurance Program. Many Miami homes hit by a hurricane have both, and insurers often try to attribute as much as possible to the excluded flood cause to reduce the payout.
Why does this matter to a sale? Because a stalled or disputed claim can trap you in limbo for months while the house keeps deteriorating. Selling as-is lets you step off that treadmill and hand the problem to someone equipped to deal with it. We’re not insurance adjusters, and for a contested claim we’d point you to a good public adjuster or attorney — but you don’t have to win the claim fight before you sell.
Meet David — He’s Seen the Damage Firsthand
Hi, I’m David, founder of Sunshine State Buyers. I’m local to South Florida, and I’ve walked through plenty of damaged Miami homes — fire-gutted kitchens, roofs peeled back by a hurricane, houses with mold creeping up the walls after a flood. I know how overwhelming it is to stand in a home you can’t live in while the insurance company drags its feet and the bills keep coming.
My promise is simple: a fair offer, explained honestly — and if repairing and listing (or waiting out your claim) would net you more, I’ll tell you that instead of pushing you to sell. You’ve already been through enough. Selling shouldn’t feel like another disaster.
As Featured In
“I try to be honest with people and tell them if there might be better routes to sell their house.”
— David Veras, featured in Miami New Times
How We Price a Damaged House
We keep it transparent. A simplified example for a Miami home with significant storm and water damage.
After-repair value (what it’s worth fully restored)
$425,000
Cost to restore (roof, water, mold, interior)
−$85,000
Holding costs, permits & our margin
−$25,000
Your cash offer, as-is
≈ $315,000
Illustrative only — every home and every repair estimate is different. The offer is simply the restored value minus what it costs us to fix it and carry it. If you also have an insurance payout coming, that can change the picture in your favor — we’ll walk through it honestly with you.
How It Works — Simple as 1-2-3
1
Tell Us What Happened
Share the property, the type of damage, and whether there’s an open insurance claim or mortgage. Takes a few minutes.
2
Get Your Cash Offer
We may do a brief walkthrough (never a crowd), then send a fair, no-obligation offer within 24 hours.
3
We Handle the Rest
We deal with the repairs, permits, and any tarps or open-permit issues after closing. You pick the date and walk away.
When a Cash Sale Isn’t Your Best Move
We’d rather be honest than close a deal that isn’t right for you. If the damage is mostly cosmetic, you have the time and money to repair it, and your neighborhood is strong, listing on the open market may net you more — and we’ll tell you so. A cash sale earns its value when the pressure is real: when repairs are beyond your budget, when the house is vacant and getting worse, when code or mold issues are mounting, or when you simply need closure more than another six months of uncertainty. The more stress the property is creating, the more a fast, certain sale is worth.
One honest note on disclosure: Florida law requires you to disclose known damage, even after repairs. Selling to us makes that easy — we expect the damage, so full honesty won’t cost you the deal. And if your damage overlaps with code issues like open permits or an unsafe-structure notice, our code violations page covers how we handle that too.
Storm, fire, or water damage somewhere else in the state? We buy damaged houses as-is across Florida.
Damaged House Selling FAQs
Can I sell my house before my insurance claim settles?
Yes. You don’t have to wait months for the claim to close. We can structure the sale so the proceeds go to you or are assigned to us, whichever nets you more. Denied or underpaid claims don’t stop the sale either.
Do I have to clean up or make any repairs?
No. We buy completely as-is. No repairs, no debris removal, no cleaning. You can even leave behind belongings you don’t want. We handle all of it after closing.
Should I keep the insurance money or take the cash offer?
It depends on the size of your claim and your timeline. For a small claim, it’s often faster to take the offer and let us handle the restoration. For a large claim, keeping the payout may net you more. We’ll walk through both honestly — remember the hurricane deductible alone (often 2% of your coverage) can be significant.
Do you buy houses with mold or structural damage?
Yes. Mold, foundation cracks, spalling, compromised framing — these are exactly the things that scare off retail buyers and lenders, and exactly what we’re set up to handle. They don’t disqualify your home with us.
How fast can you close on a damaged house?
Often in 7 to 14 days, or on a later date if you need time to line up your next place. Because we pay cash, there’s no lender inspection or appraisal to fail, which is what makes fast closings possible on damaged homes.
How We Calculate Your Cash Offer
The number doesn’t come out of thin air. Every offer we make comes from the same four inputs, and we’ll walk you through all of them.
1. After-Repair Value
What the house would be worth fully repaired and updated — based on what comparable homes near you have actually sold for, not what they were listed at. This is the ceiling, and everything else comes out of it.
2. Repair Costs
What it will genuinely take to get the house there — roof, AC, plumbing, electrical, permits, cosmetics. We price it off real contractor quotes for the work your house actually needs, not a blanket percentage.
3. Selling & Holding Costs
Closing costs and title on both ends, plus taxes, insurance and utilities for every month we own it — and the agent commission we pay when we resell. These are the costs you avoid entirely by selling to us.
4. Our Margin
What’s left is what we make, and it has to cover the risk of buying a house as-is with our own money. It’s a thinner slice than most people expect — we’d rather do more deals at a fair number than a few at a bad one.
Add those together, subtract them from the after-repair value, and what remains is your offer. That’s the whole formula. It’s also why we can buy houses a lender won’t finance — and why, if listing with an agent would genuinely put more in your pocket, we’ll tell you so.
Want to check our math? Pull up three recently sold, renovated homes near you, get a repair estimate, and run the numbers yourself. If our offer doesn’t line up, we’ll say so.
You’ve Been Through Enough. Let’s Make This Part Easy.
Whether the claim was just denied, the roof is still under a tarp, or you’ve decided rebuilding isn’t worth it — get a fair, no-obligation cash offer in 24 hours. And if repairing and listing would serve you better, we’ll tell you honestly.
What Local Homeowners Say
Real reviews from Florida sellers who chose Sunshine State Buyers for a fast, fair cash offer.
