Fire, flood, or storm damage.
Houston being Houston, this is a common situation and a badly served one. The central problem isn't the damage — it's that a damaged house usually can't be financed, which removes most buyers.
Read this first
If insurance is covering the repair and you can tolerate the timeline, repair it and then decide. A restored house sells at retail and you keep the difference. A fast as-is sale makes sense when the claim falls short, when the scope keeps growing, or when you simply don't want to project-manage a rebuild.
- 01
Lenders won't finance a damaged house
Most mortgage products require the property to be habitable and insurable. Serious fire, flood, or structural damage fails that test, so the buyer pool narrows to cash. That's a market fact, not a negotiating position.
- 02
Insurance proceeds and the sale are separate questions
Who keeps a pending or already-paid claim is negotiable and needs to be explicit in the contract. If your mortgage servicer is holding proceeds in escrow, they have a say too. Settle this in writing before you sign anything.
- 03
Texas disclosure obligations still apply
Known defects, previous flooding, and prior claims generally have to be disclosed on the seller's disclosure notice. Don't paper over damage — beyond the legal exposure, an as-is buyer is pricing the damage anyway, so hiding it gains you nothing.
- 04
Flood history follows the house
Previous flooding, a flood-zone designation, and elevation all affect insurability and therefore price for every future buyer. It's part of the valuation whether or not it's mentioned.
Where we're genuinely useful: we don't need the house to be financeable, insurable, or habitable, and we'd rather see it as it is than after a cosmetic patch. Damage is a number, not a disqualification.
Or call (832) 307-1738. No obligation either way.
Then list it — and I’d rather help you do that than talk you out of it.
For plenty of houses a prepared sale on the open market nets more, and the calculator above says so in dollars. If that’s your house, selling to me would cost you money — so let’s not do that. I’m also a licensed Texas broker, and listing is the other half of what I actually do.
No obligation and no catch: if you list, I don’t buy the house. That trade is fine by me — a seller who nets more is a better outcome than a seller who felt cornered.
Both open on alanhernandezhouston.com — my brokerage side.
I’m a licensed Texas real estate broker, and I’d be buying for my own account rather than representing you as an agent.
Alan Hernandez, Licensed Texas Real Estate Broker. This page is general information about the situation described, not legal, tax, or financial advice about yours. Timelines and obligations vary with your documents and circumstances. Verify anything you intend to rely on with an attorney, a CPA, or a HUD-approved counsellor.