Some people are willing to do anything to get a good deal on a house, and that includes buying a home that has fire damage. This could be an awesome investment because homes that require any kind of fire damage cleanup are vastly undervalued and can even be negotiated down from their already low prices. There are some things to know about buying a home that needs fire damage cleanup and here are some of the more important points.
The amount of damage can determine whether the home is worth purchasing and flipping or not. If you were planning on gutting all the cosmetic pieces of your home, then it wouldn’t be too much of a big deal if the fire scorched some carpet and walls. However, if the damage goes deeper than that to the subfloors, the two by fours, the pipes, or the HVAC, then you could be dealing with a big problem that might not be worth the time or money. You could get very lucky and your fire damage cleanup area could be limited to one or two rooms, but if it extends to several areas of the home, to the roof or to the foundation, you might have a very expensive problem to fix.
Do you have information of when the fire occurred? If it was recent, and you are able to close quickly on the home, you may be in luck. If the house has sat for a long period of time needing fire damage cleanup but hasn’t had any sort of repairs done on it, then you might want to pass on the home. The longer that fire damage is allowed to sit, the worse it will be. Soot and ash are acidic and they will tarnish plumbing fixtures and appliances as well as causing other damage to surrounding materials. Fire damage is also associated with water damage because firefighters need to extinguish the flames with water and a house with fire damage can be left vulnerable to weather elements. So again, if the home has been left for a long period of time after the damage has taken place, your fire damage cleanup project could be very expensive.
Sometimes it can be difficult to see if you have structural damage from a fire when you are doing a walkthrough of a home. This is why you should not only get a home inspected before buying, but you should also contact your local Chattanooga Apex Restoration DKI company to do a walk through and consultation. If you have a good idea for how much structural damage there is and a rough estimate of what it will cost, you will be able to negotiate a deal that ensures you get will get some sort of compensation after you flip the house.
Flipping a house sounds fun and getting homes in need of fire damage cleanup may seem like a great idea with the cheap price tag, but it can be a lot of work if you don’t know what you’re doing. The best way to buy a home with fire damage is to have a restoration company on your team to help walk you through what the home needs to get back to being a functional house.