Should You Restore or Sell Your Fire Damaged Home?

When it comes to our homes, if there’s one thing that none of us ever want to experience, it would have to be a fire. Not only because it has the potential to put us in physical danger while also being emotionally toiling but because the amount of damage that a fire can leave behind can also make it really hard to repair.

So that you can be prepared in case something like this happens to your house, we wanted to take out a moment to discuss the process that comes with restoring your house and then selling it should you ever experience having a fire damaged home below:

What You Will Need to Do to Restore a Fire Damaged Home

There are three main things that can help you to decide if you should restore a fire damaged home. The first thing is how extensive the damage is. The second thing is how much your insurance is willing to cover. And the third thing is if you and your family actually want to remain in the house (because sometimes the experience can make it too traumatizing to want to remain there). If you do wish to stay, then after getting the estimate of the costs that your insurance is willing to cover, based on the severity of the damage, you should then either hire a contractor or an engineer to look over your place. Again, although no one wants to go through a fire, if you have always wanted to have certain parts of your home remodeled, this can be the chance to do it with minimal costs on your part. Just keep in mind that in many cases, you will have to leave the house (oftentimes an insurance company will pay for you to live in a hotel) until all of the renovations have been completed (sometimes that can take months). But usually, whether it’s new flooring, cabinets, fixtures, lighting—-you name it, you can request to have it done with minimal challenges from your insurance company and little out of pocket costs on your part.

What You Will Need to Do to Sell a Fire Damaged Home

If the thought of going through the rebuilding process is more than you would like to experience and you would like to sell it instead, there are still some steps that you will need to take in order to get the most money possible out of the fire damaged house. First, you will need to thoroughly clean the house to properly assess the damage (there are companies like Global Restoration Services that can actually do that for you). Then, you will need to contact your insurance company to see if they will be willing to offset the costs of cleaning the house and hiring an appraiser who can put an actual value on the home after its been professionally cleaned (you may also want to hire a building engineer in this situation to just to see if there’s any significant structural damage). Once you’re clear on how much the property is now worth, you should then reach out to a real estate agent to list the house (they usually know how to word it in a way that will appear to be the most appealing). Then you can start having property showings and accept the best offer. The advantage that comes with selling the house is that you can receive the cash from the selling of the home and get a fresh start at another house. And for some people, being in a new environment is far better than renovating the home that suffered so much fire damage. At the end of the day, it’s really about you deciding if you really love your house or if you’re ready to move on. And there’s really no “right” or “wrong” decision. It’s totally up to you.