Questions We Get Asked

Yes. The claim and the property are separable, and who keeps the proceeds is a term you negotiate rather than a legal barrier. Tell any buyer about the claim at the start. A buyer who suggests concealing it from your carrier is telling you something useful about themselves.

Yes, and they are set in regulation rather than in your policy. California insurers work to fixed timelines for acknowledging, investigating and accepting or denying a claim, with written reasons required for any extension. The specifics are on our page covering the statewide rules.

Yes. A denial affects your recovery from the carrier, not the value of the land or the salvageable structure. Denied and uninsured losses are common and we buy both.

Sometimes. On a large or disputed claim they frequently recover more than their fee. They are licensed by the state and paid a percentage of your settlement, so understand the fee before signing. We have no role in that decision and take no part of your claim.

Yes. Servicers commonly hold proceeds and release them against completed work, which is a real obstacle if you intended to fund a rebuild. It is one of the more common reasons owners decide to sell rather than restore.

Yes. A placard restricts occupancy and entry, not ownership or transfer. It does affect value, because it usually signals that repair costs have passed the point where restoration makes sense.

Often a great deal, and in much of Los Angeles County more than a damaged structure would be. Land carries most of the value here, and a cleared parcel is simpler to price than a house nobody can safely enter. What it is worth depends on what the zoning permits to be built there.

Yes, in two ways. A property in a mapped very high fire hazard severity zone carries a statutory disclosure obligation on sale, and a rebuilt house in one is harder and costlier to insure. Insurability feeds straight into finished value and therefore into any offer.

Not to us. You would be paying retail for demolition, asbestos survey and disposal, and a buyer values the cleared lot at wholesale. Let whoever is going to build price the clearance into their own numbers.

Not automatically. Current zoning governs the replacement, and where the original structure predates current standards the permitted rebuild may be smaller or differently placed. Establish this before demolishing, because once the structure is gone the old building no longer exists as a baseline.

Substantially, and it is the first thing to establish. Several cities in the county operate local rent regulation, and obligations to covered tenants can persist even where units are uninhabitable. They can constrain demolition regardless of what the building code allows.

Nothing. No fee for the figure, no commission, no repair spend, and no obligation if you decline.

Quickly where title is clean and the owner is living and available. Where the property is in an estate that has not been through probate, months rather than weeks. Title condition drives the timeline far more than the damage does.

Only after establishing that it will close. Compare the figure, the funding, the contingencies and whether the contract can be assigned. A slightly lower offer from a party who has demonstrably closed before is usually worth more than a high one that drifts downward after inspection.

Yes. California requires a written disclosure on residential sales of one to four units, the seller completes it personally, and an as-is clause does not remove the duty. As-is affects what a buyer can demand you repair, not what you must tell them.

Both. A cleared parcel is frequently easier to price than a structure that cannot be entered.

Once the estate is in a position to convey, which usually means probate or a trust administration. This is the single most common cause of delay on fire property, and it is worth starting even before you have decided whether to sell.

It has to clear at closing, and it can usually be paid from proceeds. Disclose it early. A lien discovered by the title company in week three costs far more time than one mentioned in the first conversation.

Every owner of record has to sign. Where co-owners disagree, that is a legal question rather than a pricing one, and worth resolving before soliciting offers.

Yes. Escrow handles remote signing routinely, and out-of-state owners are common on inherited property.

Escrow handles them at closing. What applies depends on which city the parcel sits in, since several cities levy their own on top of the county rate. Your escrow officer will quote the exact combined figure for your address.