The Two Costs That Separate the Offers
Almost every disappointing outcome we see in this county traces back to one of two lines that an out-of-market buyer did not have in their model.
The rebuild standard. Miami-Dade is in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone. Anything replaced is built to it, and replacement cost per square foot is accordingly higher than the national figures a formula buyer uses. A buyer who has not adjusted for it has understated their own cost and will discover it when a contractor prices the job.
The surtax. The county deed tax is $0.60 per $100 on a single-family dwelling and $1.05 on everything else. A buyer who has priced a condo or duplex at the single-family rate is short by 75 per cent on that line.
Neither error is visible in an offer letter. Both surface three weeks later as a request to renegotiate, which is why a lower firm number frequently beats a higher soft one here.
What We Buy
Fire-damaged property across Miami-Dade in any condition: single-family houses, condominium units, duplexes and small multi-family, and cleared lots. Claims open, settled, denied, uninsured, or never reported. Owner-occupied, tenanted, vacant and inherited.
Where we decline it is usually geography. Outside Miami-Dade we are the wrong buyer and will say so rather than take the enquiry and waste your fortnight.
How the Number Is Built
Value of a finished, code-compliant property on that parcel, less the cost of getting there at the zone standard, less carrying cost, less the deed tax at whichever rate your property type carries, less margin. Nothing exotic. The only reason offers differ is that different buyers get different lines wrong.
Should I Just Take the Highest Number?
Where Our Interests Diverge From Yours
We are the buyer. Not an adviser, not neutral. We benefit if you accept less, if you sell rather than restore, and if you decide quickly.
These pages are written to be useful anyway, and the way to test that is to check the facts against the offices we name — the property appraiser, the Clerk of the Court, the Department of Revenue, your municipal building department. We name them for exactly that reason.
We are also not several things. Not brokers, and we take no commission because we do not represent you. Not public adjusters, and we take no part of your claim — which matters here, because if your fire is approaching the one-year notice window that is an adjuster's or a lawyer's problem to solve and solving it may be worth more to you than any offer on this page. Not contractors. Not contract assigners; the entity that signs takes title.
When Somebody Else Should Buy It
A local rehabber, where the damage is contained and the structure sound. Restoring is their business and they can pay closer to finished value than a buyer pricing a full code-compliant rebuild.
A land buyer, on a detached house where the parcel supports substantially more. They price the dirt and will beat us on the right lot.
Nobody yet — deal with the claim first. If the fire is inside the reporting window and nothing has been filed, the proceeds may be worth more than the gap between any two offers you are weighing. That is the one situation where we will tell you to stop talking to buyers entirely, including us.
Why Would You Tell Me to Stop Talking to You?
Reaching Us
Send an address through any form on this site. Before you deal with us, run the checks on our page about how to tell local cash buyers apart. They apply to us exactly as they apply to anyone else who has called you.