How to Sell a Hurricane Damaged House in Louisiana

If you are trying to sell hurricane damaged house Louisiana, you already know the drill. The insurance adjuster came out, the check was smaller than the estimate, the contractor is booked eight months out, and the tarp on the roof has been there long enough that you have stopped seeing it. Meanwhile the mortgage is still due, the insurance premium doubled, and the house is not getting better sitting there.

We are Andrew Rodriguez (Drew) and Tony Bertucci, and Bertucci Investment Group is a local New Orleans cash home buyer. We have bought hurricane damaged houses in Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines after Katrina, Isaac, Ida, and Francine. We buy them as-is, tarp still on, insurance claim still open, whatever the situation looks like.

The three-field form at the top of this page (Name, Address, Phone) is all it takes to start. Call or text 504-920-4747 to talk it through today.

Should I keep fighting the insurance claim or just sell?

This is the question, and there is no one right answer. Here is how we think about it.

If your claim is close to settling and the number will actually fund the repairs, ride it out. If the claim has dragged on for a year, the payout is well below what a legitimate contractor bid at, and your adjuster is not returning calls, the math often tips toward selling.

You can also sell the house AND assign the open claim to us. That means we take over negotiations with the carrier after closing, you walk away with cash today, and whatever the claim eventually pays out belongs to us. This is a very common structure on Louisiana hurricane claims and is fully allowed under your policy language in most cases.

Tell us where the claim stands when you call. If you have adjuster reports, contractor bids, or a public adjuster involved, that context helps us give you an accurate offer faster.

Do you buy houses in FEMA flood zones?

Yes. We buy in every FEMA flood zone: X (minimal risk), A, AE, AH, AO (special flood hazard areas), and V (coastal high hazard). We buy in Lakeview, Gentilly, New Orleans East, Chalmette, Arabi, and every other Orleans and Jefferson Parish neighborhood that has flooded.

The flood zone affects our number, but it does not stop us. We factor in current flood insurance costs, base flood elevation requirements, and the realities of Risk Rating 2.0 pricing. If your flood policy just doubled or tripled at renewal (a common story since NFIP’s Risk Rating 2.0 rolled out), that is one of the fastest paths to deciding a cash sale makes sense.

If you have an elevation certificate, share it when you call. It usually helps our number.

What about FEMA loans, SBA disaster loans, or IHP grants attached to the house?

We work around all of them. If you took an SBA disaster loan after a hurricane and it is secured by the property, we pay it off at closing along with your mortgage. If you received a FEMA Individuals and Households Program grant with recapture provisions, disclose it and we handle it. If you got a Restore Louisiana or Road Home grant with a covenant on the property, disclose that too.

None of this stops the sale. It just needs to be on the table so we structure the closing correctly. A hurricane damaged house often carries a stack of these obligations, and untangling them is part of what we do.

Is the house too damaged to sell?

Almost certainly not. We have bought houses with roofs partially collapsed, houses that took eight feet of water and were never gutted, houses with active mold, houses condemned by the city with red tags on the door. We have bought slab-only houses where the structure came off in a storm. If the parcel itself has value and the situation is legal to close on, we can usually make a number work.

The exceptions are narrow: an ongoing bankruptcy without trustee approval, a title problem nobody has addressed for decades, or a property the city is actively demolishing. Even those we can sometimes work through, but we will tell you honestly if the situation is beyond what we can do.

When should I walk away from repairing and just sell?

A few honest signals that repair is not the right path anymore.

The gap between the insurance payout and legitimate contractor bids is more than $30,000, and the appeal process is not moving.

The house has been sitting damaged for more than a year, and your insurance carrier is threatening non-renewal because of the open claim, unrepaired damage, or vacancy status.

The mortgage is current but you are draining savings to make payments on a house you cannot live in and cannot rent out.

You inherited the property post-storm and never intended to become a Louisiana coastal property manager.

The contractor you hired disappeared, took your deposit, and left you with a permit that is about to expire.

Any of these on their own is not automatic. Two or three together, and the math usually favors selling.

How fast can you close on a hurricane damaged house?

Seven to fourteen days from signed purchase agreement, on average. If the title is clean and the claim assignment is straightforward, we have closed in five days. If there is a complicated claim, an SBA lien, or a title issue, closer to three weeks.

You pick the closing date. If you need 45 days to arrange your move to Houston or Atlanta or wherever you are heading, we can hold that date. Get a Cash Offer in 24 Hours and lock in the certainty first, then figure out the timing.

Get a Cash Offer in 24 Hours

Fill in the three-field form above (Name, Address, Phone), or call or text 504-920-4747. Andrew and Tony answer 24/7. Hurricane season does not sleep and neither do we during it.

We are local Louisiana operators with 128 five-star Google reviews and A+ BBB accreditation. We have walked through more storm-damaged properties in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines than we can count. We know what these houses look like on the inside, we know the insurance games, we know the SBA process, and we buy them as-is.

—

{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “FAQPage”,
“mainEntity”: [
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “Should I keep fighting the insurance claim or just sell?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “If the claim is close to settling and the payout will fund the repairs, wait it out. If it has dragged on and the number is well below legitimate contractor bids, selling often makes sense. You can also sell the house and assign the open claim to Bertucci Investment Group, walking away with cash while we take over the claim negotiation.”
}
},
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “Do you buy houses in FEMA flood zones?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Yes. We buy in every FEMA flood zone, including X, A, AE, AH, AO, and V. That covers Lakeview, Gentilly, New Orleans East, Chalmette, Arabi, and every Orleans and Jefferson Parish neighborhood that has flooded. Rising flood insurance under Risk Rating 2.0 is often what tips owners toward selling.”
}
},
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What about FEMA loans, SBA disaster loans, or IHP grants attached to the house?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “We work around all of them. SBA disaster loans get paid off at closing. FEMA IHP grants with recapture provisions and Restore Louisiana or Road Home covenants get handled during closing. None of these stop the sale, they just need to be disclosed upfront.”
}
},
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “Is the house too damaged to sell?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Almost certainly not. Bertucci Investment Group has bought houses with collapsed roofs, houses that took eight feet of water, mold-infested houses, and houses red-tagged by the city. Rare exceptions include active bankruptcy without trustee approval, decades-old title problems, and active city demolition.”
}
},
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “When should I walk away from repairing and just sell?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Consider selling when the gap between insurance payout and contractor bids exceeds thirty thousand dollars, when the house has sat damaged over a year, when your insurance carrier is threatening non-renewal, when you are draining savings on payments for a house you cannot live in, or when a contractor took your deposit and disappeared.”
}
},
{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “How fast can you close on a hurricane damaged house?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Seven to fourteen days from signed purchase agreement is typical. Clean title with straightforward claim assignment can close in five days. Complicated claims, SBA liens, or title issues push to about three weeks. You pick the closing date.”
}
}
]
}