By Andrew Rodriguez and Tony Bertucci, Bertucci Investment Group
If your New Orleans house took hurricane damage and you are looking at the roof, the insurance check, and the repair estimates and doing math that does not work, this page is for you. We buy houses New Orleans owners hand us in exactly this condition every week, storm-damaged, tarped, flood-cut, insurance-exhausted. This is a straight guide to how a cash sale on a storm-damaged NOLA house actually works, and what your family nets at closing.
We are Bertucci Investment Group. We buy houses for cash across Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, and the Northshore. If your storm-damaged house is in New Orleans, text or call us at (504) 920-4747 and we will set up a walk-through this week.
Get a fair cash offer on your storm-damaged New Orleans house. No repairs, no commissions, no obligation. Call or text (504) 920-4747 or fill out the form below.
What “storm damage” means for a New Orleans cash sale
Every hurricane season the same conversations start. Ida in 2021 still has houses under blue tarps three seasons later. Francine dropped trees on Uptown roofs. Between named storms, an April hail run or an August microburst puts another dent in a roof that was already end-of-life. The insurance carrier writes a check on actual cash value, the roofer’s estimate comes in 40 percent over, and the deductible ate the rest. Add the mortgage, the parish tax, and the fact that the tarp has been up long enough that Sanitation is asking questions, and a cash sale starts to look like the honest way out.
The New Orleans storm-damaged houses we buy most often land in one of these situations:
- Wind or hail damage the insurance did not fully cover. Roof shingles gone, decking exposed, interior ceiling stains, and the ACV check does not match the RCV estimate. You are either paying the gap out of pocket or letting the damage compound. We buy the house in its current condition, tarp still on.
- Flood damage from Ida, Francine, or a Category 1 surge event. Water made it into the crawl or up the drywall. Subfloor is soft, HVAC ductwork is gone, mold is present. A financed retail buyer’s inspection will kill the deal. A cash offer prices the condition once.
- Blue tarp for one or more full seasons. Ida-era or later. The tarp is failing, interior water damage is compounding, and code enforcement has started sending notices. We close before the notice becomes a lien.
- Insurance-claim exhaustion. The claim is closed, the money went to something else, and the repair never happened. You are done with the carrier, done with the adjuster, done with the estimates. We buy from where the house actually is, not from where the claim thought it should be.
- Inherited a storm-damaged NOLA house. A parent’s house in Gentilly, Lakeview, or Mid-City that took water in Katrina, Isaac, or Ida, was never fully rebuilt, and now sits in succession with the heirs out of state. We close through Louisiana succession routinely, tarps and all.
Insurance already paid, can we still sell?
Yes. The insurance settlement is between you and your carrier. Whether the check was cashed, spent, or is still sitting in an escrow the mortgage company controls does not stop a cash sale. What matters at closing is the current condition of the house and a clean chain of title. If the mortgage servicer is holding restoration funds because the repair was never done, we work with the closing attorney to disburse or return those funds correctly. You do not need to have completed a single repair for a cash offer to be real.
What a cash offer on a storm-damaged NOLA house looks like
We walk the house, we look at the damage honestly, we price it against comparable New Orleans sales in the neighborhood, and we back out our real repair costs. That is the offer. No inspection contingency phase that eats the price. No financing contingency that kills the deal. No repair-credit negotiation two weeks in. One number, one closing date, no surprise.
Clean-title storm-damaged New Orleans house, we can close in about two to three weeks once title comes back from the abstractor. If the title is more complicated, an open succession, an insurance-related lien from the mortgage servicer, or a co-owner out of state, we close when the paperwork is ready. If the situation is urgent, a code violation notice with a hearing date, a hurricane-season second event bearing down, a mortgage servicer threatening force-placed insurance you cannot afford, we move faster and coordinate with the closing attorney to hit the calendar.
Uptown, Mid-City, Lakeview, Gentilly, Algiers, where the storm-damaged stock lives
Uptown shotguns and creole cottages take wind damage every named-storm cycle. Slate and metal roofs on the historic stock, old crown at the eaves, sycamore and live oak limbs coming down through the ridge. Mid-City raised bungalows and California craftsman have the same wind exposure plus more flood risk near the canal corridor. Lakeview, Gentilly, and the Lower Ninth still carry Katrina-era rebuilds where the work was never fully finished. Algiers Point and Old Aurora sit lower to the river and get their own surge story. We buy in every one of these pockets, and condition does not disqualify the house.
What if the storm-damaged house is in Metairie, Kenner, or Slidell?
Same buy box. Same process. Jefferson Parish and St. Tammany get every named storm New Orleans gets, and we work both parishes every week. Start on our Jefferson Parish cash-buyer page or our New Orleans cash-buyer page depending on which side of the parish line the property sits.
What you keep at closing
Whatever is left after any liens and payoffs come out of the sale proceeds. Mortgage, tax arrears, code fines from the City of New Orleans, hospital or judgment liens if applicable. No agent commissions, no repair credits, no months of carry while the house sits on the market taking on more water. If the equity is thin because of the damage, we tell you straight. Nobody wants to burn your time with an offer that is not real. If the numbers work, we hand you a purchase agreement and a closing date.
Want to see what a real cash offer on your storm-damaged New Orleans house looks like? Start on our New Orleans cash-buyer page or call or text (504) 920-4747. We will set up a walk-through this week, and you decide whether the number works.
Frequently asked questions
How fast can you buy a storm-damaged house in New Orleans for cash?
Clean-title storm-damaged New Orleans house, we can close in about two to three weeks once title comes back from the abstractor at the Orleans Parish notarial archives. If title is more complicated, an open Louisiana succession, a mortgage-servicer restoration escrow, or an out-of-state co-owner, we close when the paperwork is ready. If your situation is urgent, a code enforcement hearing date, a hurricane-season second event bearing down, or a force-placed insurance threat, we move faster and coordinate with the closing attorney to hit your calendar.
Will you buy a New Orleans house with a blue tarp roof and interior water damage?
Yes. Ida-era tarps, Francine tarps, or a fresh one from this hurricane season, we buy the house in its current condition. We do not need you to strip the tarp, dry the ceilings, or get a roof quote. We factor the roof replacement and the interior damage into the offer once. You do not fund a repair, you do not chase a roofer, you do not fight another insurance appeal.
What if my insurance already paid me for the damage but I never did the repair?
That is fine. The insurance settlement is between you and your carrier, and whether the check was cashed, spent, or is still sitting in an escrow the mortgage company controls does not stop a cash sale. If your mortgage servicer is holding restoration funds because the repair was never done, the closing attorney works with the servicer to disburse or return those funds correctly. You do not need to have completed a single repair for a cash offer to be real.
Will you buy an inherited storm-damaged New Orleans house that flooded in Katrina, Isaac, or Ida?
Yes, and this is one of the biggest slices of what we buy across Gentilly, Lakeview, Mid-City, and the Lower Ninth. We close through Louisiana succession routinely, tarps and all. Out-of-state heirs sign by mail-away, nobody has to fly in. Old insurance claim files, deferred remediation, mold history, and unfinished rebuilds do not disqualify the house.
Do I have to settle my open insurance claim before we can close?
No. An open claim is not a dealbreaker. Depending on how the claim is structured, we can either wait for it to close, take the property with the assignment of benefits staying with you, or work out an arrangement at closing so the proceeds are handled cleanly. Talk to us early in the process so we can structure the deal in a way that lines up with your carrier.
Which New Orleans neighborhoods do you buy storm-damaged houses in?
Every Orleans Parish neighborhood. Uptown shotguns and creole cottages that took wind damage. Mid-City raised bungalows and California craftsman near the canal corridor. Lakeview, Gentilly, and the Lower Ninth rebuilds. Algiers Point and Old Aurora sitting lower to the river. Bywater, Marigny, and Treme historic stock. If it is a New Orleans house and it took storm damage, we buy in that pocket.
Do you buy storm-damaged houses in Jefferson Parish and St. Tammany too?
Yes. Metairie, Kenner, Gretna, Marrero, Harvey, Terrytown, Slidell, Covington, Mandeville, and the Northshore all get named-storm damage and post-Ida holdover. Same buy box, same cash-offer process. Start on our Jefferson Parish or St. Tammany cash-buyer pages if that is where the property sits.
Ready for a real number on your storm-damaged New Orleans house? Call or text (504) 920-4747, or start with our New Orleans cash-buyer page. Also useful: Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish, and Mid-City New Orleans if the property is nearby.