How This Works, Step by Step

Day One: The Form, and Why It Asks What It Asks

Four taps: address, how far the fire got, whether it is your home or a rental, and how to reach you. The third question is the one people skip past, and it is the one that changes the most. Owner-occupied, tenanted, vacant and inherited properties route down four different paths in New York, and knowing which applies before the first call saves both of us a conversation.

Days Two to Four: What We Are Doing While You Hear Nothing

This is the part sellers find opaque, so here is the actual list.

We pull the property's record with the Department of Buildings to see whether an order is posted, whether it is full or partial, which agencies placed it, and whether an engineer or architect has already filed a scope of repair. Something already on file is worth real money, because it converts an unknown into a known quantity.

We check the recorded ownership, which in four boroughs means ACRIS and on Staten Island means the Richmond County Clerk. We are looking for who can actually sign, whether there is a mortgage or a lien, and whether the deed still names someone who has died.

We establish whether the building is attached, and to how many neighbours. We look at what the zoning permits on the site. And where there were tenants, we ask about their position, because it survives the fire and binds whoever owns the property next.

Why Does the Research Take Days Rather Than Minutes?

Days Three to Five: The Figure, and the Arithmetic Under It

You get a number and every line behind it: what a finished property there is worth, what lifting the order or clearing the site costs, carrying cost across a realistic timeline, the city and state transfer taxes, and the margin. Argue with any of it. The lines most often wrong are the order-lifting cost and the demolition cost on attached buildings, and if you know something we do not, it changes the number.

The Three Things That Decide Your Timeline

People ask how long this takes and the honest answer is that it depends on three things, none of which is the fire.

Who can sign. A living sole owner with clean title can move in weeks. An estate that has not been through Surrogate's Court cannot, and that is measured in months. This is the single biggest determinant and it is worth starting early even if you have not decided whether to sell.

What is attached to the property. Liens, open violations and unpaid charges all clear at closing, but each takes time to establish and discharge. Raised on day one they are administrative; discovered in week three they are a delay.

Whether attorneys are already instructed. New York closes through attorneys on both sides and the contract is not binding until both have signed. Having yours lined up early removes a week that most sellers lose.

What Is the Fastest This Can Realistically Go?

Things That Do Not Happen

You are never asked to pay us anything, at any stage. You are never asked to lift the order, clear the site, board the property or make any repair before we buy — those are our costs and pricing them is our job. Your claim does not need to be settled first. The contract is never assigned to a third party. And you are never asked to leave anything off the disclosure statement, which since March 2024 is mandatory in New York and is covered on our page about New York disclosure and claim requirements.

If you want to compare figures, compare them. The checks on our page about how to tell local cash buyers apart work on us as well as on everyone else.

Common Questions About the Process