The Question That Decides Most of It
Block or frame.
A great deal of older Valley housing is concrete masonry unit construction with a stucco finish. Where those walls came through a fire intact, you have a structural shell somebody can build inside, which removes the demolition cost, the county dust permit, the asbestos notification and most of the structural rebuild. Where the house is wood frame with engineered roof trusses and the fire reached them, none of that applies and the answer moves to the lot.
That single distinction moves a Phoenix figure further than the visible extent of the fire does. If you do not know which you have, the assessor's parcel record gives the year built and often the construction type, and photographs usually settle it.
Can I Tell Whether the Block Walls Are Still Sound Myself?
What We Check
All public, all free, which is why we tell you how to check it yourself.
The county assessor's parcel record for the jurisdiction, the year built, the construction and the ownership. The Maricopa County Recorder for the deed, any lien, and the Affidavit of Property Value attached to the last transfer, which states what was actually paid. The city or the county for permit history and any open code matter. And where clearing is a plausible route, what the demolition sequence looks like: the city permit, the county dust control permit processed in up to fourteen days, and the asbestos notification lodged at least ten business days ahead.
Why We Ask What Is Happening at the Property Now
Because in this climate it is not a small question. A structure open to weather through a Valley summer and a monsoon season deteriorates in months rather than years, and insuring a vacant fire-damaged building is expensive here and sometimes not placeable at all.
A secured property and an unsecured one on the same street, three months after the same fire, are genuinely worth different amounts. The form asks so that the figure reflects the property as it is rather than as it was.
Should I Secure the Property Before Selling?
What Comes Back
A written figure with every line showing: what a finished house on that lot is worth, what building it costs with the shell credited or not, clearance where that is the route, carrying cost across a realistic timeline, and margin. There is no transfer tax line, because Arizona has none — a flat two dollar fee on the deed and the recording cost is the whole of it.
What If the Figure Says Keep It?
Then It Is Your Call
No deadline and no expiring offer. Arizona closes through escrow rather than attorneys on both sides, so a clean file moves quickly once a decision is made. What slows it is title: a deceased owner still on the deed, a trust with unclear authority to sell, or several family members who have to agree.
Compare figures if you want to. The dust permit question on our page about how to tell local cash buyers apart sorts a long list in one phone call, and it works on us too.
Things That Never Happen
No fee at any stage. No request that you clear the lot, pull permits, obtain a dust permit or make any repair first. No requirement that your claim be settled. No assignment of the contract to a third party. And nothing asked of you that involves withholding a known material fact from a buyer, which in Arizona is a common law duty an as-is clause does not remove.
Common Questions About the Process
How Long Does It Take?
Address to written figure is usually a few days. Escrow to closing is quick where title is clean and slow where an estate or a trust is involved. The fire itself rarely drives the timeline.
Do I Need to Be in Arizona?
No. Out-of-state owners are very common here and remote signing through escrow is routine.
Can I Get a Figure Without an Engineer's Report?
Yes, but it will be a wider range. The report is what narrows it, and on a masonry house it usually pays for itself several times over.