Can a home owner sell house with insurance claim?

[Isaac El]

I found a house that is boarded up and got intouch with the home owner.  He tells me he doesn't want to sell because he is waiting for insurance money.  Can he get insurance money and not fix and still sell me the house?  not sure how this works.

[Jason Bott]

Originally posted by @Isaac El:

Originally posted by @Tom Harkins:

@Isaac El It may depend on the policy and insurance provider, but my understanding is that in that situation the homeowner can 1. Fix the house up to the estimate number provided by the insurance adjuster, 2. Tear the house down and rebuild it up to that number, or 3. sell the house. #3 gets complicated factoring insurance’s number in, and the house’s mortgage lender assuming there is one, but it should still be an option.  

got it, but lets say for argument sake they are giving him $50,000 to fix the roof, he only gets that if he actually fixes the roof? like can he get the $50,000 and not fix the roof, and still sell the house?

Let's say the roof does cost $50k.  The insurance carrier will give the owner the ACV payout (say $40k  in your example with the balance of $10k paid out once they show proof that they incurred the full $50k to fix the roof.