Options for fire damanged rental property

[Harsh Shah]

One of my rental properties in Austin had a fire recently when tenants used fireplace. There is extensive damage to the house and I am working with my insurance company and have talked to couple of fire restoration companies. One option I have is to demo and rebuild the house using insurance money but it will take about a year and lot of involvement. I have experience with minor to medium size rehabs but nothing as extensive as needed here. I spoke to few folks and other option is that I take the insurance settlement and not rebuild and try to sell the house as-is. I am looking for some advice from someone who have had similar experience and what are the pros and cons. If there are any legal issues that I have to worry about etc. 

[Owen Rosen]

Quote from @Kevin Sobilo:

@Harsh Shah, find a good public insurance adjuster to hire!

A public insurance adjuster works for YOU! They will get the biggest payout you are entitled to and take a cut of whatever they get for you as payment I believe.

For example, the insurance company offers you $100k.

The adjuster will dig into the details. Perhaps you have coverage for the replacement value BUT the insurance company when calculating the replacement property uses modern building materials like drywall but your original house had plaster which is much more expensive. They will get you the plaster price and take a portion of what they gained you.

On a larger and more complicated claim is when a public adjuster working for you makes the biggest difference.

 With regards to your example about plaster vs. drywall most insurance policies no longer will pay for the plaster whether you have a public adjuster or not.  Especially on a rental property.  I realize it's just an example and my comment is a generalization but just something to be aware of.

With regards to the original question, I think it comes down more to what you want to do and what the offer is for walking away vs. rebuilding.