Why the buyer pool narrows after a fire
Most conventional mortgage lenders won't finance a house with unrepaired fire damage, since it doesn't meet standard insurability and habitability requirements. That effectively removes most retail buyers from the pool, because most retail buyers need financing. What's left is cash buyers, investors, and buyers planning a full rebuild who can absorb that risk themselves — which is exactly the situation a cash sale is built for.
This doesn't mean the house is worth nothing, or that a fair number isn't available. It means the honest comparison is against what a full rebuild costs to a buyer, not against what a similar undamaged house recently sold for.
What has to be sorted before or during a sale
The insurance claim status matters directly — whether a claim has been filed, settled, or is still open affects both the seller's options and what a buyer needs to know before closing. Structural safety needs an honest look, since fire and the water used to fight it can compromise more of a structure than what's visibly burned. And disclosure of the damage and its extent is a legal and ethical requirement in a sale, not an optional detail — an estates or real estate lawyer can confirm exactly what needs to be disclosed and how.
What actually gets priced into a fair offer
A serious buyer looks at what survived structurally, what the insurance settlement (if any) covers versus what it doesn't, and what a realistic rebuild or major-repair budget looks like. That arithmetic — not a flat discount off the pre-fire value — is what a fair number should be built from, and it's worth asking any buyer to show that reasoning rather than accepting a number without it.