How to deal with fire damaged rental?

[Brian Dvorak]

Hello BP community I have a rental in Detroit that was vacant and someone got in and burned it up to the point that the insurance company is paying out the full insured amount. All the fire damage is inside so it could be repaired for probably slightly less than the payout. Or I could have it demolished. Detroit will hold part of my settlement until I either demolish or rehab. Anyone been in this situation? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Mark Fries]

@Brian Dvorak Why does Detroit get to hold part of your insurance money? It's your house...how is that even legal? I would hire some kind of attorney and sue the hell out of the city to get your portion of the money back from them and then demolish the house and walk away. Just gives me yet another reason to avoid Detroit...