Dealing with Unusual Real Estate Market Challenges

[Robert Burns]

I would appreciate your feedback on my current unusual real estate market that's both highly opportunistic and problematic. Overview: 2 1/2 months ago my entire real estate market area experienced major flooding that affected thousands of homes. Some estimates are 50 to 75% of some areas were flooded with some homes taking a few inches and many up to the roofs. My own house was flooded with 20 inches of water. Thankfully I've rebuilt and moved back in. However many, many people are wanting to walk away from their gutted and dried properties choosing to take the flood insurance money or the FEMA and just walk away from their properties. So there is a huge opportunity to buy homes at very low prices albeit they must be almost totally rehabbed. The problem is figuring out what they are worth now and will there be retail buyers for these properties once they are rehabbed. The old method of using comps seems a bit inaccurate in that the values for the properties will likely be different than before the flood. So please give me your feedback/suggestions on how to calculate offers that "make sense" and not just a big guess!