We Buy Houses in Dade County

Lookout Creek and the valley floor

Dade County's 2020 hazard mitigation plan ties most flood losses to Lookout Creek, which runs the length of the county and through the eastern side of Trenton, where it has affected the city's sewer system. The plan lists the areas most prone to flooding, including Sunset Drive, the Canyon Park subdivision, Gulch Creek, Mason Road, Creek Road, and Lookout Valley near Wildwood. The creek's gauge at New England peaked at 20.73 feet in August 1982.

Both the county and Trenton participate in the National Flood Insurance Program, and the county's flood damage prevention ordinance requires that prospective buyers be told when a property is in a flood area. If your house sits in a mapped zone, a financed buyer will need flood insurance. We do not.

On the mountain: brows, slopes, and wildfire

The county's comprehensive plan describes the Appalachian Plateau side of Dade as steep ridges with sandstone bluffs dropping into valleys of limestone and shale, and it notes slopes of 25 percent or greater. Brow lots on Lookout and Sand mountains bring the predictable issues: long private drives, retaining walls, erosion, and a septic system that had to fit wherever the soil allowed.

Fire is the other mountain risk. The hazard plan, drawing on the county's wildfire protection plan, says Dade has had large incendiary fires in remote areas along the Tennessee and Alabama lines, with average fire size consistently above the state's. Storms matter too: on April 27, 2011 an EF3 tornado crossed from Alabama about five miles southwest of Trenton, destroying homes on the ridge above town.

Mobile homes, titles, and septic

In Georgia a manufactured home is generally personal property with its own certificate of title until it is converted to real property through a Certificate of Permanent Location, and the Department of Revenue requires a valid Georgia title before that can happen. When parents left a mobile home on family land and nobody converted it, the heirs need both the deed to the land and the title to the home.

Sewer is still being extended here: the county and Trenton are working with the Dade Water and Sewer Authority on a line up Highway 11. Northwest Health evaluates an existing septic system before a mobile home is replaced, so swapping an old single-wide for a newer one can bring the septic into question. We buy the land and the home as they are.

Dade County property we buy

• Houses along Lookout Creek and in Trenton with flood history
• Brow and mountainside homes on Lookout and Sand mountains
• Mobile homes on family land, titled or never converted
• Rural houses on septic and wells in Rising Fawn and Wildwood
• Storm- or fire-damaged houses and cabins
• Inherited property where heirs live in Tennessee or Alabama
• Vacant mountain and valley acreage

Records, courts, and closing in Dade County

Trenton is the county seat. The Dade County Clerk of Superior Court records deeds, liens, and certificates of permanent location for manufactured homes. Wills and estate administration run through the Dade County Probate Court. The Board of Assessors prepares the tax digest at fair market value, and the Tax Commissioner bills on 40 percent of it. A licensed Georgia attorney closes the sale.

To request an offer, send the address, a description of the road or drive in, and whether a mobile home on the land has a title. What most often moves the price or the date in Dade is a missing manufactured home title, a flood zone along Lookout Creek, an unclear property line on a large wooded tract, and whether an estate has been opened.

Frequently asked questions