We Buy Houses in Dougherty County

Three windstorms in under two years

On January 2, 2017, straight-line winds of 80 to 85 mph cut a swath across the northern half of Albany and snapped or uprooted hundreds of trees. Twenty days later, on January 22, an EF3 tornado with winds near 150 mph tracked across Albany through the Radium Springs area. It destroyed several mobile home parks and killed four people in the city. Then on October 10, 2018, the center of Hurricane Michael passed just west of Albany. The National Hurricane Center's report lists about 3,000 residential structures damaged in Dougherty County, 49 of them destroyed.

The result is a housing stock where one roof may have been patched three times and one wall may have been hit by two trees. Some claims were paid and the work never got done. Some repairs were made fast and without permits. Those houses tend to fail a lender's appraisal or an insurer's inspection, and they are a big part of what we buy in Albany.

The Flint, the Kinchafoonee, and the Muckalee

Albany floods from the Flint River and from the Kinchafoonee and Muckalee creeks, along with storm drains and canals that back up in heavy rain. The July 1994 flood after Tropical Storm Alberto set the record crest in Albany at 42.7 feet. The river crested again at 36.92 feet in 1998 and at 32.06 feet in 2016. The city and county take part in the National Flood Insurance Program, and standard homeowner's policies do not cover flood damage.

Local floodplain rules matter when a flood-damaged house sits unrepaired. If repairs to a building in a flood hazard area cost 50 percent or more of its value before the damage, the building has to be brought up to current floodplain standards. That can mean elevating it. This is often why a damaged house near the river stays empty. We buy it as it is and work out the floodplain requirements ourselves.

Dougherty County property we buy

• Houses with roof, tree, or structural damage from the 2017 storms or Hurricane Michael
• Homes where an insurance claim was paid but the repairs were never finished
• Property in a mapped flood hazard area along the Flint or the creeks
• Mobile homes and the lots under them, including storm-damaged units
• Older single-family rentals with deferred maintenance, occupied or vacant
• Vacant houses with an open nuisance or demolition case
• Inherited houses and heirs' property where no estate was opened
• Houses on acreage in Putney, Radium Springs, and the rest of the county

Records, courts, and closing in Albany-Dougherty

Albany and Dougherty County keep separate governments but share several offices that matter in a sale. Planning and Development Services is a joint city-county office that handles zoning and floodplain management for Albany and unincorporated Dougherty. Albany-Dougherty County Code Enforcement covers both, and its nuisance work includes demolitions and the rehabilitation of blighted properties. The county Tax and Tag office collects property taxes for the county, the City of Albany, and the school board, so one office can give the payoff.

Deeds, security deeds, and liens are recorded with the Clerk of Dougherty Superior Court. Estates go through the Dougherty County Probate Court, and the status of a pending estate can be checked online. The Board of Assessors sets fair market value, and property is taxed on 40 percent of it. A licensed Georgia attorney closes the sale.

Getting an offer, and what changes it

Send the address and tell us what you know: which storm caused what damage, whether a claim was filed and what was paid, whether the house is in a flood zone or has taken water, and whether there is an open code or demolition case. If the owner has died, tell us whether an estate has been opened in probate court.

The things that most often move an Albany price or closing date are an unopened estate, a recorded code or demolition lien that nobody mentioned, and insurance money still held by a lender. None of them stops a sale, but each one is easier to handle when we know about it on the first call.

Frequently asked questions