We Buy Houses in Floyd County

Rivers, floodplains, and the 50 percent rule

The Etowah and Oostanaula join in downtown Rome to become the Coosa, and creeks feed all three across the county. The Rome-Floyd comprehensive plan notes that floodplains are plentiful throughout the county and that the rivers, streams, and ponds create areas prone to flooding.

For a seller, the question is whether the house sits in a FEMA special flood hazard area. If it does, a buyer's lender will require flood insurance, and if the house was damaged, repairs costing 50 percent or more of the structure's pre-damage value require bringing it into compliance with local floodplain rules, which can mean elevation. That math is often why a flood-affected house sits half repaired. We buy it in whatever state it is in.

Rome's historic districts

Rome has five local historic districts: Between the Rivers, Oakdene, East Rome, Avenue A, and College Heights. Any exterior work in them, including driveways, retaining walls, and fences, goes through the Historic Preservation Commission or its staff before a building permit is issued. Interiors are not reviewed. Outside the districts the housing is still old: the comprehensive plan counts about two-thirds of the county's homes, and 73 percent of Rome's, as built before 1990.

The design guidelines prohibit covering historic wood or masonry walls with synthetic siding, boarding up or bricking in historic windows, and demolishing a historic building without a certificate of appropriateness. A late-nineteenth or early-twentieth-century house with rotted siding and failing windows therefore costs more to put right here than the same house elsewhere. We price that in rather than asking you to do the work first.

Sewer inside the cities, septic outside them

Rome and Cave Spring provide wastewater service inside their own limits. Floyd County does not provide sewer in the unincorporated area; Rome serves parts of it under a franchise, and property beyond those lines relies on septic. Unincorporated communities can fall on either side, so check the sewer service map rather than assuming.

Northwest Georgia Public Health, which runs Floyd County Environmental Health, lists a loan closing or refinance as one of the triggers for an existing septic system evaluation. A financed buyer will usually need one. We do not: an undocumented or failing system is something we account for in the offer, not a condition of it.

Floyd County property we buy

• Pre-war and mid-century houses in Rome with original wiring, plumbing, and roofs
• Houses in the Between the Rivers, East Rome, Avenue A, Oakdene, and College Heights districts
• Property in or near a FEMA flood zone, repaired or not
• Rural houses on septic, including systems that have never been evaluated
• Houses in Lindale, Shannon, and other unincorporated communities with open code cases
• Long-term rentals with tenants in place
• Inherited houses, including heirs' property where no estate was opened
• Vacant houses and lots across the county

Records, courts, and closing in Floyd County

Rome is the county seat. Deeds, security deeds, liens, and plats are recorded with the Floyd County Clerk of Superior Court and searchable statewide. Wills and estate administration go through the Floyd County Probate Court. The Board of Assessors values property in both the city and the county, and the Tax Commissioner bills at 40 percent of that value, with bills mailed in mid-August and due November 15. The year's taxes are prorated at closing, and anything delinquent is paid from your proceeds.

Zoning and historic review run through the joint Rome-Floyd Planning Department, and the county's plan commits code enforcement to cleaning up blight in Lindale, Shannon, and Riverside. A licensed Georgia attorney closes the sale.

Getting an offer, and what moves it here

Send the address, a short description of the condition, and how the property is owned. We look at the parcel, flood zone, and district status before we talk numbers.

Four things move the price or the date in Floyd County: whether the house is in a flood zone and has damage, whether it sits in one of Rome's historic districts, whether it is on septic outside the sewer area, and whether the owner of record is still alive. An estate that has not been opened is usually the longest step, so start there if it applies.

Frequently asked questions