This page is general information about selling a damaged house in Lubbock. It is not legal advice and it is not insurance advice.
Electrum Properties is not a law firm and we are not insurance adjusters. Read your policy, and talk to your attorney or carrier before you decide anything that turns on either. We aren’t acting as your real estate agent — we are the buyer.
Material interest: we buy Lubbock houses for cash, including houses with hail, wind and water damage and open insurance claims. We have a financial interest in what you decide.
Last reviewed: September 2026
The short answer
Yes, you can sell a Lubbock house with hail, wind or water damage, and yes, with an open claim. You do not have to put the roof back on first. What you settle before closing is who gets the claim money — that is what blows these deals up in the last week. Below: your deductible, the depreciation your carrier holds back, and the permit that roof crew never pulled.
What a South Plains storm does to a house
On 5 June 2025 the National Weather Service office in Lubbock logged tennis-ball hail inside the city limits and winds estimated up to 115 mph across west and southwest Lubbock. Their summary reads like a claims list: “Windows and skylight broken by hail” northwest of Woodrow, “Fences knocked down and roofs removed from homes” at 19th near Milwaukee, the roof off the west Carlisle fire station. Three feet of water stood at 98th and Indiana. On 28–29 May 2024, five-inch hail fell northeast of Whiteface and 110 to 120 mph winds were estimated at Levelland.
Water gets in here because the sky broke the roof, a line split, or a sewer backed up — not from a river. There isn’t one.
Here, water damage is a roof problem, not a flood problem
The city is flat and drains through streets and playa lakes across roughly 123 square miles. The City’s Floodplain page says it plainly: “Basic homeowner’s insurance does not cover damage from floods.” Flood is a separate policy, and which one your loss falls under decides whether anyone pays.
That split shows up on paper. The Texas seller’s disclosure form has a box at Item 4 for “Water Damage Not Due to a Flood Event” — the hail-through-the-roof, burst-pipe, sewer-backup box. Items 6 through 8 are a different animal: flood insurance, water penetration from a natural flood event, any flood claim you filed including with the NFIP, and FEMA or SBA assistance. Check those because a pipe burst and you have recorded a flood history on the property.
The part nobody explains: where the insurance money goes
The deductible is yours. Texas Insurance Code Sec. 707.002: “A person insured under a property insurance policy shall pay any deductible applicable to a first-party claim made under the policy.”
The holdback is the money sellers forget. On a replacement-cost policy the carrier pays actual cash value first and holds depreciation back. Sec. 707.004 says an insurer with replacement cost coverage “may refuse to pay a claim for withheld recoverable depreciation or a replacement cost holdback under the policy until the insurer receives reasonable proof of payment by the policyholder of any deductible applicable to the claim.” Note “may” — permission, and the only condition it authorizes is proof you paid the deductible. Whether completed repairs or invoices are also required is a term of your policy, not Texas law. Sell as-is, skip the work, and the holdback is money you leave behind.
Your servicer is probably on the check. If a loan is still on the house, the servicer is typically named as a payee and has to endorse. Three routes: you keep the claim, the proceeds are sorted at closing, or it is assigned to the buyer. Do not assume the third — most Texas homeowner policies limit assignment without the carrier’s consent.
Your carrier is on a clock. A hail, wind or rainstorm claim falls under Insurance Code Ch. 542A, and Ch. 542 sets the deadlines.
| Stage | What Ch. 542 requires |
|---|---|
| Acknowledge | Sec. 542.055(a): by the 15th day after it receives notice of the claim — the 30th business day for an eligible surplus lines insurer — acknowledge, commence any investigation, and request what it reasonably believes it will need |
| Accept or reject | Sec. 542.056(a), “except as provided by Subsection (b) or (d)”: in writing by the 15th business day after it receives all items, statements and forms it required to secure final proof of loss — or, under (d), by the 45th day after it tells you inside that period why it needs longer |
| Catastrophe | Sec. 542.059(b): after “a weather-related catastrophe or major natural disaster, as defined by the commissioner,” those deadlines extend an additional 15 days |
That 15-day acknowledgment is calendar days, and the accept-or-reject clock starts when the carrier has everything it asked for, not when you phoned it in. Miss those and Texas law provides interest and attorney’s fees, at a rate set by formula on a storm claim — not the flat percentage you read online.
Selling as-is does not switch off the disclosure
Texas Property Code Sec. 5.008(a) requires “a seller of residential real property comprising not more than one dwelling unit located in this state” to give the purchaser a written notice as prescribed by that section, “or a written notice substantially similar … which contains, at a minimum, all of the items in the notice prescribed by this section.”
Sec. 5.008(e) exempts certain transfers — among them a court-ordered or foreclosure sale, a fiduciary administering a decedent’s estate, one co-owner to another, and a transfer to a spouse or lineal relative. Read it for what is not there: no exemption for as-is, cash, or investor sales. Item 3 asks about known defects in the Roof; Item 4 covers “Water Damage Not Due to a Flood Event” and “Previous Structural or Roof Repair.” We want the notice too; honest disclosure keeps a cash closing from unwinding. More on disclosures when selling in Lubbock.
Now the reassuring part — Sec. 5.008(d): “If the information required by the notice is unknown to the seller, the seller shall indicate that fact on the notice, and by that act is in compliance with this section.” It is completed to the best of the seller’s belief and knowledge as of the date it is signed. Do not know whether hail cracked the decking under your shingles? Say so.
The permit trap on a storm-chaser roof
The City of Lubbock’s permitting page is unambiguous: “A roofing permit is required to tear off and replace shingles. A remodeling permit is required if changing the framing or the pitch on the roof.” It carries a fee and an inspection, and a contractor other than the homeowner must be registered with the City.
Now Item 9 of the disclosure notice asks about “repairs made without necessary permits or not in compliance with building codes in effect at that time.” A crew reroofs your house in two days, pulls nothing, leaves town. Three years later you sell, Item 9 is sitting there, and your buyer can look your address up on the City’s permit and case search. Building Safety is at 1314 Avenue K, 806-775-2087. Find out what was pulled first — more on unpermitted work in Lubbock.
When a cash offer is not your best move
- Your claim mostly covers the repair and the house is sound. If the carrier is funding a roof and you can live there while it happens, doing the work and listing usually nets more. Add the claim payment and the holdback, subtract the deductible, compare to a cash number.
- The damage is cosmetic. Dented gutters are not a reason to sell.
- You are in a live dispute with your carrier. Selling while a claim is contested changes who holds what. Ask a lawyer.
- You have time and patience. Lenders and appraisers routinely flag active leaks and visible mold. A live leak is hard to sell retail; a repaired roof is not.
A cash sale earns its keep when the repair is bigger than your appetite: the claim will not cover the job, the house is empty and getting worse, you are out of town, or a mortgage runs against a roof that is not stopping water. Our listing versus cash comparison has the tradeoffs.
How Electrum buys a damaged Lubbock house
- We cover all closing costs on purchase. No commissions.
- You pick the closing date. When speed matters we can close in as little as 7 days on the right deal — and if you need longer to finish a claim, we work to your schedule.
- Open claim? Say so on the first call. We will tell you if the deal needs your carrier’s written consent.
- We are transparent. Sometimes we close and hold, sometimes we assign the contract. Either way it is in writing before you sign.
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Storm and water damage questions we get
Can I sell my Lubbock house with an open insurance claim?
Yes, and it happens constantly after a hail night. Settle who ends up with the claim money: you keep it, it is handled at closing, or it is assigned to the buyer. Do not assume the third — most Texas homeowner policies limit assignment without the carrier’s consent.
Do I still have to disclose hail damage if I sell as-is for cash?
Yes. Texas Property Code Sec. 5.008 requires the notice for residential real property comprising not more than one dwelling unit, and Sec. 5.008(e) exempts no as-is sale, cash sale or sale to an investor. If something the notice requires is unknown to you, Sec. 5.008(d) says you indicate that fact and are in compliance.
A roofer offered to cover my deductible. Is that legal?
No. Texas Business & Commerce Code Sec. 27.02(c) makes it an offense for a seller of goods or services expecting to be paid from insurance proceeds to pay, waive, absorb, rebate or otherwise help you avoid your deductible without the insurer’s consent — a Class B misdemeanor under Sec. 27.02(d). Texas Insurance Code Sec. 4102.163(a) adds that a contractor may not act as public adjuster on property it may do the work on, “regardless of whether the contractor … is authorized to act on behalf of the insured under a power of attorney.”
Will my property taxes go down because of the storm damage?
Usually no. Texas Tax Code Sec. 11.35 gives a temporary exemption, but the property must be “located in an area declared by the governor to be a disaster area following a disaster” and “at least 15 percent damaged by the disaster, as determined by the chief appraiser.” Sec. 11.43(s) sets the deadline at the 105th day after the declaration, though the chief appraiser “may extend the deadline … for good cause shown.” Most hailstorms bring none. Call the Lubbock Central Appraisal District; in Lubbock County LCAD bills and hears protests.
Related situations
Nearby: fire damage, a vacant house, code violations, mold and water damage, and every option for selling fast in Lubbock.
These storms hit our towns directly. We buy in all of them: Wolfforth, Levelland, Shallowater, Woodrow, Slaton, Idalou, New Deal and Brownfield.
Get a cash offer on your storm damaged house
Tell us the address and what happened. If a cash offer is right we will make you one; if finishing the claim and listing would net more, we will say so.
Call or text 806-630-0875, email jarrod@electrumtexas.com, or use the form above. We cover all closing costs on purchase. You pick the closing date. When speed matters we can close in as little as 7 days on the right deal.
Neighbor’s roof still tarped? We pay $500 per closed referral at refer.electrumtexas.com.