Houston, TX
We buy houses in Houston — cash offers across Harris County.
A Meyerland ranch with three flood claims and a non-renewal letter. A Heights bungalow whose pier-and-beam has been walking on gumbo clay since the 1920s. A Bellaire estate with heirs scattered across four states. A Sharpstown rental whose 1970s math finally quit working. These are the situations we built Diamond to handle — worked from our DFW base through Harris County title companies, the same way we close every Texas county file.
BBB Accredited Business, rated A. Who we buy from in Houston
The eight situations driving most Houston cash sales
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, the seat of a county of roughly 4.7 million people, and structurally the most complex market in our Texas buy box. To be clear up front: Diamond is headquartered in DFW and works Houston as a regional market — through Harris County title companies, county records, and the statutory probate courts — not from a local storefront. That works because Houston cash sales are driven by water, soil, scale, and the absence of zoning — and each produces a house the conventional MLS process cannot move.
Repeat-claim flood-zone sellers
Harvey (2017), Imelda (2019), and Beryl (2024) stacked three loss events into seven years across Meyerland, Sharpstown, parts of the Heights and Bellaire, and the eastern county corridor. Carriers have been non-renewing on second and third claims — and a listing a buyer cannot insure is a listing a lender will not fund.
Addicks and Barker reservoir-release owners
Houses west of the Beltway that flooded not from rainfall but from the Army Corps controlled release after Harvey — a legally and procedurally distinct flood event with its own insurance, FEMA, and litigation context. We are not asking you to resolve any of that before we make an offer.
FEMA buy-out holdouts
The Harris County Flood Control District has bought out 4,000-plus flood-prone parcels since 1985, about a quarter after Harvey. Owners in Bellaire, Meyerland, and the Brays Bayou corridor who declined the voluntary offer now hold still-flood-prone houses no retail buyer will finance. We buy them.
Inner-loop pier-and-beam bungalows
The 1920s–1950s stock in the Heights, Montrose, Independence Heights, and Garden Oaks has been settling on gumbo clay for eighty to a hundred years — knob-and-tube remnants, cast-iron drains, crawlspace moisture, and termite history standard for the era. Retail buyers walk after inspection, every time.
Inherited mid-century estates
Bellaire, Garden Oaks, Memorial, and the Memorial Villages hold dated-but-intact mid-century houses passing to heirs scattered between Houston, DFW, the Northeast, and California. Harris County runs five dedicated statutory probate courts; heirs want one closing, not months of remote repair coordination.
Subsidence-affected eastern Harris County
Decades of groundwater pumping dropped ground levels six-plus feet across the Ship Channel area by the mid-1970s — cracked slabs and tilted pier systems in Pasadena, Channelview, and Baytown are the legacy. The sinking largely stopped in the 1990s; the structural damage did not un-happen.
Tired landlords with 1970s rental stock
Sharpstown, Gulfton, Magnolia Park, and the East End carry single-family and small multifamily rentals that have rolled past their depreciation runway — tenants in place, Section 8 voucher files, and repair lists that no longer pencil. We buy with the lease intact.
Relocation and MUD-assessment sellers
The Energy Corridor, Texas Medical Center, Port of Houston, and NASA Johnson Space Center move workforce on industry timelines a listing cannot match — and in the unincorporated MUD and LID belt, utility-district assessments can push the all-in tax bill far past what the house was bought against.
Houston housing market
What your Houston house is actually worth right now
Sources do not perfectly agree, because "median sale," "median list," and month-to-month MLS releases measure different things on different schedules — and Houston's spread from inner-loop bungalows to Energy Corridor new-builds is about as wide as a single market gets. Here is what the public data shows, sourced and dated so you can verify before deciding anything.
- Median single-family price
- $345,250
- Median days on market
- 54–67
- Harris County homes flooded in Harvey
- 154,000+
- HCFCD buy-outs since 1985
- 4,000+
- Combined tax stack (city + county + HISD)
- ~$2.12/$100
- Texas homes with flood coverage
- ~7%
HAR MLS, May 2026 — roughly flat year over year.
HAR / Redfin, spring 2026 — lengthening.
~70% carried no flood insurance.
About a quarter came after Harvey.
2025 rates, before exemptions; MUDs add more.
Down from ~10% right after Harvey.
Here is how those numbers turn into an offer. We start from the after-repair value — what the house sells for fixed up, from real comparable sales, not an algorithm — then offer 75 to 80 percent of ARV minus repairs. Condition sets the point in that range: a cosmetic refresh prices near 80 percent, a full gut with foundation and flood scope prices near 75. On flood-claim files the honest comparison is not our offer versus the Zillow estimate — it is our offer versus what a financed buyer can actually close on a house whose insurance no carrier wants. The full breakdown is in how your cash offer is calculated, and you can run your own net both ways with the cash offer vs. listing calculator.
Flood history and insurance
Why flood-claim Houston listings die at the lender, not the buyer
When Harvey stalled over southeast Texas in August 2017, more than 154,000 Harris County homes took water — and roughly 105,000 of them had no flood insurance, mostly because they sat outside the mapped floodplain. Imelda repeated the lesson in 2019 and Beryl again in 2024. Texas now ranks second in the nation in National Flood Insurance Program claims, and Harris County alone accounts for roughly half the state's NFIP payouts — yet only about 7 percent of Texas homes carry flood coverage at all.
For a seller, the mechanics are brutal and mostly invisible until the deal is three weeks in. FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 now prices each policy to the individual property — elevation, distance to water, claim history — and legacy premiums are climbing by up to 18 percent a year until they reach the full risk price. Carriers have been non-renewing on repeat-claim houses. A buyer whose lender requires flood insurance, quoted a premium that wrecks their debt-to-income math, walks — after the option period, after you have packed. That is how flood-claim listings die: not for lack of a buyer, but for lack of a financeable one. This is exactly the gap a cash buyer exists to close — no lender, no insurance condition, no repricing after inspection.
We underwrite every Houston flood flavor — repeat-claim, reservoir-release, buy-out holdout, and never-flooded houses simply remapped into a higher-risk zone — with the flood disclosure, elevation-certificate review, and NFIP work running inline with title. No separate engagement, no separate fee.
If your carrier has already sent a non-renewal notice, timing matters — the gap between policies is when a retail sale becomes impossible. Start a no-obligation cash offer and tell us the claim history up front; it changes the repair budget, not the welcome.
If you are facing foreclosure
How Texas non-judicial foreclosure works in Harris County
Texas is the fastest foreclosure state in the country. If you have received a Notice of Default or Notice of Sale, the law gives you a specific, short window to act.
- 41d
Total minimum timeline
Texas non-judicial foreclosure can complete in as few as 41 days from the first Notice of Default — a 20-day right-to-reinstate period plus a 21-day Notice of Sale. The foreclosure countdown tool maps your dates against that clock.
- 1st
First Tuesday, Bayou City Event Center
Harris County trustee and tax sales are held the first Tuesday of every month between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. — not on the courthouse steps, but at the Bayou City Event Center, 9401 Knight Road, Houston, TX 77045. If the first Tuesday is a national holiday, the sale moves to the next business day.
- 3x
Posted and public
Texas law requires the Notice of Sale to be posted at the designated county location, filed with the Harris County Clerk, and published. If your property has been posted, that record is public — and it is the timeline we work backwards from.
A cash buyer can close before a posted sale date if the contract is signed with enough runway for title work. If your auction date is less than 14 days out, call before you fill out a form — the timeline matters more than the offer details. What to expect from us in a pre-foreclosure sale is laid out on the facing foreclosure in Texas page.
Inherited a Houston home?
How Harris County probate works — and the four Texas paths you may qualify for
Harris County is one of the few Texas counties with dedicated statutory probate courts — Probate Courts No. 1 through 5, seated at the civil courthouse at 201 Caroline Street, with filings handled through the Harris County Clerk. Depending on the estate's size, whether there is a valid will, and the nature of the property, you may qualify for a path faster than full administration — the probate path tool walks through which one likely fits.
Independent Administration
Texas's default when there is a valid will. Court-supervised but with minimal ongoing intervention — executors can sell real estate without additional court orders in most cases. The most common path we close on.
Muniment of Title
A Texas-specific shortcut when the only transfer needed is real property and the estate has no significant debt beyond the homestead. Faster, cheaper, no full administration.
Affidavit of Heirship
Widely used to clear title when full probate is impractical — common for long-held family homes in Third Ward, Fifth Ward, Acres Homes, and the East End where ownership passed informally across generations.
Small Estate Affidavits (estates under $75K in personal property plus the homestead, no will) are also available. We are not your attorney, and this is not legal advice — the right path depends on the will, the heirs, and the estate's debts. We coordinate signatures across heirs in different states routinely, and the practical steps are covered in selling an inherited house in Texas. If you do not have counsel, we can refer you to a Harris County probate attorney who works with out-of-state heirs.
Where we buy
The Houston neighborhoods and Harris County communities we cover
Inside the loop we look at the full run of pre-war and mid-century stock; outside it we work the flood corridors, the subsidence belt, and the unincorporated MUD country. Every file closes through a Harris County title company regardless of which side of the Beltway it sits on.
Houston neighborhoods
- The Heights — 1920s–1950s pier-and-beam bungalows on gumbo clay; some blocks add repeat flood-claim history.
- Montrose — same inner-loop bungalow era; original wiring and cast-iron drains produce inspection-failure inventory.
- Independence Heights — the first incorporated Black city in Texas (1915, annexed to Houston in 1929); century-old frame stock, much of it held across generations.
- Garden Oaks — late-1930s–1950s cottages and ranches; estate sales and foundation files.
- Meyerland — the Brays Bayou repeat-claim corridor; buy-out holdouts and carrier non-renewals.
- Bellaire — inherited mid-century estates with block-by-block flood history.
- Sharpstown & Gulfton — 1950s–1970s stock, tired-landlord exits, repeat flood-claim pockets.
- Third Ward, Greater Fifth Ward & Acres Homes — long-tenured family ownership, heirship-title files, the oldest stock in the city.
- Magnolia Park / East End & EaDo — one of Houston's oldest Hispanic communities; 1970s rental stock with tenants in place.
- Memorial, the Memorial Villages & Galleria / Tanglewood — estate files and relocation-driven sales.
- Spring Branch — 1950s–1960s ranches, remodel-fatigue and estate sales.
Greater Harris County
We also buy across the wider county footprint, including:
Pasadena · Baytown · Channelview · Deer Park · La Porte · South Houston · Galena Park · Jacinto City · Humble · Spring · Cypress · Katy (Harris side) · Tomball · Webster · Clear Lake area.
The eastern arc — Pasadena, Channelview, Baytown — is the subsidence belt: groundwater pumping dropped ground levels six-plus feet around the Ship Channel by the mid-1970s before the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District stopped the sinking. Cracked slabs and tilted piers from that era are routine files for us — the repair-cost math is covered on our foundation issues page.
We also take files across the county line in the Fort Bend, Montgomery, and Galveston belt — MUD and LID country — through the same title-company workflow.
How it works in Houston
How a DFW-headquartered buyer closes in Houston
We will not pretend to be your neighbor. Diamond is based in DFW, and Houston is a market we work remotely — which matters less than it sounds, because a Texas closing lives at the title company, not at anyone's office. HCAD records, Harris County Clerk filings, probate dockets, and flood-zone maps are all worked the same way from three hundred miles or three. Here is the actual sequence.
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Tell us about the property
Address, situation, timeline — form on this page or a phone call, both reach the same team. Flood-claim history, probate status, and tenant situations are things to mention early; they shape the file, not the welcome.
- 2
We pull the records and verify condition
HCAD data, submarket-specific comparable sales (a Heights bungalow is not a Cypress new-build), flood-zone designation, and claim history. Condition is verified by your photos, a video walkthrough, or a local third-party inspection — whichever the file warrants.
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Written offer with the math shown
Comparable sales, our repair budget at contractor rates, and the 75-to-80 percent of after-repair value the offer is built on. Take it to an agent and a contractor and compare. The offer does not change after inspection.
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Close at a Harris County title company
10 to 14 days on clean title, or whenever you pick. Signing is mobile or remote — a notary comes to you. Tax arrears, liens, probate orders, and flood disclosures are handled at the closing table. You get a wire or a check.
Diamond's broader process is documented on the how it works page, and our typical answers to seller questions live in the FAQ.
Houston FAQ
The questions Harris County sellers ask first
Will you buy a Houston house with a Harvey, Imelda, or Beryl flood-claim history?
Yes — this is the most common Houston situation we see. More than 154,000 Harris County homes flooded in Harvey alone, roughly seven in ten with no flood insurance. Carriers have been non-renewing on repeat claims, and under NFIP Risk Rating 2.0 many legacy premiums are rising up to 18 percent a year. Without affordable flood insurance a financed buyer usually cannot close — we buy flood-zone and repeat-claim houses for cash, as-is, and handle the flood disclosure and elevation-certificate review through title.
I declined the FEMA or Harris County buy-out after Harvey. Will you still buy the house?
Yes. The Harris County Flood Control District has acquired more than 4,000 flood-prone parcels since 1985 — about a quarter of them after Harvey — but plenty of owners in Meyerland, Bellaire, and the Brays Bayou corridor declined the voluntary offer over valuation, timing, or family history. Those properties are now hard to sell retail because the flood profile has not improved. We close cash on them as-is.
Do you buy older pier-and-beam bungalows in the Heights, Montrose, Independence Heights, and Garden Oaks?
Yes. The 1920s–1950s bungalow stock inside the loop has been settling on Houston gumbo clay for eighty to a hundred years, usually with knob-and-tube remnants, cast-iron drains, crawlspace moisture, and termite history along for the ride. Retail buyers walk after the inspection report; we price the repairs at our contractor cost and buy as-is.
You are headquartered in Dallas — do you actually close in Houston?
Yes, and we are upfront about how. Diamond is DFW-based and we do not have a Houston office. Houston is a regional buy box we work remotely: Harris County title companies handle escrow and closing, HCAD and county records are pulled like every other Texas county file, probate runs through the Harris County statutory probate courts, and signings are mobile or remote. The three-and-a-half-hour drive changes nothing about the closing timeline.
How fast can you close on a Houston house?
Clean-title Harris County closings run 10 to 14 days from a signed contract. Flood-claim files, probate through the Harris County statutory probate courts, subsidence-affected properties, and MUD or deed-restriction complications typically run 30 to 60 days while title and cure work completes. You pick the date — there is no financing contingency on our side.
What if I am behind on Harris County property taxes?
The combined City of Houston, Harris County, and Houston ISD stack ran roughly $2.12 per $100 for 2025 before exemptions, and MUD or LID assessments in unincorporated areas push the all-in bill higher still. Tax arrears are paid at closing out of your proceeds — you do not need to catch the bill up before talking to us, and a posted tax sale at the Bayou City Event Center is a timeline we know how to work backwards from.
Houston has no zoning — does that affect the sale?
It can. Houston voters rejected zoning in 1948, 1962, and 1993, so land use is governed by privately enforced deed restrictions. When enforcement lapses, a house can end up next to commercial or light-industrial use that did not exist at purchase, and the retail comp set suffers. We underwrite the property on its own merits — surrounding land-use drift is not a deal-killer for us.
Nearby cities
We also buy houses near Houston
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Beat the first-Tuesday auction with a cash close.
Probate, multiple heirs, and as-is sales handled.
Sell with tenants still in place.
Compare your net both ways before you decide.
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Ready for a written cash offer?
Tell us about your property — we will come back with a fair, no-obligation offer in 24 hours.
- Funded offer — cash committed before we sign
- Offer locked — no renegotiation after inspection
- Proof of funds with every offer
A real Diamond team handles your sale start to finish — funded offers and one clean closing, not an anonymous call center passing your lead around. Meet the team.