We buy houses in Brandon, Valrico and Riverview

You have a house in Brandon, Valrico, Riverview or Seffner, and you do not want to put it on the market. The roof is old. The tenant left it rough. Your mother is moving in with you and the house holds forty years of her life.

I buy houses in east Hillsborough County in the condition they are in, and I list houses when listing is the better call. I will tell you which one I think you are looking at.

Brandon, Valrico, Riverview, Seffner, Bloomingdale, Dover, Durant, and the Lithia and FishHawk edges. Condition is not a filter — deferred maintenance, hoarding, tenant damage, fire, mold. I ran a crime scene cleanup company for the better part of two decades, so a full house is a logistics problem, not a shock. You do not need to clear it out before I walk it. I am out in these neighborhoods most weeks.

Out here you deal with the county, not the City of Tampa

Brandon, Valrico, Riverview, Seffner and Lithia are unincorporated. Hillsborough County has three cities — Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City. Most of what you read about “Tampa” permits or code enforcement does not apply to you.

• Code enforcement is the county’s. Hillsborough County Code Enforcement covers the unincorporated areas — property maintenance, land development, property preservation, dangerous structures. Cases are searchable by address, folio or name in the county’s case search. Once a case becomes a recorded lien, the county will generally not settle it until the property is back in compliance.
• Permits are the county’s. Records sit in HillsGovHub from 20 January 2021 forward, on an older reports page back to 2005, and for 1976 to 2004 you file a records request. So if someone enclosed the lanai in 1994, there may be nothing online. It surfaces when a buyer’s inspector finds a room the records do not explain.

CDD assessments and HOA rules in Riverview and FishHawk

Many of the newer subdivisions here sit inside a community development district. FishHawk Ranch has one. Triple Creek in Riverview has one. Dozens more exist.

Under the state’s uniform collection method those assessments land on the same annual notice as your property taxes, under “non-ad valorem assessments,” collected like county taxes — same discounts and, unpaid, the same tax certificate and tax deed consequences. The operations portion moves with the district budget. Debt service is the bond that paid for the roads and ponds, usually fixed for its term. Ask the district manager which is which, and whether the bond can be prepaid.

On the HOA side, Florida law puts the disclosure summary on the owner, not only the developer. Section 720.401 requires it before the contract is signed; without it the buyer can cancel within three days of receiving it, or before closing. The association must also produce an estoppel certificate within 10 business days of a written request. A slow association can push a closing date.

Septic, wells and the older lots in Seffner and Valrico

East of Brandon the lots get bigger and older, and plenty are still on septic, some on a private well. Septic permitting runs through the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County, which also offers a voluntary inspection of an existing system. Do that before you list, not after a buyer’s inspector raises it. Private wells are permitted through the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

If sewer has reached your street, converting is not free. The county publishes its capacity fees — currently $3,268.75 north and $4,884.75 south and central for a standard connection — plus the plumbing permit, the connection work and abandoning the old tank. A cash sale needs none of it. An FHA or VA buyer may raise all of it.

Sinkhole history is a Hillsborough conversation

The Hillsborough County Property Appraiser keeps a subsidence layer on its maps. A red S means an owner filed an engineering report showing subsidence; a green S means the office assumes it was remediated. The office is direct about the limit: no listing on a parcel does not guarantee subsidence never existed. An insurer paying a sinkhole claim must also file the report and the amount paid with the Clerk of Circuit Court, so real claims turn up in the official records.

The disclosure duty is narrower than people assume. Section 627.7073(2)(c) covers a seller who made the sinkhole claim themselves and had it paid: they must tell the buyer, before closing, that a claim was paid and whether the full proceeds went into the repair. Underneath sits the broader duty from Johnson v. Davis to disclose known facts that materially affect value and are not readily observable. Ask a Florida attorney about your own facts.

Then there is insurance. Florida insurers must cover catastrophic ground cover collapse, a high bar — abrupt collapse, visible depression, structural damage, building condemned. Ordinary sinkhole coverage is optional, at extra premium. That is why a repaired house is often easier to sell for cash.

Roofs, insurance and flood

An insurer may not refuse to write or renew a policy on a roof under 15 years old solely because of its age; on an older roof, an inspection showing five or more years of life left protects you from an age-only refusal. And if 25 percent or more of a roof is repaired or replaced, the whole system generally has to meet current code unless it was built to the 2007 Florida Building Code or later. On a 1988 Brandon roof, that does not help.

Flood matters less here than on the coast, but the Alafia runs through Valrico and Riverview. Check the county flood zone viewer. Since October 2024 every Florida residential seller must give a written flood disclosure at or before the contract is signed. If water has been inside, read how a flood-damaged sale works.

Two routes, priced honestly

Sell it as it stands, for cash. No repairs, no clean-out, no showings, no financing contingency, and a closing date you pick. The number is lower than a retail sale, and it should be — I am pricing the roof, the clean-out, the septic, the code case and the risk. The difference buys speed and certainty.

Clear it, fix it and list it. Roof, flooring, paint, permits closed, septic sorted, house emptied. On a Valrico or FishHawk house that usually brings more than any cash offer. It also costs money up front, takes months, and depends on a buyer’s lender and appraiser.

I will price it both ways and say which I would take. Sometimes the honest answer is list it. On a house with an open code case and a 1990 roof, often it is not. For the cash side, see how my offer process works, or the Tampa page if the house is inside the city.

What I need from you

The address, roughly what condition it is in in your own words, and your timeline. If it applies, tell me about a mortgage, a CDD or HOA, septic, or any mention of a sinkhole. None of those are disqualifiers. They change the number and the route.

Use the offer form or call me at 813-482-2215. If the timing is six months out, that is fine. Knowing the number now is worth something on its own.

Questions people ask

Do I have to clean it out first?

No. Leave the furniture, the boxes, the shed, the car that does not run. Take what you want, leave the rest. If the house is genuinely full, here is how I handle hoarder houses.

What if there is still a mortgage on it?

Normal. It gets paid off out of the proceeds at closing, like any sale. What matters is whether the payoff and any recorded liens come to less than the price. If they do not, there are options, but tell me early.

How fast can you close?

Cash with no lender moves quickly; title work and the lien search set the pace. In a CDD or HOA community, add time for the estoppel certificate. With an open code case or a probate, longer. I would rather give you a real date than a fast one.

Do I have to tell you about a sinkhole repair?

Yes, and early is in your interest. I will not walk away from repair history — I will price it. Finding out at the title stage, three weeks in, is worse for both of us.

I inherited it and probate is not finished. Too early to call?

No. You can find out what the house is worth before you have authority to sell it. What you cannot do is sign a contract you have no standing to sign. Here is what the Hillsborough County process looks like.

This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Disclosure duties, sinkhole history, CDD debt and code liens all turn on your specific property, so talk to a Florida real estate attorney before you sign anything.