Sell a Fire Damaged House in The East Side

One Date Splits Arizona Borrowers in Two

The 2014 amendment adding subsection (H) to A.R.S. section 33-814 applies to deeds of trust originating on or after 1 January 2015. It provides that the anti-deficiency protection in subsection (G) does not apply to trust property that was developed for commercial resale to a third party, never substantially completed, or never used as a dwelling.

Deeds of trust originating on or before 31 December 2014 are not governed by that amendment, and the position for them rests on the statutory language as the courts have construed it. The framework is on our page covering anti-deficiency protection and the word utilized.

Which Side Am I On?

Refinancing Moves the Date

Worth flagging because it catches people. A deed of trust recorded on a refinance is a new deed of trust with a new origination date.

An owner who bought in 2011 and refinanced in 2021 may be looking at a post-2015 instrument even though they have lived in the house since long before the amendment. It is a question of what is on the current recorded document rather than how long you have owned the property.

Does a Refinance Affect Anything Else?

We publish no anti-deficiency assessments, loan characterisations or values for individual east side properties. The recorded documents and an Arizona lawyer answer those.

Engineered Assemblies Change the Repair Route

Roof trusses and engineered floor systems carry load through connections at plates and gussets. Once heat has compromised those, the assembly comes out whole rather than being repaired in sections.

An engineer settles which you have, and it decides whether the property is in the repair market or the rebuild market. Buyers working from photographs assume the unfavourable answer and discount for it.

Slab Construction Is the Common Unknown

Most of this stock sits on a slab, and heat damage to a slab is invisible from above. It is the largest uncertainty on a file and the cheapest one to remove.

An inspection addressing the slab specifically is worth commissioning before taking any offer seriously.

The East Side in Context

Where construction is older and behaves differently, see our page about the barrios and central Tucson. Where parcels grow past the statutory limit, see our page for the wider region.

The Sections That Turn on the Date

A.R.S. section 33-814(H) applies to deeds of trust originating on or after 1 January 2015 and excludes 3 categories of property from subsection (G).

Subsection (G) itself requires 2 and one-half acres or less and a single 1-family or 2-family dwelling. BMO Harris Bank v. Wildwood Creek Ranch was decided by the Arizona Supreme Court on 23 January 2015.

East Side Questions