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My family live in NW Arkansas and are looking to buy a home..We have been searching for about 9 months now and finally like a home alot. We quickly made an offer and after negotiating we finally have the house under contract..
As the paperwork began, we discovered the property is in the highrisk flood zone, the AE zone. The tiny portion of the backyard is looking at the FEMA and not the house itself. we do not know how much of the backyard is in the flood zone, we are getting a report from FEMA to help us determine that and we are also going to get a surveyor to determine how much above the BFE the home is and going to see whether our banks requires us to geta mandatory floodinsurance, preferred or none at all..
There is also some sort of drainage work ongoing to help with the flow of rainwater. We dont know whether it will affect the flood zone or not..
However, till we hear back and get to know the results, this is causing me alot of heartache.. Finally, our dreamhouse and it might be in the floodzone..
The previous owners did not know about this. FEMA just published these findings about a month ago.. However, i want to know all of your opinions.. Do you think we should back out of this property? We plan on backing out if the bank requires us to have flood insurance... But if they dont, should we go ahead and purchase it? do you think it might affect the resale value even if no flood insurance is required?
The big question is will the bank let this slide?
The house itself is on a slope and the backyard is very flat and then it slopes down again.. There is also a road right behind our property that would apparently flood in a 100 year flood plan...This is the road that leads out of our neighboorhood..
Did anyone have this kind of experience and did the bank require you to get insurance? Please do let us know.
I would never buy or build a house in a flood zone or close to a flood zone. Even if you are wealthy and self insure, there are some many valuables that cannot be replaced. Local governments are committing fraud by allowing permits for such structures. In fact, the house should be way above the level of the road system in view of the cases of flooding this past year. Run away from this one.
The elevation of the house, how far above the flood elevation would help me make my decision.
I have seen planning guidelines that approve building if the finish flooring is 2 feet above flood elevation. That would not work for me.
But, in rolling topography, I have seen homes close to flood plain that are significantly above the flood elevation, and would be less of a concern to me.
So, personally, I would want to see the topo map, the site, and the elevations before making a decision.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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FEMA has been actively renewing their flood maps. They sort of used the shotgun approach rather under a mandate to get these maps out PDQ. If any portion of the flood zone traverses any part of a lot they just tossed it into the high risk zone. I'm with Mike on this, the elevation above the flood line is what counts and it sounds like it might be quite a bit. You can hire a surveyor to establish the height above the flood line.
The FEMA maps can be revised with the proper data.
Just because a house in not in a flood zone, doesn't mean that it will never flood.
I learned my lesson the hard way.
Ever since that purchase, I've had flood insurance.
A co-worker's house flooded. The house was set on top of the hill, the homesite was elevated 6 feet above street level...........water ran down the street away from her house..........
Yet she still flooded.
And so did the neighbors.
As to your particular home purchase, you can pull the plat map in your town or city.
Frequently, in newer subdivisions you will find notations on the plat maps stating no improvements on this particular lot until x y and z are completed by the developer/builder.
If Flood Insurance is required, the Bank will not let it slip by. There is a limit to the amount of coverage. Seeing as you are NW Arkansas, I should think you'd be fine with the limits. In my neck of the woods....no. But something is better than nothing.
You can get a flood elevation certificate. This is done by a hydrologist to determine how far above the flood plain the house is. We have lots of homes in flood plains out here as we have a lot of creeks. If the house is out of the flood plain you don't have to carry flood insurance for the lender so it is a personal choice after that.
Thank you so much for responding... I really do appreciate that you took time out to answer this post.
We have asked our bank to find out whether our house will be in the floodzone and if we need to get the mandatory flood insurance so now we will get our report on this by Monday.. We got to see the partial report today and it seems like they are going to put the entire property as high risk and ask for mandatory insurance..
We are getting a surveyor to get BFE done and get an elevation certificate next week.. I guess this will help with determining the insurance cost... Oh, we are also going to get an appraisal done and from judging from there, we will ask for the seller to drop their asking price..
I have to say my husband wants to get the price dropped and buy the property anyways( depending on how much the insurance is going to be).
I do not want to pursue this.. I feel no matter how good the price and how much we love the house...Reselling the house is going to be difficult and even though we dont have a plan of selling this house at all, you never know what the future will bring..
The house was listed for $330,000 and we negotiated down to $323,000. After all this my hubby is thinking about asking them to go down to $300,000. The house is almost 3600 sq.ft do you think asking them to lower the price is reasonably after all this headache?
Thank you so much for responding... I really do appreciate that you took time out to answer this post.
We have asked our bank to find out whether our house will be in the floodzone and if we need to get the mandatory flood insurance so now we will get our report on this by Monday.. We got to see the partial report today and it seems like they are going to put the entire property as high risk and ask for mandatory insurance..
We are getting a surveyor to get BFE done and get an elevation certificate next week.. I guess this will help with determining the insurance cost... Oh, we are also going to get an appraisal done and from judging from there, we will ask for the seller to drop their asking price..
I have to say my husband wants to get the price dropped and buy the property anyways( depending on how much the insurance is going to be).
I do not want to pursue this.. I feel no matter how good the price and how much we love the house...Reselling the house is going to be difficult and even though we dont have a plan of selling this house at all, you never know what the future will bring..
The house was listed for $330,000 and we negotiated down to $323,000. After all this my hubby is thinking about asking them to go down to $300,000. The house is almost 3600 sq.ft do you think asking them to lower the price is reasonably after all this headache?
If the house is not in the flood plain...
If flood insurance is not required...
If the elevation of the house is well above the flood plain...
Why would/should the seller move a penny on the price negotiated in good faith and lacking flood hazard?
Last edited by MikeJaquish; 08-04-2012 at 05:16 AM..
Honestly, with NW Arkansas being in the "Highlands", I don't think I'd go WITHOUT Flood Insurance regardless of FEMA maps.
It's not that expensive compared to Homeowner's.
The property you want to buy: how is the pricing compared to sold comps in the neighborhood/area?
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