Changes In Federal Flood Insurance Hit Rural Areas; Some Coverage To Rise 4X And More

[hatrack]

Big changes in federal flood insurance policy are beginning to strike in the Sacramento area, in some cases quadrupling the cost of coverage and threatening local real estate markets.

The changes are not expected to affect urban areas such as the city of Sacramento. But rural areas are already feeling the pain, and it is expected to worsen.

In the Point Pleasant area south of Elk Grove, Walter Hoppe recently learned that flood insurance for his 1,500-square-foot home will increase from $800 to $4,500 per year. The increase hasn’t been imposed yet, but it will likely hit the next owner of his home.

“Obviously, we’re not too happy,” said Hoppe, who has owned his home since 1970. “That’s a tremendous increase.” On Yolo County’s Merritt Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, real estate agent Debbie Elliott is offering a home for sale at $595,000. Flood insurance under the new policies is estimated at $12,079 a year – or about $1,000 per month. That compares to a prior rate closer to $1,000 annually.

EDIT

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/16/5916933/steep-hike-in-flood-insurance.html

[Walk away]

1. If they had to purchase on the "Free Market" it would cost...

many times that much but more likely impossible. As the years go by more and more people will start to realize that we have to pay the piper some time.

[meadowlark5]

2. We are seeing the same thing

We kept my dad's house in Nebraska after he died. One of my brothers still lives in the house. I just found out the flood map is being revised and it will now run right through our property. We don't have a mortgage on the house so aren't required to buy flood insurance but whoever buys the house whenever we sell will have to if they carry a mortgage.

If we choose to buy flood insurance we can do that at a discounted rate right now. The gov is offering to do that before the map is put in effect. If we wait till the map is put in effect (April 2014) and buy insurance after that, we are subject to the open market rates.

[kestrel91316]

3. I'd buy now.

[meadowlark5]

4. Our plan is not to keep the house

We've been trying to get the rest of the family on board with selling it already. Hopefully by April but who knows.

I grew up in that house and I still can't see how or where flood water would come from There is a small creek miles south of the house. It's been damned and diverted so much for farmland irrigation, it's usually a trickle of water. I guess that's what they are assuming could provide a flood.