Selling a Home that is NOT in flood plain -- YET (Houston: for sale, real estate)

[medctrguy]

I currently own a house that is NOT in a flood plain. According to the new FEMA maps, my house WILL BE in a flood plain whenever they become effective - i don't know when that will be.

I am seriously thinking of selling my house. I'm sure there are people out there who have sold/purchased homes in the same predicament as mine and would like to know how their process went. Did they have to disclose that the property was going to be in a flood plain, or only disclose if it's in the plain as of the day they complete the form? Did discloure result in buyer backing out of the purchase?

I am fully aware of the flood insurance requirement. I recently received a quote from my agent for $375 annual premium, which would be a grandfathered-rate once the maps are final. The good thing is this rate category will tranfer to the buyer so long i don't have a lapse in coverage.

Houston underwent the same process a couple of years ago. I've been trying to see how this has affected property values and real estate transaction for affected properties, but have not found much information. Any info anyone can share is appreciated.

One more thing. My neighbor sold his house in Sept 08 for $15K above the appraised value, it went under contract two weeks after posting the for sale sign on the front yard - i hope to have the same luck.

[Tippylou]

IMHO, you might as well avoid all the potential pitfalls and be upfront about the potential change. If a buyer finds out about the flood zone change after they close they may sue you for non disclosure. If they find out about the change before they close which is highly likely. They may not complete the transaction and your home will have been off the market for that period of time. Then you will have to go back to square one and the Realtor will be obligated to disclose this information for the next people.

There are safeguards built into the mortgage system so that the lender and the buyers know the flood zone of the property. The appraiser must list the flood zone on the appraisal and the lender must pull a flood certificate on the property to establish what zone the property is in. It is always a bad suprise when a property turns out to be in a flood zone.

[SAFD_Wife]

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