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My husband and I live in Wake county and have been entertaining the idea of living near the beach. I had some sticker shock at the cost of flood insurance some mentioned in other posts - $4800 a year !
However, I wanted to know if there is any insurance savings when you build a house on pilings ? I’ve looked at one builder that works in the South Port/Oak Island area. We are looking to build a modest house 3 bedrooms 2 bath for use to live in full time. Size being under 2500 sq ft and something under 400k with a small lot.
We can both work from home which is what started a serious search living near the beach.
But if I’m paying close to $4800 just for flood plus what wind insurance costs I wonder if it would be more expensive than we thought. We are 49 and 50 and while we work we don’t want to sign up for something more expensive long term. Thanks for reading and sharing any information!
.....However, I wanted to know if there is any insurance savings when you build a house on pilings ? I’ve looked at one builder that works in the South Port/Oak Island area. We are looking to build a modest house 3 bedrooms 2 bath for use to live in full time. Size being under 2500 sq ft and something under 400k with a small lot......
I think the first thing to investigate is the flood risk rating of any lot you are considering. Zone X is the lowest risk, and there are several other levels which you can view at the states flood risk maps: https://fris.nc.gov/fris/Home.aspx?ST=NC
It makes sense that there would be a savings for a house built on pilings in one of the riskier zones, but I have no idea how much of a savings. I know that there are areas in North Topsail Beach where one cannot buy flood insurance unless the house is on plilings.
I have been in Oak Island Beach where there is water puddling in the street after a rainstorm. I think you should avoid that type of lot and look for something on higher ground.
At the coast you will need regular homeowners insurance, wind and hail insurance(this is the really expensive one) and certainly on Oak Island you will need flood insurance. Many areas in Southport you can get away without flood insurance. As golden age 1 has already said you should check the flood zone of any lot you're interested in building on. X is the lowest flood risk and categories go up to VE (which I always think of as "very expensive"-lol). Building on pilings will help your home sit above the flood zone risk. When you build you will then get an elevation certificate and this helps with your flood insurance. But really it is the wind and hail insurance that is the super expensive one and pilings will not help with that. However, flood insurance keeps going up as does wind and hail. Now coming from Wake County your Brunswick County taxes will be much cheaper (especially if you're coming from city taxes in Wake as well). This helps mitigate the cost of insurance. At least that's how we justify it.
Also, the cost of building is very high at the coast right now. Generally you should build with 2 x 6s instead of 2 x 4s, you need special windows, special roofs, etc. This all increases the price of a home. Pilings have gone up a lot, too. And there's a labor shortage. I know one builder who has been waiting over 6 months to get pilings in so he can start building a home. These are all things you need to discuss with a builder. I would be surprised if you could get a 2500 square foot house built for $400,000 unless it's possibly with one of the "big box" builders.
Last edited by pinkjewel; 09-19-2021 at 02:53 PM..
........ I would be surprised if you could get a 2500 square foot house built for $400,000 unless it's possibly with one of the "big box" builders.
I was also thinking their budget was a bit low for building a house today. It might have been OK a year ago.
I ran a search on comparable existing houses in Oak Island and Southport, thinking the OP might contact a Realtor to find out what the various insurance costs would be. Both are a bit small, and one is elevated and one is not:
I have a house 4th row Emerald Isle. it is on one of the highest spots on the island and flood insurance is optional for me. Wind and Hail, however, runs me about 2000 per year for a 1320 sq foot house. Then my regular home owners policy. I also do take out flood for about another 550 per year. I also have a waterfront house on pettiford creek in Cape Carteret just over the bridge from EI. I have a boat dock. only part of my property has a little flood risk. I have to have flood insurance and it is about 700 per year. Wind and Hail is mandatory at about 2400 plus homeowners insurance. My daughter lives in Hubert and has mandatory wind and hail but no flood. https://fris.nc.gov/fris/Home.aspx?ST=NC this is a link to check a property for flood risk in NC. The one good thing is real estate taxes are low so it kind of evens out.
During Hurricane Florence much of Emerald Isle was devastate but my house had no damage. I had lots of brush, leaves and branches to clean up from the yard, driveway and pool - i was very lucky! Make sure you cover food in your refrigerator and freezer in your coverage too. you might not have damage but if power is out for a long time everything will go bad.
Freeze a cup/container of water and place a quarter on top of it and leave it in your freezer. if you get back and the quarter is on the bottom then it melted from loss of power. Dont let any of this discourage you!
Even on a barrier island the exact location of your house can affect your flood insurance premium dramatically (but not wind and hail). Use this site to find the property you're interested in and determine the Base Flood Elevation:
You' note that there are several different zones as pinkjewel mentioned. On and very close to the ocean, the base BFE is generally 10 or 12 feet. If you build the house up above that height, your flood premiums will be greatly reduced. You'll also notice that surprisingly large portions of Oak Island are in the X zone (minimal chance of flooding), and there is little to no advantage to building on stilts, flood insurance premium-wise. The insurance will be pretty low in this area.
I live in Southport and we don’t need flood insurance in our neighborhood. You can check out specific areas on a flood map and find out how many feet above sea level the property is. A realtor will be able to provide additional information. Here’s a link to the flood zones in Southport.
Check out the latest news on the Federal Flood Insurance program. Rates are likely to rise in most areas. The current average premium is $739 annually. It will rise based on the size and value of the house as well as elevation.
This is another reason for seeking a lot in the safest location.
Check out the latest news on the Federal Flood Insurance program. Rates are likely to rise in most areas. The current average premium is $739 annually. It will rise based on the size and value of the house as well as elevation.
This is another reason for seeking a lot in the safest location.
Good to know, but looks like most price increases will be $10.00 or less, so not that big of a deal. The people that will see the more significant price increases will be those with the larger, more expensive homes. And according to the article some homes will see a decrease. Sounds like a much fairer way for the flood insurance program to work.
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