Would you buy flood insurance if your house did not flood this summer? (Houston: construction, income)

[sonic0boom]

$450 a year is like skipping out on taking the family for dinner once a month over the course of a year.

[swopoe]

I can't even find our address on the NFIP website. What is up with that?

[hendersj31]

Is the house vacant? If not you know flood insurance covers contents as well.

Originally Posted by 77030

When we had a mortgage on our house, we were required to have flood insurance as we live in a flood plain. We paid the mortgage off many years ago, and have since dropped the flood insurance. Our house has been here since the 1940's, and has never had water in it. Also, our house is clearly a tear down, and our property would be worth more if the house was gone. No reason to insure it. If it floods, we'll just sell the lot and move on.

[aero100]

Originally Posted by turf3

Use your own judgement. How does the drainage look? Is the house built low? Is it in a creek bottom? Drive and walk around the area and see if it looks like it could flood.

If you decide to get flood insurance, read very carefully the policy including all the various exclusions. I have never had flood insurance (because I don't buy low built houses in creek bottoms), but if you have significant risk and a very low premium, I would smell a potential rat. If you have a very low premium it would indicate you also have a very low risk. If you have a high risk, your premium should be high.

One thing to keep in mind is flood insurance risk as calculated by FEMA is driven by flood plains defined by flowing water (rivers, bayous, creeks). That works for most of the country, but because of Houston's flat topography, lack of sufficient detention in some built up areas, and potential for tropical levels of rainfall flooding can happen from stormwater. This rarely shows up as a FEMA risk.

My point being, there are homes in Houston proper that are at a significant risk of flooding in, say, the next 25 years but are paying the minimum risk levels because they are outside of the 500 year flood plain as defined by FEMA. There's a neighborhood near me that I know does not meet 1% flood protection due to stormwater but yet all of the homes are zone X (minimum risk), except for those that already have 2 flood claims on the books.

So make sure you investigate the complete picture of drainage in your neighborhood, not just whether or not it shows up on the FEMA maps.

[texasroots77]

absolutely!

[MissScarlett07]

We have flood insurance, and we aren't in a flood zone. Figured just living in Houston, we need it.

[kreeyax]

Yes, I would buy it. Our neighborhood didn't flood either but we still carry flood insurance. We are not too far from Cypress Creek and you never know what could happen with a major hurricane.

[TravelFeedsTheSoul]

Originally Posted by hendersj31

Flood Insurance is managed by the government. If you are not in a flood zone it is a fixed rate (low) based on how much you want to cover. Not sure what smelling a rat has to do with flood insurance.

Hahaha, very true.

[TexasTony]

While $450 is the norm, the same coverage can cost around $650-$750+ if it is a rental property.

[Failed Engineer]

I never used to carry it but the house I bought last year I have it and plan to keep it because it seems like the new construction just keeps changing the variables. This even though all the neighbors I've spoke to and on Nextdoor say no one has ever flooded since the inception of the neighborhood in the early 70s.

Even though coverage is limited to $250k for $450 for Zone X, that goes a long way.