Hope this works in this forum.

Looking at buying a house that sits at the bottom of a neighborhood and in a flood plane.we had a big flood back in the 90's and it got hit. New to the whole home buying thing and I really like the house and Neighborhood but have never dealt with this. Trying to get more details so I can see what's up. Looking at permits on the county website now.

Should I just move on or is a flood every 10 years worth a good house

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/determine-flood-insurance-rate-home-6598.html

https://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program-flood-hazard-mapping

It's a flood plain and will flood again...........do yourself a favor and find something else.

Just got off the phone with the realtor and he was pretty adamant about walking away if it is in the flood plane.

The flood in 97 was a 100 year flood and they have done quite a few improvements to help the area but I think this thing is sitting in a normal flood zone so probably a no go.

Oh and I hate looking all this stuff up on my phone.

Your homeowner's insurance will not cover floods.
You will have to purchase expensive flood insurance.
You will still get flooded and have to deal with wrecked possessions, clean up, repair, and anxiety every time extended rain is forecast.








Pass.  Your realtor is giving you great advice.

Pass.



Insurance mentioned, it could be expensive.



Dealing with the mess even once is not worth it.  If house cost 20 bucks I might consider it, but a flood and a bit of mold will cause you to almost rebuild the house.



When you said bottom of the neighbor hood I just see all the stuff neighbors do messing with you.



They weedeat their ditches or something, rain washes it your way or better yet it blocks the tubes and then you get flooded since the drain pipes are blocked.



Uphill neighbor has a major water leak or above ground pool break, you eventually get all that water and chemicals heading your way.



Just being the last yard to dry out would suck.



I don't think everyone needs to live in a castle on a hilltop but pay real close attention to how your potential home will deal with huge rains or water main breaks or fire in the woods and other stuff.



As far as the 100 year floods, I think some places are getting their 100 year flood every decade or so and I don't hear anyone ponying up to pay em for being wrong about that 100 year forcast.



Also consider how some places are getting major temperature swings.



I don't think homes in florida need to be sloped for snow load, but here in east tn I want slope like ohio because now and then there is a sudden serious snow and while it might melt in a day or three that snow load is a problem while it is there.

...run! don't walk

Sonofabitch, If I am reading a few of the maps right just the very end falls in the flood zone Couple houses up looks free and clear.

I really liked that house and area.

Flood insurance is the biggest racket ever conceived. First, only floods from bodies of water that overflow are covered, then they only pay out if the house is moved off of its foundation. The .gov maps the flood planes and their the ones who set the rates and sell the insurance. Total waste of money.

this thread.

Zero compassion for your loss when it happens. Don't live in a hole !
Bitching and moaning later that you did not have enough insurance and the Govt somehow owes you a rescue from your own stupidity !

Or.... You are quite well off and compleatly understand the risk of loosing everything and accept the consequences without a bailout.

You have an opertuneity to NOT place yourself or your family in jeopardy. Why even consider it. Move on.

That 100 year flood thing. The Earth does not care. You could have another at any time.

Don't do it. We have a ton of flood planes out here. Improvements are always being made to the water drainage system. They all still flood. The only thing that keeps some houses dry; is when I hat paid to lift the house, give it a new foundation, and frame it up 6' off the ground.

My dad's house is in a flood plain about 10 miles away from the Missouri River.

When the house was built in 1897 it never flooded because at that point, the government hadn't dammed the river up 20+times, altering its characteristics. It flooded in 1951, 1973, 1993, and 2007(just the crawl space). 1993 was the only flood that was caused from rain. The others were a combination of them releasing water and rain.

He has insurance, but it really sucks to have to move out every 15-20 years.

We built a house in 1992. One corner of the yard was in the flood plain. Everyone told us not to worry that that area had never flooded.  

Thankfully the bank insisted that we purchase flood insurance.

Two years later we had 7' 10" of water in the house. No fun at all I can assure you.

Two years after that I got a transfer and sold the house with no problem.

About 5 years after that it flooded again.

When we built our current house, I can guarantee you that we built it up high enough that it would never, ever, possibly flood.

Are you looking in the Dayton area by chance?

Nope this is in Reno. Not much flooding around here but you never know.

Pass, pass, pass. There will always be homes coming on the market in better locations.

Yeah I told him it just didn't sit well with me. The reason it was tough to pass is there isn't much that comes up in that area in my price range. Stuff jumps from 300 to 450+.

Flood insurance is limited to $250,000. You will also be required to carry homeowners in addition. You would be on the hook for any balance that flood insurance does not pay..  It is a .gov program administered by the insurance companies. In other words, the rest of us would pay your claim when it floods. There is a reason for the price.

Buying a house in a flood zone isn't a problem...









Until it's a problem.

Run!!

I purchased property near a creek and built a house after watching the property for 10+ yrs without any flooding issues.  I checked with the county govt and it was NOT in a flood plain.  After living there for 15 yrs, there was considerable development downstream of me, which limited what the creek could carry away.  The development was positive for the county tax base, so they OK'd the development.  The first time my place flooded, it only had 2"-3" of water in the house, I didn't have flood insurance.  The county govt still didn't show it as a flood plain, and without being in a flood plain, we couldn't purchase flood insurance.  A year later, the county govt declared it a flood plain, and I purchased flood insurance. A year later I had 1 ft of water in the house.  I used the flood insurance to repair it and sold it shortly thereafter.  The new buyers were aware it was in a flood plain and that it had flooded twice, and still bought it anyway.  Needless to say I live on top of a hill now.

Having dealt with a Flood and the Aftermath, I say Run as fast and as far as you can.

You will still pay for flood insurance if you have a mortgage.  Keep looking.



 

I just moved in to my house, which sits in a 100-year flood zone.   The 2-acre property sits at 75 ft ASL, but it's part of a major river watershed, and the area is pretty swampy, with no sewer system.  If the river floods big, my property floods.



My flood insurance is only $400/yr., but I imagine it would be a whole lot higher if it was a 10-year flood zone.





The previous owner told me that water covered the road twice in the 18 years he lived here, and got up into the yard once during a tropical storm, but never entered the house.





The only way I would buy a house on a 10-year flood plain is if it was on stilts.

 

I don't know how flood insurance worked at that time, but now you can buy flood insurance no matter where you live. About 6 years ago, we bought a house in south Houston, not in the flood plain, and bought flood insurance just in case of a big hurricane.



When we moved to DFW, we decided that we didn't really need flood insurance due to the location of our house compared with the water around us.



 

There's always a risk getting a home in the floodzone. Personally I avoid any homes near water or that have water names in their street names. And remember that the 10 and 100 year events means that there is a 10% and 1% respective chance of a flood occurring every year. I'd personally look elsewhere.

It rains in Nevada?

I would avoid it if possible.  When I built my first home down in Louisiana, it was on a river.  It was on a high bank so it never flooded, but believe it or not, about 150 sq ft of the land fell in a flood zone.  Due to that I had to carry flood insurance.

Lucky for me, I sold the place and moved out of state 3 months prior to Katrina. (Well, it was Rita that caused issues our way.)

I would keep looking for a place where you do not need to worry about water/flood issues.

It doesn't rain much and that's the problem. The ground here just can't absorb water fast enough. Being from southeast AK it is a hard concept to get used to

The big flood in 97 that hit this house was met likely a once in a lifetime event especially since they dredged the river that backed up. Still didn't sit well with me. Most likely what I will have to do is buy a house and plan to live in it 3-5 years and just keep my eyes out for my dream house in that neighborhood. When something domes available maybe I will just turn my house into a rental.

Not true.

As a general rule of thumb, avoid flood plains, but I would consider the value of home you are getting and the possible flood mitigation measures. My neighborhood was once a bowl that flooded even during major thunderstorms, but drainage improvements have changed that. Would something like installing a french drain or raising the house help and/or be financially feasible? Is it a two story and you can tile the downstairs? Can you haul your stuff up into the attic or hang your furniture from the ceiling during a flood? Is the flood insurance going to be mandatory and would the costs crush your soul? If the flood insurance was cheap enough, it may be worth the risk. That 10 year flood may mean you get to redo your kitchen. There are ways to adapt to the reality of flooding to lessen your risks. You have to understand the risks and what you are getting into, like riding a motorcycle. The money has to make sense as well.

Quite true actually. That's precisely what the insurance company told us after rain storms kept flooding our basement. We finally had to pay $7,000 out of pocket to seal the walls and floor down there. And any other evidence to back up your already lengthy disagreement?

My house is in a 100 year flood plain, but that's only because the flood plain maps were recently redrawn.  Its only a difference of 2 feet that puts the house in the flood plain.  Considering the house is as old as the country and still standing, I don't fear a flood.  Although if you do consider buying a house in a flood plain, I would do you homework, and research the history to see if any floods have occurred.

It flooded in 97

I grew up in some burbs and they expanded as I was a teenager.



I mowed yards and did odd jobs for money.



Some of the folks learned that work uphill from them could cause a lot of trouble and even a few decades ago we sort of ran into issues with what we could legally do with water.



The people uphill did not care and it is always a long process to get things fixed so we wanted to redirect rain runoff that was now flooding a yard and close to going in a house.



But silly me read the rules and regs and all that crud and it was a headache for the home owner.



We did manage to redirect the water til things slowly worked out and the problem was properly dealt with uphill.



I learned early on that you want to be really careful in neighborhoods or even out in the country when the houses are not really all that spread out.



And even if the other person is in the wrong it can be a big mess if it is tearing up your stuff and you can't just legally redirect things easily.



I recall getting some gravel and sand mix dumped in a specific area while I slowly moved it to where we needed it with a wheel barrel.  



And we redirected it to a big drain ditch where it did not bother others.



Basically a nice long hillside got cleared out and a home or three built and while the woods had been absorbing a lot of the water the changes let the water just run downhill and with th construction it is was nice muddy yucky water at speed.



Other thing I learned, we were on a lightly sloping road that dead ended, is that if our basement was damp from a huge downpour then the folks at the end of the street probably needed help cleaning their unfinished basement up from all the water.



Part of it was poor construction but they had more water to deal with.



Anyway, do a lot of thinking and looking uphill from anything of yours.  I don't care if it is just a driveway or road or whatever, gravity is a lovely concept and keeps on keeping on.

Was this your homeowners or actual flood insurance? Regardless rain water or ground water not being diverted from a leaking wall or footing is not "flooding"  

OP-In case enough people haven't said it already--DON'T BUY THIS HOUSE!

Grove

Never bet on the weather.

Do this. It'll work out better. Also make sure you have defensible space around your place. I would look up by W Mccarren and see what's there. It's weird that houses are going for that price range considering Reno has no real industry and the economy is shit. Lived there for 14 years and just moved to Phoenix.

Bunch of people on the other side of town got flooded out last year. It's been a big nightmare for the city and everyone involved.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/07/flash-flood-austin-residents-killed-displaced/3459181/

my house is 80' inside a flood zone, didnt find this out until we were too far into the buying process and my wife "was in love" with the house  
never had a issue with water
city messed with the drainage up the street
bad rain storm and boom flash flood in my front yard
has some water get in the house but it was only because water couldnt get around the house fast enough
no real damage to speak off... dehumidifier to suck the moisture out

but I can tell you this, I loved our home until that day
now its just the house we are staying in for a few years until we can move on
I stress everytime it rains.  
I know this post is "old" in arfcom standards but move on, find a different house

Yeah I moved on. This home shopping thing is tough I tell you.

I would not buy a house in a flood plane.

hard to flush UP hill
run
do not buy it