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Buying in an area hit by a natural disaster
Hi, I'm new here and started lurking because my husband and I are buying our first home. We're looking in Nashville, and unfortunately, one of our target areas was hard-hit by the 2010 flood. While the flood is being called a "100 year flood" -- i.e. not expected to occur again -- it's still a fresh memory around here.
We're ruling out any home that took on water in the living space but are on the fence about homes that took on water, say, in the crawl space. Our concerns are the potential for problems down the road (like unrealized damage to the foundation or mold) and problems we might face getting affordable home (and specifically flood) insurance.
Does anyone have any experience buying in a flood zone or even a hurricane zone? What issues did you weigh?
Re: Buying in an area hit by a natural disaster
We just recently bought in the Nashville area and we ruled out any houses that were in the flooded area. One of the problems that could arise is that any houses that are located below the damn (that leads to Nashville) could end up in the same situation because they do not have the protection the damn is able to give. Another thing is that FEMA will be redrawing the flood maps for the area which could then make some areas high flood risks which will require the homeowners to carry flood insurance (which can be expensive when you live in a high risk area) as most mortgage companies require it if you live in a high risk area.
Also, not sure if you have kids, but also from a resale stance, but a lot of the areas that were flooded were in Davidson County which has overall worse schools than a lot of the surrounding area. Just some thoughts!
We're looking in an area that has several flood zones. Our realtor steers us away from anything with flood history or that requires flood insurance because of all of the issues that can arise. Mold is probably the biggest concern but there are so many structural issues that can come up, it just doesn't seem worth it.
I have seen some "raised" houses in the area and might consider one of those. The problem is that being raised and having all living space be on the second story or higher, carrying in groceries and stuff could be a challenge. I loved one house, but thinking carrying baby stuff up and down when the time comes was a bit too much for me.
Thanks for your reply. We're actually looking in Williamson County because of the schools, but I didn't realize how much of northwest Brentwood flooded. It's hard because I love some of those subdivisions but I'm wary.
The flood was crazy! My parents already lived here during the flood and they actually live on Old Hickory Lake (which is where the Cumberland River is damned up) and we just sat and watched the water get closer and closer to the house. It ended up stopping about 6 feet away. Turns out that is where the top of the damn is so unless it is a flash flood type situation, there house will not flood. It was intense and awful.
We did a lof of research after that happened when we were moving to the area. We wanted to make sure we did not risk something like that happening to us if we could avoid it. The thing is the weather is just so insane the last few years that I could see it happening again. There is just no predicting it anymore.